Do you know what golf’s secret handshake is? It’s the grip. It’s the only point of contact between you and the club. Yet, we get it wrong most of the time. You have been aiming for a smooth takeaway, following all the textbook guidelines, but still send the ball slicing into the next fairway. That’s because your hands are either in the wrong place or holding on for dear life. Well, don’t worry, the good news is you can easily fix these mistakes. The bad news is, these are at times so subtle you might not even realize you are making them.

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1. Don’t hold on for dear life

Imagine a golfer is standing over a rough, a bunker, or a wide area of deep water. Instinctively, their hands tighten around their club. ‘If I just hold on harder, I will be able to control it better,’ they think. That’s exactly where they are wrong. By now, they have strangled their swing.

When you grip your club too tightly, the tension goes through your hands, wrists, arms, and shoulders. That tension, or rather stiffness, is going to kill your natural rhythm and will eventually slow down your clubhead speed. The result will be weak, miss-hit shots that flutter instead of flying high.

Here’s a simple test to fix it. On a scale of 1 to 10, the grip pressure should be around four. Right now, you might be at a seven or eight. Grip the club so lightly that it feels like it might slip out of your hands. Surprisingly, it won’t, but your ball will definitely slip out farther, all the way across that obstacle.

2. Don’t rotate your hands too far right

Now this might sound hard for right-handers. They usually turn their hands too far to the right on the handle in an attempt for a strong grip. They will see three or four knuckles on their lead hand. The “V” between their thumb and forefinger will point past their right shoulder.

What does this do? The clubface shuts too quickly, and the ball rockets left. You will be constantly fighting your hands to keep the face square. The reason golfers do this is to fix a slice. A slightly stronger grip than neutral is how you fix it, but if rotated too far, it creates the opposite problem.

To avoid this, start aiming your clubface directly at your target. Rotate your hands slightly left until you see just two knuckles on your lead hand. The “V” between your thumb and forefinger should point toward your right shoulder, not past it.

Jordan Spieth was one of those who learned this lesson the hard way. After his hand injury in 2018, his grip got progressively weaker. He tried manipulating it, his clubface opening more at impact. As a result, he went from winning the 2017 Open to dropping to 92nd in the OWGR by 2021.  His resurgence in early 2021 coincided directly with making this grip correction, jumping to 52nd in the ranking.

3. Don’t rotate your hands too far left

Now this is the opposite problem. When your hands are rotated too far left (toward the target), you’ll see one or zero knuckles on your lead hand. The “V” points at your chin or maybe at your left shoulder. So when there’s an impact, this weak position leaves the clubface wide open, and the ball curves farther right. It’s the dreaded banana ball.

The fix for this is the same. Turn both your hands slightly away from the target (for right-handers, it’s clockwise) until you can see two knuckles on your lead hand. You know the drill, then; the “V” should point toward your right shoulder. At first, it will feel like you’re holding the club wrong. But that’s a good sign. Tiger Woods had gone through this ordeal, too, with Butch Harmon.

These were some of the mistakes golfers make and how you could fix them. Your grip is free to fix, and it affects every single shot you hit. If you are serious about improving your game, this is where you should start. Because before you fix your swing, you have to fix the handshake.