5 Reasons Why Oversized Golf Grips Improve Your Game

Have you ever been watching golf on TV or playing with friends, and you’ve seen someone pull out a club with an unusually large grip?

Well if so you’re not the first and you certainly won’t be the last! 

Oversized golf grips are becoming increasingly popular amongst both amateur and professional golfers and for good reason.

With that in mind, perhaps it’s time for you to consider why oversized golf grips improve your game.

In this article, we are going to look at 5 reasons why oversized golf grips improve your game.

If you are reading this and feel that any of these reasons apply to you, then maybe it’s time to head down to your local pro shop and get some oversized grips on your clubs!

Oversized grips can be fitted on any club in your bag, from putter to driver, so now we know that let’s get started!

Why Oversized Golf Grips Improve your Game

1. Improving your putting

In the eyes of some golf pros, putting is the most important part of any golfer’s game, and getting the perfect putter for you can be a tremendous help with this.

However, many golfers suffer from the ‘yips’ when putting, including major champions Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott.

‘Yips’ are small, involuntary wrist movements during the putting stroke that can cause the ball to move well off the line you aimed along.

But this could be exactly why oversized golf grips improve your game. If you feel you suffer from the ‘yips’ using an oversized grip may help you find that perfect putter!

When gripping the putter you should feel like you’re holding a toothpaste packet, without trying to squeeze any toothpaste out, i.e. quite a soft grip.

For some golfers, doing this on a regular putting grip creates tension in the wrists producing the wrist movements that can send a putt off-line.

An oversized grip on a putter helps to keep the wrists locked into position, without creating tension in the wrists, getting rid of the ‘yips’.

This is exactly why golfers who suffer from putting ‘yips’ often fit their putters with an oversized grip.

If you decide to fit your putter with an oversized grip and your friends think it looks weird, show them a video of 6-time major champion Phil Mickelson using one and that should keep them quiet!

So if putting ‘yips’ are affecting you, maybe it’s time to consider why oversized golf grips improve your game!

2. increased comfort and reduce pain

Pain and discomfort in the hands and wrists can affect golfers of any age. Pain can be especially bad towards the end of a full 18 holes.

Pain in the hands and wrists can cause you to grip the club incorrectly or to swing with less power in order to reduce the pain at impact.

These problems can be even more prevalent for older golfers, or those who suffer from arthritis.

This is another reason why oversized golf grips improve your game, as using them on all your clubs helps to reduce pain and increase comfort when gripping the club!

In addition to reducing tension in the wrists, the extra material used for an oversized grip helps to dampen vibration and reduce the force felt in the hands when the club impacts the ball.

This is especially true during a cold, winter round of golf when cold muscles feel the pinch more.

This is the reason why some golfers have started changing their grips seasonally!

If you are a golfer who struggles with hand and wrist pain during a round, and you’re finding that it is negatively impacting your scores, oversized golf grips could be a key way to improve your game!

3. Reduce wrist movement during the swing

Wrist movement isn’t just a problem that affects a putting stroke, it can affect all shots, from a full-blooded swing with a driver to a flop shot.

Too much wrist or hand movement during a swing can also be a key issue for those golfers who suffer from an over-draw or a hook shot.

Moving the wrists and hands too much can cause the clubface to close at impact, producing a hook shot, and taking the ball off the correct line to the left (for right-handed golfers).

Over-movement of the wrists and hands can also cause a fat shot (one where the clubhead hits the ground well before the ball, creating a large divot). Fat shots can dramatically reduce the distance on a shot.

So what could be a solution if these issues are impacting your game?

As you probably guessed, these issues are more reasons why oversized golf grips can improve your game.

As we have seen, oversized golf grips help keep wrists and hands more firmly locked into position, without creating tension in the hands and wrists.

This quietens or dampens wrist movement during the swing, and could help turn a hook, into a nice draw or smooth fade.

Similarly, dampened wrist movement can stop the club from coming down before the ball, minimizing the likelihood of a fat shot.

It’s worth noting that plenty of pro golfers have turned to oversized grips on their irons, to help reduce hook or fat shots that can send approach shots off the line of the green.

If a common issue in your game is hooks or fat shots, and excess wrist movement is the reason, using oversized golf grips could improve your game.

4. Helping to prevent too tight a grip

As any golfer knows, the key to consistency is a fluent and repeatable swing.

One of the common issues that prevent golfers from achieving a fluent, repeatable swing is over-gripping or having too tight a grip.

This problem is more prevalent amongst beginners, where nerves and the desire to hold the club as securely as possible can cause them to grip the club too tightly.

Having a secure connection to the club is important, but over-gripping can create tension in the hands and arms during a swing, ultimately hindering a golfer’s ability to have a repeatable swing.

However, preventing over-gripping is another reason why oversized golf grips improve your game!

The extra material on oversized golf grips can help you feel like you are holding onto the club more securely, without creating the tension in the hands that leads to having too tight a grip.

It is a reason why some golf coaches are recommending oversized golf grips to new starters.

Over-gripping is not just a problem for beginner golfers, as it can affect even the most experienced players and is often a reason why some golfers struggle with inconsistent ball striking.

Helping to alleviate too tight a grip during the swing could be a reason why oversized golf grips improve your game!

5. Increased accuracy and a squarer clubface

Hitting accurate golf shots is obviously a key to success in your golf game and yet it can be frustratingly hard to achieve!

One of the fundamentals for increased accuracy is a square club face at impact, as 2-time major champion Padraig Harrington shows in the video linked here.

As we have seen one of the biggest benefits of using oversized golf grips is that they dampen the effects of the hands and wrists during a swing, while helping to maintain a solid and stable grip.

Both these elements are essential parts of trying to achieve a square club face at impact and could be why oversized golf grips improve your game.

Achieving a square clubface is also important if you want to have more control over your shots, like introducing a high-fade for irons or a power-draw when using a driver.

A square clubface ensures your ball flight is straight so you can use your body, and feet positioning to achieve your desired shot shape, rather than relying on using your wrists, which is much trickier to master!

Having more control over the flight of the ball is something that can cut a handicap from the high teens down to single figures.

So if you are keen to achieve a square clubface at impact, and increase your control over your shots, then maybe you should consider why oversized golf grips improve your game.

So, those are our 5 reasons why oversized golf grips improve your game.

If you felt any of those reasons could help you, then perhaps you should be pricing up some new oversized grips!

As with any change to your equipment, it may feel slightly strange at first and could be off-putting if you head straight to the course with your new grips.

So if you are going to put some new oversized grips on your clubs, it may be worth heading to the putting green or driving range for some practice before you play.

As we, golfers know practice makes perfect!

If you are someone who is looking to introduce more control over your shots, then check out the article below for some great tips!

Learn To Control The Trajectory Of A Golf Ball And Shoot Lower Scores!