Best Golf Grips for Sweaty, Dry, Sore, Small, Large Hands

golf grip for large hands

 

Best Golf Grips for Dry Hands

Dry hands are a common problem for golfers. While your surrounding environment is one of the primary reasons for hand dryness, hereditary conditions, medications, dehydration, hand wash chemicals can also contribute to dry hands.

You can reduce the dryness of your hands while playing golf by doing one or more of the following:

  • Apply a good quality moisturizer all over the dry areas. You may have to do this once or more than once in a day, depending on the extent of dryness. If the skin is very scaly, you may consult a dermatologist who will prescribe a special cream or lotion to treat the condition.

  • Opt for overnight treatment with products like Vaseline and keep your hands covered with soft gloves to contain the moisture and help it get absorbed into the skin.

  • Keep control over your stress levels. This may be surprising, but your dry skin problems will begin to subside as your stress levels come down.

  • Use gloves when you carry out tasks involving water, such as washing vessels, etc. This can help your skin retain its natural oils.

  • Check with your doctor for the possibility of UV light therapy if the dryness is very severe or you have acute psoriasis problem.


You can look at various golf grips in the market for your dry hands so that you have a firm grip on your golf club. These grips are available in various materials and textures to help you decide which works the best for your hands.

Keep in mind that what works for someone you know with dry hands may not work for you. So, it may be ideal if you try out various options before you decide what works the best for you and gives you the desired tackiness for a better grip. 

Wearing a glove when you play is a good idea if you have dry hands. However, if this doesn’t appeal to you, you can check out different golf grips especially for dry hands.

Some good recommendations for golf grips are Lamkin Crosslines, Grip Master, Winn, IomicDri-Tac, Golf Pride Tour Velvet, and Golf Pride Tour Wrap.

Scratch wedges with stock grips from the manufacturer PURE and Golf Pride New Decade MultiCompound are also worth looking into.

Alternatively, if you don’t want to replace the existing grip of your golf clubs, you can try applying products like Golf Grip on them.

You can also try the solution called Dry Hands on your hands for a good grip. This solution has a water repellent property. This keeps rain and perspiration at bay so that you don’t encounter gripping problems due to moisture.

The Dry Hands grip solution is ideal for hot, damp, rainy, and humid conditions. In my experience, I found the solution doesn’t leave a powdery residue on my hands nor does it give me a greasy or sticky feeling.

 

Best Golf Grips for Sore Hands

There are two main reasons why you encounter sore hands. One of them is because you tend to overuse your hands without giving them sufficient rest. Performing the same actions repeatedly can also trigger hand soreness.

Common causes of sore hands:

  • Using power tools
  • Playing sports (like golf!)
  • Lifting very heavy objects
  • Typing on a keyboard
  • Using a mouse for long hours.

 

Best Golf Grips

RankingProductGrip Feel
1Winn Dri-Tac Firm
2Lamkin REL AceFirm
3Winn Excel Soft/Tacky
4Golf Pride CP2 Wrap Soft/Tacky
5Golf Pride Tour Wrap Medium Soft
6non-pro PURE grips Medium Soft
7Super Stroke S-Tech Medium Soft
8C-Taper 130x Thermoplastic
9Golf Pride New Decade MultiCompound Thermoplastic
10ArnieLeather
11JackLeather
12Best GripsRubber
13GripmastersRubber
14Tour VelvetsMid-sized
15Avon Chamois Jumbo Large

 

You can try a few golf grips that still allow you to enjoy a game of golf with your sore hands. While they may not be specifically for sore hands, they do justice and help you with good control over your golf club. I will give you a few recommendations here.

Winn Dri-Tac is a good golf grip that you may check out, with one or two additional wraps. Lamkin REL Ace is another option that gives you a firm feel and has a shock-absorbing property.

Winn Excel and Golf Pride CP2 Wrap are also worth considering if you want fat, tacky, and soft grips. The ability to lessen shock impact is another highlight of the Excel grip.

