Grip In The Crimp

I've started following some of the DJ vertical swing advices six months ago and although I play not very often,  my game has improved in acuracy and distance, also achieving  longer distances with 3/4 of the complete "old swing"

From Barcelona -Catalonia / Spain- "muchos recuerdos"

Vicente G.Alonso

Don great reminder on the grip.

I have to watch my grip if I dont I slide back into my Jack Nicluas grip with the grip more in the left palm in stead of the fingers.

Lynn, welcome to my world. Okay so here's the brief 411. I have been a professional massage therapist for 11 years mostly at high end spas at luxury hotels in Las Vegas.
I am currently at the Treasure Island Hotel. About 5 years ago I began to notice my fingers would get stuck in that closed fist position, yes especially in the morning before warming up. My left ring finger and my right middle finger were the worst. It became increasingly painful and actually challenging to unlock them. Wearing a brace on each at night would help and you may want to try that. Eventually I got pain and inflamation reducing shots in each and that helps for a few weeks and then the pain and discomfort returns. It's a cycle of not so fun stuff. Being a gardener and a golfer has'nt helped I'm sure. It's like when I'm not working I still use my hands constantly. Icing also helps and I've tried every lotion and potion you can rub on. Ibuprofin and Aleve have been my buds too.
Surgery. Okay it helped. I no longer have trigger fingers however my hands(particularly those two fingers) still are stiff and painful at times every day. I think on top of everything else I have arthritis too. Sounds terrible but I live just fine with it. One of the best tips I got that I do every  morning is fill the bathroom sink with really hot water and flex and stretch my hands in there for about 5 minutes.
Hope this helps a little. I'm glad to talk more about it so ask away at whatever I did'nt cover. I feel for you but it's not life threatening. And I still do everything and consider myself blessed.

Thank you Don - I went and tried gripping with my right hand this way and it had an immediate impact!!  I went to the range Friday after seeing this tip, and hit everything very straight.  But this has happened before - and then once out on the course its hard to get the same good results.  Not this time.  Immediately on my round on Sunday morning I was hitting everything straight.  Out of the gate - birdie, par, par, par - and a 37 (par 35) on the front!!!  I'm a 12.8 index, so this is a great 9 holes for me.  The guy I was playing with was wondering what in the world was up with me.  It rained the whole round (pretty hard on the back) and I wound up with 37-41=78 (par 35-34=69) and I was the only golfer in our little club to shoot anything decent!!  More fairways, more greens - lots of birdie putts that I just missed - tons of pars!!  Woohoo!!  Sometimes its a small thing - plenty still to work on but this was a huge breakthrough.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Hiya Surge-  Bon voyage on your forthcoming trips to Toronto and England.  Like Boogm, Facappr et al thanks for the grip reminder.  I think I've been letting the grip slip into the palm a bit like some of the other guys and your tip today should put on the brakes to that nonsense.
Regards,
Ray

I got over this by doing the WTF measurement relevant to myself and choking down on the club to that point. This really has helped get my driver back on track, now I have done the WTF I am confident that the club length is about right, not ideal but ok for now. I don't keep changing my WTF during practise or game anymore when I hit a bad one which has made me more consistent.
Robert F posted the measurements but am sure if you do a search it will come up.

Thanks Steve for the input. Not sure but tempo and posture could be part of it. I do know I have a different feel so far as I mentioned, but it may be other simple factors too. Definately need to practice with the short clubs more over the next few weeks. I think I'm going to force more short club and putting practice by not only reviewing Surges short game videos but only taking those clubs (the pitch, 53 and 58 along with my putter) to the practice range. I'll certainly consider any suggestions though. Thanks.

Thanks.

Just looked at Flexcin with cm8. Is that the one recomended T?

Thanks, Surge.  I never thought much about it but I'm guilty more times than not.  Good grip analysis for us duffers.

Joe, I'm pretty sure that Doc will give you a reply to this one as soon as he sees it.So make sure to check back in for a reply.

Don,

Thanks so much for the video on grip.

It was just what I needed.

