I feel golf grips don’t get as much attention as they deserve. There is much talk about getting the best golf balls or top-qualify shafts but not about the grips. The truth is that grips play a significant role in determining whether you get the right hit, affecting your overall performance.
Golf club grips, designed to offer the players an excellent handling of the club, eliminate the possibilities of slippage. While a player’s need for traction and softness can be quite varied, it is safe to say that the best golf grips should fill a player’s hands and disallow any accidental movement of the club.
After evaluating a wide range of golf grips, we found five fantastic products that stood out from the others. The Golf Pride MCC Multi-Compound Grip took #1 spot on our list because its excellent concentration of traction offers the least slippage on swings irrespective of the weather conditions and it is also extremely durable.
Our runner-up, Winn Dri-Tac Standard Golf Grip, has an excellent shock absorption mechanism that reduces strain after prolonged play and provides the right traction and flexibility for swings. The other three on our list stood out for their price and beginner-friendliness.
Our Top 5 Best Golf Club Grips
Golf Pride MCC New Decade Multi-Compound Grip: Best Overall
If you’re thinking of getting the best golf grip in the market and don’t mind spending a few extra bucks for better performance, then we recommend Golf Pride MCC Multi-Compound Grip as a perfect choice. We have identified it as the overall best because of its endurance across all weather conditions.
This grip is a hybrid type, featuring a cord and a soft rubber design. It perfectly blends and interlinks brushed cotton fibers with soft rubber material and provides a good concentration of traction in all weather conditions without any compromise on the feel. Its lower hand diameter is large (with four extra wraps) to stimulate the feel, provide tighter pressure, lesser tension, and more power and fluidity during the swing.
Overall, we think this is the best grip if you stay in humid climates or tend to have sweaty hands.
PROS
- It has good tackiness and users said it gave them a firm grip of the shaft without compromising on the overall feel
- It has great moisture management and can be used in any weather condition.
- Because of its tapered design, tight pressure and less grip tension, this product guarantees a powerful swing with minimal mishits from accidental hand movement.
- Many users reported that they could easily install this grip by themselves.
CONS
- Some users considered the feel too soft
Winn DriTac Standard Golf Grips: Runner Up
Our runner-up offers a perfect blend of feel, performance and traction for an exciting golfing experience. It has a classic wrap-style design, featuring contours and grooves, to provide extreme stability throughout the swing without compromising the feel. This makes it an excellent option for players who want some degree of shock absorption. If you want to reduce the chances of strain or pain when you play for a prolonged period then this is the best grip for you.
Winn DriTac Standard Golf grip comes with a smaller base diameter, with increasing width going up, to give you firmness on the lower hand and the right amount of flexibility for different types of shots.
These grips are made with a strategic tread pattern and varying pressure points for reduced slippage. This design is perfect for keeping your hands dry and its soft texture guarantees extreme comfort.
PROS
- They provide extreme tackiness with minimal accidental movement of the club.
- Winn DriTac Golf grips work excellently under any weather condition.
- Thanks to its tapered design, you can get more concentration of pressure, grip firmness and swing flexibility.
CONS
- Players who love very soft grips wouldn’t fancy this product that much.
- Like all wrap-style design golf grips, this one wears out rather quickly.
Lamkin Crossline Standard Grip: Best for Budget
Next on our list is the LamkinCrossline Standard Grip. These classic grips are one of the least priced and are also the best-selling grips from this brand in the last 20 years.
These were designed to offer a comfortable feel, high performance, and durability. It features a densely-spaced surface pattern to provide excellent comfort and is firm enough to avoid slippage and unintentional hand movement. Hence, a good option for players who need high lateral traction and stability in their grip.
Also, its firm grip material helps in limiting the torsion on shot impact, providing more torsion control, consistency, and confidence for players.
This product comes with the crossline 360 pattern with the upgraded soft rubber compound, and offers Omni-directional traction and assured durability in any weather conditions.
PROS
- Its low price makes it a go-to option
- As with other products on our list, this one has a good handling
CONS
- The grips do not come with tapes and you will need to buy tapes separately to install.
Golf Pride Velvet Standard Grip: Best Value for money
I liked this grip especially because, despite being average-priced it features some cool technology and delivers excellent results. It has the Raised Ridge design that, as it sounds, makes the ridge protrude and locks the hands in place. This feature is extremely useful if you struggle with consistent hand placements. The integrated ALIGNR Technology works along with the Raised Ridge to help you keep the clubface square throughout the swing and on impact.
Also, the rubber blend design – the plus sign texture combined with a non-slip surface pattern – guarantees maximum playability in any weather condition by picking the moisture off its surface, thereby giving consistent traction.
PROS
- Golf Pride Velvet grips offers the same high-performance irrespective of the weather conditions.
- The advanced ALIGN technology on this grip improves torsion control and firmness.
CONS
- Its rubber construction isn’t best for durability and will tend to lose its tackiness with time.
Winn Excel Wrap Midsize Golf Grip: Best for Beginners
If you’re only beginning your golfing journey, you’ll need accessories that will make your ride gentle. One of the basic things you should get correct is keeping your hands in the right place while hitting the ball. Fortunately Winn Excel Wrap Midsize Golf Grip does a great job at helping new learners do just that.
It comes with contoured grooves to give you firmness and stability throughout the swing. It also comes with Winn’s patented woven design for better handling and a low risk of slippage.
The product features a soft, cushioned rubber material that promotes a better feel and allows your hands to rest and balance, with your fingers efficiently wrapping into place. Thus, reducing the possibilities of accidental movement and removing the need to add more pressure on your hands to stabilize the swing.