Golf Pride Tour Wrap grips are also suitable for sore hands. The non-pro PURE grips and Super Stroke S-Tech are quite soft but are also durable and firm.

Golfers with sore hands have also found using C-Taper 130x and Golf Pride New Decade MultiCompound quite effective. The serrated design on Tacki-Mac oversized thermoplastic grips also helps sore hands to improve their grip.

You may also try looking at different leather grips like Arnie or Jack as leather can be quite soothing on sore hands. Leather grips from Best Grips and Gripmasters have rubber linings for a cushioned feeling.

Some players with sore hands find playing with midsized grips such as Tour Velvets or oversized golf grips like Lamkin Oversize Crosslines and Avon Chamois Jumbo that are quite soft and reduce grip pressure. The rubber Avon grip is highly durable and produces very little tension on your hands.

A growing amount of golfers prefer using graphite shafts instead of steel shafts along with shock-stopping gloves from manufacturers like FootJoy.

The UST Recoils graphite shafts come at a decent price with high quality. You can also check out Nippon shafts or shaft inserts like True Temper and Pro-Soft to dampen or minimize vibration. Alternatively, you can use a little anti-slip spray like Grip Boost.

 

Best Golf Grips for Arthritic Hands

If you’re prone to arthritis, then taking a very firm grip on your golf club can be quite painful. While this is a problem commonly associated with senior players, younger players are prone to arthritis too.

Some manufacturers have golf grips specifically designed for arthritic players. I suggest you look into the suggestions for grips given below if you’re suffering from arthritis.

Use oversized grips or fatter and thicker grips. This often helps because the large size will require your hands to exert less tension resulting in minimum pain.

The oversized Avon Chamois counterpart has a cushioned and soft feel with the ability to dampen vibration. The serrated Tacki-Mac oversized grip is a great choice too because of its rough texture that gives you a firm grip without having to grip very tightly.

If the extra-large size isn’t your cup of tea, then another good option is to check out the mid-size variant. The Pure DTX grip is quite firm. If you already own mid-size grips, a few additional wraps under them should do the trick.

The VDR and Tour Wrap 2G golf grips have less vibration and are tacky as well so that they are easy to hold at the same time. Super Stroke, Enlow, Winn Dri-Tac, Golf Pride CP2, Tour Velvet, Lamkin Comfort Plus, and JumboMax golf grips have also been well received by players with arthritis.

You can also look out for special or corded golf grips in your golf shop. The Lamkin Arthritic is meant exclusively for players with arthritis.

If you’re not for changing the grip, you could try your luck with a golf club that has a forged head. Such clubs are not very heavy and your hands will not have much exertion making it much less painful.

You can also replace steel shafts with graphite shafts. Bionic gloves also do a great job if you’re comfortable wearing gloves.  

 

Best Golf Grips for Large Hands

The normal golf grips may not go well for you if you have large hands. This is because standard grips are designed for people with normal-sized hands.

A correct grip ensures better control over your golf club and helps to render the right shot and swing, along with proper trajectory and ball flight. Oversized golf grips often work great on large hands.

 

How to Measure Golf Grip Hand Size

You will have to take two measurements to know the exact size and thickness of the golf grip that you need for your large hands.

  1. The length of your upper hand from the end of the most extended finger to the wrist at its deepest crease tells you what size your glove shaft should be.
  2. Your left hand is your upper hand if you’re a right-handed golfer and vice versa.
  3. Similarly, the length of the most extended finger is the thickness that you’ll require for the grip.
  4. If your grip is right, the tip of your most extended finger must touch your thumb at its base.

The ten-finger grip is a good suggestion for players with large hands when who have less strength and muscle power.

If you do have larger hands, this ten finger grip will help you in squaring a clubface. This grip will help you establish good contact between club and the ball. The end result is, you will avoid hooks and slices because of the best positioning of your hands.

