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Originally Posted by Dion
How do you determine what the is right size of golf grip?
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Many schools of thought here. The most popular are these two.
1 - Use your glove size to determine your grip size. Men's small = undersize. Men's medium = regular. Men's large & XL = midsize. Men's 2xl = jumbo.
2 - Measure the size of your hand, base of palm or crease of the wrist to the tip of the middle finger. Less than 5" = junior. Up to 6" = undersize. 6-7.5" = regular. 7.5-9" = midsize. Over 9" = jumbo.
Personally I don't like either as hands are unique to everyone so no hard fast rule applies. Some people have really long fingers or short little sausages for digits. That affects the grip you should be using. The grip (position of club in the hand) in use can impact the size of grip selected. Lastly, age and injury can change the size of grip we need. So there are lots of factors in selection.
The proper grip is having the club lie across the pads of your hand (the base of the fingers) rather than across the palm. To find the right grip use your low hand to grip the club where you normally do at address. Do not use any interlock at this point and you're just looking for connectivity to the club. Your ring finger is the measure of importance here. With a relaxed grip your ring finger should just about be touching the thenar eminence (the meat of the muscle of thumb). if there is a gap you may have too thick a grip. If there is more than just light contact you likely need thicker grips. The most important thing here is feel and comfort, which is why any sizing method is flawed.
All of this is out the window if you have arthritis or a hand injury that makes closing your hand or making a fist problematic. At that point you need grips that allow you to comfortably hold the club while making a swing and there is only trial and error involved here. I've built up custom grips for players with injuries to hands (damaged or missing digits) or arthritis that makes gripping the club difficult. Usually required custom wraps more so than rubber grips.
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I've been playing with a standard size grip with 3 wraps and recently put a mid size grip on a few of my irons to test it out. The reason being I was finding that I was gripping my clubs too tight. Now with the midsize I don't have to grip hard but the downside I found I was losing some wrist action.
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Be careful how many wraps of tape you put on underneath the grip. Two should be the max for the health and longevity of the grip. Too much tape can impact the integrity of the grip and make it wear quicker or unevenly. Over time this can cause a rupture or splitting of the grip which you never want. Sounds to me like you may be a candidate for midsize because of age. Don't worry Dion, it happens to us all! Interestingly enough PXGs are shipping with grips they call standard but are actually midsize. They are thicker because research has shown hands are getting bigger as people become larger. Hope this was helpful.
