Good golf begins with a good grip.

The only way you are connected with the golf club is by your grip. How you grip the club greatly influences your swing. A correct golf grip gives you the freedom to swing the golf club with the most power and precision that you possibly can. A bad golf grip will hurt your chances of making consistent good contact with the golf ball. In these quotes and the accompanying video, Bobby Jones explains how to correctly grip the golf club.

Bobby Jones in 1917.

“The right hand approaches the shaft in this way, with palm to the front, and grips the shaft in the fingers.” 2
…Bobby Jones

“The grip must be positive, but never tense. The firmest pressure is exerted by the three smaller fingers of the left hand. The grip of the right hand is very light.” 3
…Bobby Jones
Note: The three smaller visible fingers Jones refers to in this quote were the last three fingers of the hand.

“The little finger of the right hand aids compactness by overlapping the index finger of the left, but the fingers twine around the shaft providing an ample spread to make manipulation of the clubhead easy.” 4
…Bobby Jones

“When addressing the ball, the player places his hands upon the club in a definite position, and in that position they must remain.” 5
…Bobby Jones

“A strained grip upon the club tenses the muscles in the forearms and tends to stiffen members that ought to be supple and active during the stroke; but the grip may be firm without introducing the least bit of rigidity in any part of the body.” 6
…Bobby Jones

“The right wrist and arm are the primary means of supplying speed and imparting force culminating at the ball. They should therefore remain relaxed throughout the stroke. Let us simply say that the left arm must keep the swing on track; the right hand must be responsible for timing and touch.” 7
…Bobby Jones

“The grip of the left hand should be arranged so that the shaft lies diagonally across the palm but is held mainly by the fingers. At the position of address, the club should rest upon the middle joint of the index finger of the left hand, but the most positive part of the grip of this hand should be exerted by the two smaller fingers and the middle finger.” 8
…Bobby Jones

“A correct grip is a fundamental necessity in the golf swing. It might even be said to be the first necessity, for a person must take hold of the club before he can swing it, and he must hold it correctly before it becomes physically possible for him to swing it correctly.” 9
…Bobby Jones

Bobby Jones Explains The Golf Grip

Playing Lessons With a Master – Part 1 The Grip

Bobby Jones Quotes Sources:
1. Bobby Jones and Ben Crenshaw, Classic Instruction, p21;
2. Bobby Jones and Ben Crenshaw, Classic Instruction, p22;
3. Bobby Jones and Ben Crenshaw, Classic Instruction, p24;
4. Bobby Jones and Ben Crenshaw, Classic Instruction, p26;
5. Bobby Jones, On Golf, p6;
6. Bobby Jones, On Golf, p6;
7. Bobby Jones, On Golf, p6;
8. Bobby Jones, On Golf, p7;
9. Bobby Jones, On Golf, p8;

I’ve had the Golfer’s Creed by David R. Forgan framed and hanging on a wall for many years. From time to time I will pause and read it again. I don’t know how many times I have read the Golfer’s Creed. Each time I do read it, I’m reminded of why I’m a golfer. Golf is the greatest game.

Golfer’s Creed

It is a science-the study of a lifetime, in which
you may exhaust yourself but never your subject.

It promotes not only physical health but moral force.

–David R. Forgan
Scotland, 1899

Bobby Jones, circa 1917.

Bobby’s success in major tournaments started when he developed a philosophy for how to play golf. He learned to play against the golf course, to make it his main competition and not the other golfers he was competing against. Bobby Jones knew that his greatest competitor was Old Man Par.

Success followed with his new attitude of competing against Old Man Par. Overall he won thirteen major championships and he won all four of the major championships of golf in 1930. His 1930 major championship wins included the United States Open, The Open Championship (British Open), The United States Amateur, and the British Amateur. This achievement is called the Grand Slam of Golf.

After his Grand Slam year of 1930 Bobby Jones retired from competitive golf when he was only twenty-eight-years-old. Jones then helped to design and found the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia and he co-founded of the Masters Tournament.

The following Old Man Par quotes were collected from the book, Down The Fairway by Robert Tyre Jones, Jr. by my late father, Richard F. Allen. This website is named OldManParGolf.com because it is a good way to play the game of golf, compete against Old Man Par. It’s how my dad played golf and it’s how I play too. Read what Bobby Jones says about Old Man Par and see if his idea of how to play golf won’t help you.

“No man will ever have golf under his thumb. No round will ever be so good it could not have been better. Perhaps that is why golf is the greatest of games. You are not playing a human adversary; you are playing a game. You are playing Old Man Par.

“Old Man Par is a patient soul, who never shoots a birdie and never incurs a buzzard. And if you would travel the long route with him, you must be patient too.”
– Robert Tyre Jones, Jr.

Note: A “buzzard” is an old term for what we now call a double bogey.

Note: The modern day Grand Slam of Golf would be winning all four of the major tournaments (the Masters, the United States Open, the Open Championship (British Open), and the Professional Golfer’s Championship.) in the same year.