Your only point of contact with the club is through the grip, so it’s vitally important that yours aren’t neglected. However, it’s very common for a golfer not to notice the wearing of their grips as it’s a process which occurs slowly over time, by which point the golfer gets used to the change.
WHY DO GRIPS WEAR OUT?
The natural oils on your hands, UV light and dirt all cause wear, which reduces tackiness and traction.
ARE WORN GRIPS HARMFUL?
Less traction can cause the grip to slip and the clubface to twist, resulting in off-centre strikes and less accuracy.
CAN YOU COUNTER THIS EFFECT?
We often see golfers with tight grip pressure try and secure their clubs, but this adds tension to the hands, wrists and arms, which reduces clubhead speed and distance.
HOW OFTEN SHOULD I RE-GRIP?
It might seem obvious, but the more you play the sooner you’ll need a re-grip, so we recommend replacing annually, but if you play more it might be more often.
Old, worn grips can lead to a lot of problems, including poor accuracy and a loss of distance as we outlined above, but if you ignore the problem things can get a whole lot worse and you’ll struggle to keep hold of the club altogether.
Be clear on these warning signs
Most golfers just do not know when it is time to replace their grips. Here are some tangible warning signs that you can look out for.
SMOOTH OR SHINY SURFACES
These are the most common warning signs and mean tackiness and traction are in short supply. Less traction can cause the grip, and consequently the head, to move mid swing, resulting in off centre strikes and misdirected shots
FADED OR BARE SPOTS
Faded patches often start to appear around where your thumb and fingers sit and with less traction in those areas you’ll find yourself adopting a tighter grip to hold on to your club, which adds tension that in turn reduces head speed and distance.
CRACKS OR SPLITTING 
If you spot cracks your grips have likely lost their traction long ago. Not only are these likely to fully split, they’ll also reduce the feel you experience making a consistent short game harder to achieve.
HOW ARE YOUR GRIPS LOOKING?
If you haven’t already, go and take a look at the condition of your grips – are any of these warning signs ringing true for you? If you’re wondering how you could benefit from a new grip, come in store and we’ll talk you through your options.
World Famous golf coach David Leadbetter had this to say in a recent interview with Foremost Golf…
“I’d recommend players ideally change their grips every 40 rounds as it’s amazing the wear and tear you place on them. Grip pressure is vital and in golf if you’ve got a slick grip your pressure instinctively increases to hold on to the club and that’s something us coaches are constantly fighting.”
He also added this on grip fitting, “One of the most important things is making sure the grip is the right size. Using a standard size grip is like going in to a shoe shop and getting assize nine because that fits everybody. It’s just not the case.”
BEWARE OF FAKES
We all want a bargain but in most cases you truly get what you pay for, or even worse in many cases.
There are so many fakes coming from online sources like ebay. I’ve seen some shockers, completely inconsistent sizing and they wear out in no time. Do your game a favour – call in to see us soon and talk about your grips. We will give you a totally honest assessment on their conditon (they may just need a good clean!) and also advise on the grip size that will help you to play your best.
