WATCH: Increase your swing speed simply by changing your grip pressure
Discover how grip pressure can affect the amount of club head speed you deliver! Using the GC Quad, we examine the truth behind how firmly you should grip the club.
Kristoffer Reitan just won his first PGA Tour event at the 2026 Truist Championship. He is a Ping staff member and has a complete set of clubs from the brand. He did make a late driver switch this weekend that helped propel him to victory.
Driver: Ping G440 Max (9 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 60 TX
3-wood: Ping G440 Max (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX
7-wood: Ping G440 Max (21 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Black 85 TX
Irons: Ping Blueprint S (4-9)
Shafts: KBS Tour X
Wedges: Ping S259
46-S
Shaft KBS Tour X
50-S
54-S
58-S
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Ping PLD Custom Ally Blue H (white finish)
Grips: Golf Pride MCC Midsize
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
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In this week’s episode of Inside the Ropes from the Truist Championship, Alistair Cameron catches up with Tony Finau, who is in the midst of an interesting long-putter experiment, and Webb Simpson, whose irons must be seen to be believed. Also featuring: Sepp Straka, Ryan Gerard, and much more!
Right now, I am tied for first place in my league! Don’t worry, the wheels will fall off as we get further into the year, but let’s keep the train rolling with 14 brand new clubs this week. We are off on the back nine again, so the driver is back in, and the 7-wood is out, as the course dictates what clubs I tend not to use. Excited to get these New Level irons out there and see if I can catch some of that driver magic I had down at Pinehurst with the Wilson Dynapwr+.
Driver: Wilson Dynapwr Max+ (12 degrees @ 11)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6s
3-wood: Cobra OPTM Max (15.5 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD VR-7s
Utility: PXG 0311 X Gen8
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI-85s Hybrid
Hybrid: Ping G440 4h (22 degrees @ 21)
Shaft: Ping Tour 2.0 Chrome 85s
Irons: New Level 702+ (5 & 6)
Shafts: Project X Red 6.0
Irons: New Level 702 CB (7-PW)
Shafts: Project X REd 6.0
Wedge: Titleist Vokey SM11 (50.12F)
Shaft: Nippon Modus Tour 105 S
Wedge: Titleist Vokey SM11 (56.14F)
Shaft: Nippon Modus Tour 105 S
Wedge: Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks (60V)
Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold S200
Putter: PXG Hot Rod ZT
Ball: Titleist ProV1x Left Dash
Bag: Ghost GT-14 Patriot
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ogo
May 27, 2018 at 3:13 pm
If you look at the comments on his youtube channel you will see a bunch of lying sychophants posting lies and support for him. It’s almost criminal.
josé
May 20, 2018 at 2:02 pm
Looks like Shawn has cut and run…. again.
steve
May 22, 2018 at 5:06 pm
#fail video ….. courtesy of Shawn Clements the Canadian golf guru
ogo
May 24, 2018 at 1:07 am
He’s a total chitcake who never backs up his vicarious videos with responses to GWRX comments.
Tom
May 19, 2018 at 8:21 pm
I had doubts on this until I tried it. Increasing grip pressure while keeping my forearms relaxed and making a full swing seemed to result in more distance and accuracy. To be continued……
SK
May 20, 2018 at 1:17 am
How can you increase your finger grip pressure while keeping your forearms relaxed?
Your finger tendons go thru your wrist, up your forearm and attach to the elbow bone structure. Your forearm muscles automatically tense up when your finger tendons tighten your grip. You don’t know what you are talking about!
Tom
May 20, 2018 at 9:53 am
When trying to dunk a basketball your hand gripping the ball is very tight with much pressure holding the ball. Your forearms and the rest of your body are far more relaxed. It doesn’t seem as if you’ve actually tried to do what Mr Clement suggests.
steve
May 21, 2018 at 10:40 pm
A one handed dunk requires a good palming grip on the ball to slam the ball. A two handed dunk is done with much less hand gripping force because the wrists flex to slam dunk. Golf swing requires a two handed grip that is relaxed to ensure freewheeling at the wrists.
SK
May 19, 2018 at 1:20 pm
If you watch Shawn’s swings you will notice that his knees-legs and hips are faster when he claims he is holding firmer. IOW, he is increasing his kinetic energy from his legs and hips and that increases his kinetic energy going into the clubhead. It’s either ignorance or fraudulence.
Leftshot
May 18, 2018 at 2:36 pm
This is the opposite of what most top golf instructors teach. They are always trying to get amateurs to swing with less grip pressure. I get the difference and the relationship between grip pressure and tension. But I think you need to address this for your viewers.
SK
May 20, 2018 at 1:20 am
If you tighten your finger gripping with your finger tendons, you will automatically tense up the surrounding forearm muscles… and that’s an anatomical fact. Shawn is mistaken in his “feel” story.
Bob Jones
May 18, 2018 at 12:04 pm
When the clubhead collides with the ball, some of the energy of the collision is sent back to the clubhead as the cost of setting a stationary object in motion. It seems to me what’s happening here is that if the grip pressure is too light, more of the force of the collision with the ball than it should be comes back into the clubface, decreasing the amount of energy transferred from the clubface to the ball. But holding the club securely makes the club more rigid, thus maximizing the force that can be transferred to the ball. I’ll welcome anyone better at physics than I am to improve on that surmise, or to correct it.
The trick, I think, is to hold securely with your hands, but not let that seize up your forearms.
SK
May 19, 2018 at 1:14 pm
Nope, your physics is wrong because when the shaft tip is flexing it becomes a free body, and the clubhead is disconnected from the upper shaft and hands. It’s whipsnapping through release into the ball. In fact, gripping the club handle harder will inhibit the freewheeling action around the lead wrist and defeat the Kinetic Chain action.
SK
May 17, 2018 at 5:16 pm
1. Are both hands squeezed to the “10” level?
2. Does impact hand feel different from “5” to “10” level?
3. Does increased hand pressure work for all shaft flexes?
4. Does the change stabilize or disrupt release action?
Nice video, Merci.
Mike W
May 18, 2018 at 1:15 pm
It looks like Mr. Clement has no problem with a full release action, even at “10” pressure.
alvin
May 19, 2018 at 1:02 pm
He could be lying and the only way to know the truth is with pressure sensors embedded in the club grip to prove grip pressures.
SK
May 20, 2018 at 1:23 am
“It looks like ….”?!! It looks like he’s scamming you with his fraudulent monitor readings because it’s impossible to grip tighter and then release the club around the lead wrist joint.