Fundamentals are called fundamentals because if you get them wrong you'll have a hard time hitting good shots.
The grip might be the most basic fundamental--it's the only link between you and the club--but it's the one thing many players get totally wrong.
There are plenty of elaborate descriptions about how to put your hands on the club, but top New York teacher Michael Jacobs uses a simple comparison familiar to almost everybody to get his students doing it right.
"Stick out your left hand and hold the club like you would a heavy suitcase," says Jacobs, whose new book, Elements of the Swing, was released last week. "If you picked up a suitcase, you wouldn't take the handle diagonally across your palm. You'd let it rest in the creases of your fingers where they attach to your palm."
Next, add your right hand to the grip slightly palm up, running the handle along the top crease in your palm and curling your fingers around the underside. You can rest the little finger of your right hand either on the left forefinger or in the channel between the forefinger and middle finger, or interlock the little finger and forefinger together, Jacobs says. Using a ten-finger grip, with all ten fingers on the handle, isn't as common, but that works just fine as well.
"Not every 'classic' golf tip you hear is necessarily still relevant now, but this one is still true--there's no reason not to have a great grip," says Jacobs, who is based at Rock Hill Country Club in Long Island. "If you start with a bad one, you're going to have to make compensations in your swing from the beginning. You want to be able to transmit the force you create with your body as efficiently as possible to the clubhead, and a good grip is an important part of that."