PROS
- Its contoured groove provides stability on the swing with little risk of accidental hand movement or slippage
- With its cushioned material, the Winn Excel golf grips keep the hands from being fatigued after a long play
CONS
- Feel isn’t the best
Know Your Golf Grips
How you handle your club, plays a significant role in your shot’s precision and overall performance.
So, it can be worth your time to understand the nitty-gritty of grips. Plus, it wouldn’t hurt to throw around some of that knowledge and impress your boss on Sunday!
Types of Grips
The construction material/style of your grip matters to your overall playing performance. There are various options available such as wrap grip, rubber grip, cord grip and hybrid grip.
- Rubber Grips
These are the most popular kind of grips and a go-to choice for most golfers. In fact, all grip types have rubber in their construction – other grips feature other materials also. Rubber grips provide excellent tackiness, enhanced feel and good feedback from the clubhead. These grips come in a wide range to suit a wide range of player’s preferences.
- Cord grips
These grips use corded fabrics, wrapped in the typical rubber grips, to offer more firmness, traction, and effectiveness in wet conditions. This grip type is available in full or half cord type and provides precision where you want the traction (on the underside). They are one of the quickest to wear out but most suited for players with sweaty hands.
- Wrap Golf Grips
These are similar to the outdated all-leather grip type but utilize thin strips of leather wrapped around the top of the shaft. They are equally comfortable and firm like the all-leather grips and provide the same texture and feel throughout the circumference of the grip. This grip-type is one of the easiest to install and most comfortable to align.
- Putter Grips
These grips have the most complex design of all grip types. They mostly do not have the same traction level or texture because, along the green, you do not need to swing the putter so high nor grip it too firmly. They also come with a flat edge included at the front of the grip to provide for accurate placement of your thumb so you can exercise better control of the club.
Size
Our hand sizes are different; so golf grips also come in varying sizes and thicknesses to accommodate both big and small hands sizes. Grips are generally classified into Junior, Undersized, Standard, Midsized, and Oversized grip sizes, with the standard type being the most common.
Grip sizes do more than just accommodate different hand sizes – they can also determine the feel and movement of your hands. For example, thicker grips will fill your hands more and provide a more comfortable and firmer grip, allowing you to use both your shoulders and arm to deliver great shots from tees to greens.
You can manually measure the diameter of a grip which is already installed, at a point 5 cm down from the large end of the grip (where the upper hand and wrist align with the grip).
Shape
Golf grips come in three different shapes- the round shape, the ribbed shape, and the alignment grip with varied importance. The round shape is the most popular, because many players love its flexibility and the ease of movement along the shaft of the club.
The ribbed-shaped grips, on the other hand, with their adjustable concentric ridges along the spine of the club are not quite as flexible as the round-shaped ones. The integrated ridges are called ‘reminders’ because they remind the golfer where their hand limits are for a more efficient and firmer grip.
The alignment grip is the newest kind. They feature protruding ridges around the body to avoid slippage and promote firm grips.
Feel
The way your grip feels in your hand is also another important factor to consider while purchasing one. There are three main golf grip textures- soft, medium, and firm.
The soft grip provides the most comfortable feel by absorbing some of the impact. It becomes a fantastic option when combined with large-sized grips for golfers who either love coziness or experience pain in the hands while golfing.
The medium and firm grips provide high traction at the cost of comfort and are better at eradicating swing twisting.
Frequently Asked Questions
How frequently should my golf grips be replaced?
As with every golf accessory, your golf grips also need care and timely replacement. Re-gripping (replacing your grips) depends on how loose your grips have become. Typically, golf grips start to lose their tackiness after continuous use but we recommend changing them after every 40 to 50 rounds.
How do I change the golf grips by myself?
You might be surprised to know that re-gripping doesn’t take too much time and effort and you can save some small bucks by doing it yourself. The video below shows a step-by-step guide on how to go about it.
How to clean and maintain golf grips to last longer?
Like with every other golf accessory, grips wear out, tear, but, the overall durability is dependent on how you maintain them. Grips get dirty with use, so you will have to clean them regularly. The magic trick for making your grip last longer is frequent cleaning.
Mild washing soap is suitable for most grip types. You will also need a soft scrub brush or an abrasive pad and a cloth. Mix your washing soap in lukewarm water and scrub the grip with the soapy water from all sides. Next, rinse off the soap and pat dry it with the cloth. Ensure that the grip is completely dried before using.
These days, grips come with water-resistant and UV-tolerant designs to deal with dirt, washing, and slippage when in use. You can opt for these options if you live in humid or high moisture weather conditions.
Which grip profile is best for my game? Tapered or Non-tapered?
Traditionally, all grips taper down from the top and this is a standard design option provided by all manufacturers. However, if your grip doesn’t feel right, then its taper rate can very well be the reason.
In such a case, you might want to try a non-tapered grip. It has the same diameter from top to bottom which fosters minimal grip pressure and wrist movement, enabling you to get more relaxed and smooth strokes out of your shoulders.
A reduced-tapered grip is also a fairly straighter design, although the bottom is still smaller than the top. It is suitable for players who apply lighter pressure on the shaft to get more accuracy on the swing.
Wrapping Up
Finally to recap, you should consider the feel, traction, and firmness you prefer before considering any golf grip. Many golfers prefer large grips that fill their hands and provide a soft and comfy feel, so they opt for rubber grips. However, others prefer smaller grips that are harder and allow more tension- they mostly opt for corded or wrap style grips.
As per our research, the best golf grip is Golf Pride MCC Multi-Compound Grip with Winn DriTac Standard Golf Grip being the runner-up. These products stand out with their feature-rich designs, integrated technologies (both recent and patented technologies like the hybrid construction and thread-like pattern for excellent pressure concentration), durability, and weather-defying performance.
We hope our list was comprehensive enough to point you to the right grip type for your skill set and experience. Good luck with your selection, and have an exciting golfing experience.