Gripping the club

[JerryB]

I noticed something while watching the Open this morning.  Every piece of advice that I see regarding gripping the golf club states to grip the club with your left (lead) hand first, then your right.  However, just about everyone I've seen today grips the club with their right (trail) hand first, then their left.

With the obvious caveat that I'm a beginner and they are professionals, what is the difference between gripping with lead hand first versus trail hand, and what do you all do?

[RickyBobby_PR]

I grip lead hand first and then trail hand. 
 

Granted I haven’t watched any of the coverage from The Open and when I watch golf I’m not fully paying attention to what they do, but my guess is they are using the trail hand to set the face for their shot then they use their lead had to grip the club and finally place the trial hand in position.

I grip mine with lead hand first because that’s have I’ve learned from watching top level golf instructors and because I take my full grip before addressing the ball

 

[Kenny B]

I agree with @RickyBobby_PR.  I think they are setting the face angle.  I set the face angle with my lead hand to ensure that I have the back of my hand matching the face.  I have always done that since I took Single Plane Swing lessons.  Trail hand comes on to the club after taking my stance and setting my tilt away from target.

[Shapotomous]

I believe some go with the lead hand first.  Going by memory Adam Scott and Fowler on the tee grip with left hand while facing the target to set the grip position and then move to address and place trail hand on the club.   

[RickyBobby_PR]

3 minutes ago, Shapotomous said:

I believe some go with the lead hand first.  Going by memory Adam Scott and Fowler on the tee grip with left hand while facing the target to set the grip position and then move to address and place trail hand on the club.   

Both do use lead hand. Both used to also grab the club with it sitting behind their lead leg. It set the grip and wrist angle.

[tony@CIC]

On 7/15/2022 at 3:49 PM, RickyBobby_PR said:

I grip lead hand first and then trail hand. 
 

Granted I haven’t watched any of the coverage from The Open and when I watch golf I’m not fully paying attention to what they do, but my guess is they are using the trail hand to set the face for their shot then they use their lead had to grip the club and finally place the trial hand in position.

I grip mine with lead hand first because that’s have I’ve learned from watching top level golf instructors and because I take my full grip before addressing the ball

 

Same for me - lead hand first. 

[ParFore74x]

Lead hand first for me. I use it to set my distance from feet to ball and I press my wedding ring into the back of grip as I close my fingers to ensure that my lead hand and wrist are where I want them. Trail hand just slides right in after that. 

[RDel90]

I actually setup with my trail hand first with club face on target line. If you look at any pro regardless of swing style (single or two plane) on plane impact occurs when the shaft is in line with the trail arm at least up to the elbow. I’m a single plane swinger so that’s where I want to feel like I’m setup on my impact plane shaft in line with trail forearm.
 

If I were to setup with lead hand first I feel like (1) it’s easy for me to come in too underneath with my trail hand which can lead to a tendency of over rotation of the trail hand and over closing the club face at impact. And (2), with lead hand first I get the feeling it opens my shoulders too much since you’re technically reaching further down the club with your trail hand.

Who knows, maybe that’s why I’m still at at 16hdcp (even though I have improved a few strokes this year). Just have to find what is comfortable at setup for a consistent swing and do it the same way every time. Start overthinking it and trying to tweak with setup as you play leads to catastrophe.