Do you shorten your grip to control distance

[Firebird 388]

Hi guys, I have suggested this to several times and were surprised that the responses were that they had never tried it. I was taught to shorten my grip as a means of closing the gap between clubs. For example with my normal grip I hit a 7 iron 155M (170yds) however by moving my hands down the grip I can vary the length by up to 8m (8.8yds) It means that I can still have a full swing, just takes a bit of getting used to holding the thinner grip.

Once you get used to it it can make a huge difference particularly with shorter clubs.

Is this something you do. 

[Shankster 33,162]

Only on side-hill lies.  Choking up on the club does not fair well for me.  In fact, my left palm is nearly off the end of the grip usually.

[Malaka 18]

I makes my ball-flight lower, and it feels strange having weight above my hands. Sometimes I'll choke down for punch shots, with moderate results.

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[Pandaman 285]

My distance control and strike are somewhat erratic, but yes I do do that, and it does help.  I probably don't do it enough to be fair.

[Chip Strokes 6,755]

currently i do, because i don’t have anything between my 9i (160-165) and my 56 (120)

as a result, my 9i has to play a lot of roles and i choke down to take some distance or height off the ball

once my PW and 52 come in, i’ll be able to use full and 3/4 swings to cover all my gaps 

[Lacassem 17,468]

I do better with different swings to control distance. Like @Shankstermy grip is pretty close to the end of the grip and that’s where I like it. I have my 4 different swings for each club and that covers all my distances I need

[Kenny B 34,291]

I'm not good enough to hit my clubs exact specific distances with a full swing, so moving my hands lower on the grip does nothing for me except introduce another variable in my ball striking prowess.  With that said, I can take distance off a club by using a 9 to 3 swing.

[cnosil 26,353]

Heard about this and yes,  I do this occasionally but not always as effective as I would like.  I am  also choking down on my short irons for pitches and chips to try and get more control.  

[ZenGolfer 928]

2 hours ago, Firebird said:

Hi guys, I have suggested this to several times and were surprised that the responses were that they had never tried it. I was taught to shorten my grip as a means of closing the gap between clubs. For example with my normal grip I hit a 7 iron 155M (170yds) however by moving my hands down the grip I can vary the length by up to 8m (8.8yds) It means that I can still have a full swing, just takes a bit of getting used to holding the thinner grip.

Once you get used to it it can make a huge difference particularly with shorter clubs.

Is this something you do. 

I do it.  I will sometimes grip down an inch or 2 when I want to take some distance off of a club.  It allows me to use the same swing but get 5 yards less and sometimes when Im in-between clubs, its a help.

[Shankster 33,162]

1 hour ago, Lacassem said:

I do better with different swings to control distance. Like @Shankstermy grip is pretty close to the end of the grip and that’s where I like it. I have my 4 different swings for each club and that covers all my distances I need

It was good enough for Trevino.  He was/is pretty good.  Choking up on it really lightens the SW, messes me all up.

[Lacassem 17,468]

19 minutes ago, Shankster said:

It was good enough for Trevino.  He was/is pretty good.  Choking up on it really lightens the SW, messes me all up.

Same my game has changed a little but I’m trying to play to my full swing distance...I’m most comfortable “going after it” for lack of a better term

[chaeslounge 9]

I grip down a couple inches on the grip for my wedges for awkward distances.  For instance 80 yds kills me.   Requires a full swing from my 58* or a 9 to 3 swing with 54*.  Sometimes, I grip down on the 54* so that I can have a freer swing. 

My swing isn't consistent enough yet to do this with longer irons.

[cnosil 26,353]

Interesting reading everyone’s strategy. Basically a few ways to control distance - change the length of the club, change the length of the swing, or change the speed using a full swing.

My follow on would be do you control distance with you full swing and distance wedges the same way?

[Shankster 33,162]

3 minutes ago, cnosil said:

Interesting reading everyone’s strategy. Basically a few ways to control distance - change the length of the club, change the length of the swing, or change the speed using a full swing.

My follow on would be do you control distance with you full swing and distance wedges the same way?

Full Shots:

I used to try to extend a club rather than clubbing up.  Now if I am in a weird spot I tend to swing a little lighter with the next club up... Usually a fade shape.

But if I absolutely need more out of a club, I will hit a pull on purpose.  Usually a little pull draw.  This is my go to shot when it hits the fan.

[MaxEntropy 8,271]

15 hours ago, BadgerGolfer said:

I do it.  I will sometimes grip down an inch or 2 when I want to take some distance off of a club.  It allows me to use the same swing but get 5 yards less and sometimes when Im in-between clubs, its a help.

I'm the same. I sort of have a gap in the top of my bag between 6i and 4h. 5i would theoretically be perfect, but consistency is poor. I have found that if I choke down on the 4h about an inch, it is right at decent 5i distance.

[russtopherb 9,772]

I tend to grip down an inch or so normally for better face contact. I'll slide down even further if I think I'm in between distances.

I also normally play midsized grips, so gripping down doesn't feel as weird with those.

[Shapotomous 5,337]

With irons I only grip down (and play the ball back) to lower the ball flight which does result in less distance for me.  

At the top of the bag I will grip down with the driver and fairway woods to get a little less distance if there is something out there I don't want to reach.

[GBWarPig 76]

I'm all about the different swing lengths to hit in between distances. If I was to move my hands down, then I need to change my setup to stand closer, which then changes my downswing angle, etc. -- a lot of added variables in a repeatable swing.

I go with the 7:30/9/10:30 swing distances for each club, so then I know what length of swing shows what distance, and play from there.

[ncwoz 2,834]

I do a combination of partial swings and choking up my grip to get in between distances. But I still haven't done a thorough enough job of documenting my full swing numbers (let along partials) to fully understand when I should be hitting which shots. That is something I plan to do next year however. Hopefully with a new set of irons in the bag

[BMart519 1,414]

From top of grip (normal grip position) to bottom of grip is roughly 10 yards for me from any iron or swing due to the change in club head speed. 

Finesse wedge swing (shaft parallel) with GW is 40 yards when gripping down near steel. Grip at top end of grip - pretty close to 50 yards.
Full swing with GW = ~100 yards, full swing-grip down = 90 yards, grip down and swing back to 9 o'clock = 80 yards. 

These 10 and 20 yard increments are consistent with my distance wedges all the way up to 9 iron. 7 and 8 iron get less consistent on the 9 o'clock swing, but gripping down still works. Experimenting with this over the winter on SC200 launch monitor in Target Mode. 8 iron test had larger distance variation on the 3/4 swings to 9 o'clock then trying to make a consistent, full swing with only 7 yards difference in average carry. On 3/4 swings that I pured and made a more aggressive swing, it produced the same distance as a full effort swing even though I was trying to hit it 10 yards shorter. 

Going to test other clubs and then compare full swings with grip changes to see if they are more consistent for distance control than backswing length.