T. Murray

Robert

Just curious about your surgery.  I seem to recall it was trigger finger?  My reason for asking is I've developed trigger finger, left hand index finger. (self diagnosed with the help of web MD)  All of the symptoms are classic.

I've started looking at options and at this point don't want to consider doing anything til winter perhaps.  At this point it really only seems to be painful in the morning when I get up.  Any suggestions or input would be greatly appreciated.

Lynn42

I was thinking the same that he was getting excited and caught up in the moment, but was making sure. Thanks.

Hi there T ,       A friend of mine is using flexcin, and felt improvement within a couple of weeks.   Cheers Russty

Eureka! now I get it...you solved my problem...I have been working on a draw but hitting a lot of smother hooks..big help..thanks Surge

Bux, interesting question & observation on your part. Surge does say at the 48 second mark that he wants the thumb at 12:00 and in-line with the forearm. Then later at 1:32 he says, paraphrasing in case I missed a word, in relation to both thumbs with emphasis on the left,
" ...pointing up the forearms, if on top, it's not dynamically balanced." So I would continue to use the manual page 27 like you noted,where it says the left thumb should be between 1:00 & 2:00 and pointing up the forearm.Sometimes Surge gets so excited and caught up in the moment that he misspeaks, Most of us Surgites notice that but just chuckle and carry on knowing what he meant to say to get his thought across. I'm sure Surge or someone will likely clarify this for you soon.
Happy Golfing

Overlap.

A great tip Surge. Thanks. 

I think for me it just gives me more confidence to think I am gripping the driver to the correct WTF measurement. I don't know what effect this is having on flex and club dynamics with my specific driver, the driver is off the shelf so not custom fitted so I have to take it for what it is or get a custom fit driver which I am working on.

Today I hit my first drive right and lost the ball, then the drives after this was pretty good I had a spell of 4 really good drives on the go.   

It is one particular brand or manufacturer of the product. CM8 is actually short for Cetyl Myristoleate which is sold/manufactured by a variety of companies. I looked at the Flexcin brand, but decided to go with the Natrol brand at a much lower cost. Here's the link to the site where I found it at the lowest cost.
http://www.iherb.com/Natrol-Ce...
You might also enjoy this link for more info on CM8
http://www.harrydiehl.com/

Surge, thanks for the back porch tip on the grip & crimp.Like Roger, I have to be careful or I also will end up with the club gripped more into my palm. So thanks for the reminder.

Thanks for the info, Robert.  It started about a month ago and some mornings are worse than others.  I've found if I adjust and soften my grip it gets me through the round ok, so far.  Whe I had my woods regripped I did go to oversize wraps and had a jumbo put on my 9 wood.  Seems to help.  My go that route with my ping irons.  Doc's driver is fine with the grips I asked for.

I want to avoid surgery if at all possible, so I need to research alternative/holistic approaches especially since this is in what seems to be early stages.  For sure, getting old is not for sissies...lol.

I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my post.  If I find anything or have questions, you can count on the fact that I will ask.

Thanks again

Lynn42 

Don,  when you are on your deck giving  your instructions, your deck is in the shade and its very hard to what your are trying to show us and the camera never gives  a close up of the hand position or the fingers so we can see the correct grip.  How about moving your instructions to the back yard or golf course so we can see what you are trying to help us with.

Bill Thompson

Great tip, Surge! tried the grip today and it helped me hit the ball more solid, thanks.

This chart:

WTF.......Driver length
29-32.......42.5
32-34.......43
34-36.......43.5
36-37.......44
37-38.......44.25
38-39.......44.5
39-40.......44.75

These are starting numbers. I recommend tying a string or rubber band around the club grip at the noted length so that you can be consistent about where you grip the club.

I have the same problem when the club slips in my right hand. Did I hear correctly the left thumb is at 12:00? I thought it was to be at 1:00 like in the Foundation Manual.

Excellent answer from Robert below. Again as he alluded to, cutting a shaft shorter generally makes it stiffer which is tougher with a slower swing. It makes the swingweight lighter hince the reason for added weight needed for the head. Another option a professional(not from Dicks but a skilled fitter) would do is tip weight the shaft to effect a correct swingweight as another way aside from leadtape. See a certified pro if you can.