For Pros And Tour Techs, Getting A Handle On Grips Is A Top Priority

Size, weight, texture and position are critical for Tour players trying to dial in their grips. Any adjustment must take into consideration a potential change in swingweight

Feel Good Story: Camilo Villegas' attention to detail made a recent grip change a multi-step makeover.

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By E. Michael Johnson

Camilo Villegas hasn't had the best season, but a T-18 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans was a step in the right direction. Still, the persnickety Villegas wasn't satisfied with the grips on his TaylorMade RocketBallz irons. He had been missing his target left on occasion and felt building up his grips could help offset that.

The change required more than one tweak however. Villegas went from a "one-plus-one" tape wrap to a "four-plus-one" underneath his Iomic white grips. But with the added tape came other challenges, notably a change in swingweight. Instead of the D-3 Villegas prefers in his irons, they now checked in at D-0. To get the swingweight correct TaylorMade techs pulled the shafts from the irons and re-weighted the heads. Further, a new set of irons were flown in so a backup set could be made to the same specs.

Villegas' gripping story underscores that, for tour players, grips are a critical aspect of their equipment and one that often is among the more difficult for tour techs to get right since players' preferences are highly personal and feel is such a difficult detail to satisfy.

The implications of the grip to the player go beyond simply how well a player can hold onto the club. The size, weight, texture and position of the grip are of major concern to tour pros.

Consider the case of Masters champion Bubba Watson. The ultimate feel player, Watson has a surprising 10 wraps of tape applied near the top of the shaft where his right hand is placed. But wait, there's more. A little lower, where he places his left hand, he has a staggering dozen wraps of tape. Why? Because Watson, a talented shotmaker, is trying to keep his hands from being too active in the shot. The lanky lefty is particular about his putter grip as well, using four extra layers of tape. Last year after one of his wins, Watson changed his putter grip and eventually had to sandpaper the edges because he didn't like the sharp feel of the non-worn surface.

Not every player prefers extra tape, however. For years Nick Price used very thin grips with just a sliver of starter tape over the butt end of the shaft. Other players will put an extra wrap of tape under the bottom half of the grip to prevent tapering.

Size, however, is just one part of the grip equation. Weight also is critical. As seen with Villegas' clubs, adding layers of tape can add weight and thus alter the swingweight. The general rule is that every 10 grams of weight moves the swingweight two points. For example, a D-2 swingweight would become D-0.

Reminder grips also can cause angst for both players and techs. Although not used by many everyday players, about a third of the PGA Tour still use reminder grips. For those not familiar with them, the reminder is a narrow rib located on the underside of the grip that fits into the crease of the fingers--in short, a way to "remind" a player to grip the club properly.

Ben Hogan used very firm cord grips with a "reminder" pattern. Hogan set the reminder at 5:30 instead of 6 o'clock--a slightly "weak" hand position. Although Hogan never explained why, it is a reasonable assumption he did so as part of his effort to combat the hook that plagued him early in his career. Watson also uses a reminder, set approximately at 8 o'clock, also to prevent over-hooking the ball.

Reminders can be tricky because players who use them are extremely particular about their position--and with good reason. Last year Ryan Moore claimed his poor early season play was due to his reminder grips being placed with the rib 2 to 3 degrees closed, thus causing him to shut the face more than he wanted.

Then there are the players who are more meticulous than others. One of the all-timers in that category was Nick Faldo. Normally, when tape is applied to the shaft, there is some overlap. But Faldo, a six-time major champion, wanted the tape to have no overlap with the tape edges barely touching each other. As such, what would normally be a 15-minute re-grip job often took as long as three hours for Faldo's clubs.

Extreme? Perhaps. But when you make your living swinging a club, making sure your hands feel comfortable would seem to be time well spent.

TOUR STORIES
Ryan Moore // Stat study pays off
Ryan Moore hit plenty of greens in regulation during top-10 finishes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Valero Texas Open, but mediocre putting (ranked T-52 and 46th in putts per GIR, respectively) held him to a T-4 and T-8 instead of contending for titles. At the Wells Fargo Championship, Moore changed putters, returning to the SIK model he used most of last year. The technology behind Moore's putter is a face that features a descending loft, where the top half has 4 degrees of loft and decreases to 3 degrees then 2 degrees. The bottom half has just 1 degree of loft, with the idea being the descending loft helps those with a forward press in their stroke achieve a better roll.

"I took some time looking at my stats and realized I didn't play as well as I would have liked last year, but it wasn't my putters fault," said Moore. "So I went back to the putter I used. ... I've been just kind of waiting for one of these rounds where I kind of get my putter rolling early in the round and am able to keep it rolling." Moore's putting was vastly improved at Quail Hollow, where he played in Sunday's final group as he finished T-5, ranking seventh in putts per GIR and fifth in strokes gained/putting.

NEW STUFF
Cobra AMP
Price: $300 (Lofts: 8.5, 9.5, 10.5, 11.5 degrees)
Rickie Fowler used the AMP driver (which has three face-angle settings) in winning the Wells Fargo Championship. Swingweights get lighter and shafts get longer as lofts increase to give slower swingers more speed and fast swingers more control. cobragolf.com

BAG ROOM
Rickie Fowler had Mitsubishi's new Diamana X shaft in his Ping i20 3-wood at the Wells Fargo Championship. The shaft is a limited-edition (5,000 pieces) model made from an extremely strong carbon fiber and is the firmest, lowest torque shaft in the Diamana series. ... Tiger Woods again had the cavity-back Nike VR_S forged 3-iron (bent to 2-iron specs) in his bag at the Wells Fargo Championship. According to Woods, the club, which boasts a True Temper PXi 6.5 steel shaft, produces a 150-miles-per-hour ball speed. As a point of reference, a player with a 100-mph swing speed with a driver would do well to reach a 150-mph ball speed. ... Ryan Moore had a pair of new woods in the bag in Charlotte. Moore switched to an Adams Speedline Fast 12 3-wood (13.5 degrees) as well as the company's Idea Black Super XTD Hybrid (17 degrees). ... Martin Laird had a set of TaylorMade TP MC irons (5-PW) built to the same specs as his R9 gamers. The new irons replaced the old and became part of a split set for Laird who uses the original Tour Preferred model in his 3- and 4-irons.