How using a split grip can help you hit straighter drives

Distance is important for your tee shots, but all those yards are worthless if you can’t keep the ball in play. That’s why spurning accuracy in the pursuit of distance is such a dangerous game. You need a healthy dose of both skills to be truly effective.

Controlling the clubface is crucial in the pursuit of accuracy. While a face that’s a few degrees open or closed might not hurt you too much with the shorter clubs, with a driver in your hands it can be quite detrimental.

Sometimes when you’re really trying to get after it with a driver, your hands and wrists will get very active during the swing. And while this can generate some extra mphs on the radar, it can make controlling the clubface through impact difficult.

If this sounds like you, there’s an easy fix, courtesy of GOLF Top 100 Teacher Joe Hallett.

Use a split-hand grip

When you’re standing on the tee box and are staring down a tight driving hole, don’t make your practice swing as you normally would. Instead, grab the club and take a split grip and then make a practice swing.

It’ll feel weird at first, but you’ll notice that as you go back and through, the clubface is much more stable.

“It’ll be really hard to overly flip your wrists and hand through impact,” Hallett says.

Instead of relying only on your hands and wrists to generate speed, the split grip forces the club to get in sync with your body. Now, the big muscles are doing the work — and keeping the clubface much more stable through impact.

“Split the grip, and you’ll split the fairway,” Hallett says.

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