Read more: My Ten Finger Golf Grip Guide

 

What Size Golf Grips to Use for Large Hands

Often oversized and midsized golf grips are recommended for large hands. Most manufacturers offer oversized golf grips that are usually 9 to 9-1/4 inches long. This is about a quarter of an inch bigger in size than the normal large grip.

The renowned manufacturer Ping offers golf grips in different sizes ranging from large to small and has a color code for each size.

The orange color code on its golf grip indicates that it’s their largest club size. The difference in the various grip sizes that they offer is 1/16th of an inch. They can usually be fitted on all golf clubs.

Manufacturers also offer midsize golf grips with and without huge butt caps for large hands. While MultiCompound grips have huge butt caps, those from Lamkin do not have such big butt caps. Sometimes standard leather grips serve the same purpose as midsize golf grips.

However, many players have found that they can give their best performances with the normal grips as well instead of oversized or midsized golf grips. They prefer to add a few additional wraps to their standard grips.

Usually, just two or three extra wraps are more than enough for players with large hands to give their best with their golf grips.

 

What Happens if My Golf Grips are Too Big?

Using golf grips that are too big for you can have an adverse impact on your swing performance. Your swing, trajectory and ball flight will all be negatively impacted when the size of your golf grips are too large for your hands.

Wayward shots are one of the most common problems with golf grips that are too big. This can be irrespective of whether you play your game on a course or a range.

Similarly, such grips can result in changing your wrist angle drastically when you do a downswing. As a result, your hand movement gets restricted and affects the clubhead speed negatively. This, in turn, lessens the distance you’re able to cover with your golf club.

Another problem you’re likely to encounter when using too big golf grips is that you will not be able to rotate the clubface in time to square the face to the ball when an impact takes place.

In other words, large grips can stop you from turning over the golf club fast. This will result in fades or slices.

The best way to know if a golf grip is too big for you is to fit one on a single golf club and see how it affects your performance.

If you face any of the problems mentioned above, you might want to get back to using your golf club with its previous grip.

Also, keep in mind that large hands do not always need oversized or midsized golf clubs.

 

Are my Golf Grips Too Small?

Small golf grips are designed for golfers with small hands. However, this isn’t true in every case. Remember that grips claimed to be small by the manufacturer may not be small for you.

There is an easy method which will help you determine if your golf grips are too small for your hands.

  1. Establish your normal grip on your golf club using your upper hand.
  2. Check the distance between the tip of your longest finger and the base of your thumb.
  3. Ideally, the fingertip and the thumb base must just touch each other.
  4. If the middle finger appears to be digging too much into your thumb pad or palm, your grips are most likely too small for you.

You can alter the grip of one of your golf clubs to make it slightly smaller and see how you’re able to perform with it.

If you end up playing inconsistently, it means that your golf grip is smaller than what it should be.

Note: You can always put the golf grip back to the size it originally was.

 

What Happens if My Golf Grip is Too Small?

Golf grips that are too small can also cause problems just like their too big counterparts.

A common problem you may encounter with very small golf grips is excessive hand action leading to inconsistency. This will create premature closing of the clubface.

As a result, you will encounter a hook or a pull. In some cases, your shot may also end in a draw.

Also, when your golf grip is too small, you tend to grip too hard on your golf club leading to too-tight grip pressure. This will result in poor contact with your golf club.

 

Advantages of Using Small Golf Grips

While using small golf grips has its downside, it also has its advantages, if used properly. Some players have found that they can render good swings with small golf grips.

Some golfers also deliver consistent performance with them. These golf grips may also prove to be beneficial in offering the best impact and follow through.

Undersized golf grips can help golfers place their fingers with precision and have a wrap-around at their top.

Players, who tend to fit their golf clubs more on their palm, may find that small golf grips are a better fit. Small grips assist players in turning over the club more often. This makes it ideal for players who are either push faders or slicers.

Read more: How to Stop Losing your Grip During Golf Swing

Ernie

Ernie loves documenting interesting facts about golf.

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