The grips are the only connection between the golf club and your hands (and thus the rest of your body), making it a very important part of the club. The weight, size, and material affect the playability – including the swing weight and the balance point, as well as the feel and the club-head release. It also largely depends on personal preference.
Weight
The weight of a grip would be one of the most important specs when you re-grip your golf clubs. Popular/widely used grips weigh around 50 grams, while the weight of the grip ranges from less than 20 grams to almost 70 grams. Majority of the grips in the market, except for putter grips, are in the range of 40 to 55 grams. Changing from a 50 gram grip to a 40 gram grip would increase the swing weight up to 2 or 3 points depending on the shaft length, club weight and balance point.
Size
Grip sizes can have a significant impact on your golf swing. In general, larger grips inhibit free release of the club-head through the hitting zone, and smaller grips do the opposite. The popular sizes of the grip range from 0.58 inches to 0.6 inches – 0.58 is considered as standard. Grips can be built up by adding wraps of tape to the shaft – on wrap would increase the size by 1/64 inches. Depending on your preference, grip sizes of a certain section can be built up by partially adding wraps of tape.
Materials and Designs
The majority of the grips are slip-on today. Natural rubber, synthetic rubber and compound materials in conjunction with a number of code and surface configurations offer different gripping characteristics. Grip can be either round or a reminder – which is a line or rib on the underside of the grip that reminds the golfer where the hand should be placed.
Basically there are two types of grips – soft type and hard type. Hard type grips are often built with cord made of cotton. A variety of types of cords (classic, GX, tour wrap) are available, and grips could be half or full corded. As a result, a wide range of selection in grips are available today. The cord provides not only harder surface textures but also other functions such as additional frictions and moisture absorption. Corded grips tend to be heavier. On the other hand, soft grips are made of compound materials.
It is also notedworthy that hardness (or softness) of a grip seems to cause a similar effect on club-head release as in grip sizes. In general, a harder grip inhibits free release of the club-head through the hitting zone, and a softer grip does the opposite.
Putter Grips
There are two primary putter grip styles – puddle style, and pistol style. The puddle grip features a wide flat part for the placement of thumbs, which is conducive to a one-piece stroke. The pistol grip is characterized by the protruding section of the grip which is to provide more control.
