padding out right hand on golf grip.

Question
Hi John,

An unusual problem here.

Many years ago I read in a magazine that, during a wet day on the golf course, it was permitted to wrap a handkerchief round the grip to give better hold of the club. I was fooling around one day and I tried this under normal, dry conditions and found that I hit the ball better than I've ever done before. It just felt natural!  Best results were when I wrapped the handkerchief round the grip where my right hand was positioned. (I use normal sized grips)

Since then I have been trying to replicate this padding on my grip by experimenting with mid size grips and also taking the grips off and applying 3-4 layers of tape before putting the grips back on. This didn't really work, due to the bigger grip, I had difficulty in closing the clubface through impact and my shots would go straight right.

I found a better result when I applied 3 layers of tape underneath the grip where the right hand would be positioned. I know that this makes the right hand less dominant in the swing and I got positive results with this method but it still didn't replicate the 'handkerchief over the grip' shots. (I read a bit about this on the web and it says that if you add tape underneath the grip then it would affect the club's swingweight. Should I have added weight to the clubhead to compensate for this?)

I've now come to the conclusion that maybe I should not be padding out the grip but should pad out my right hand with something instead. Now I am experimenting by wearing a golf glove on my right hand (as well as my left) and the results have been quite good so far, but far from ideal in terms of how it looks and is not very practical.

Have you heard of anything like this? Is there anything out on the market I can try to give me the same feeling as my 'handkerchief over the grip' shots.
Should purchase some of these sofftie grips? They say that there is less taper in these grips than in others and that the position where the right hand should be is built up. If these grips are the solution will I still need to add extra weight to the clubhead to compensate for the fatter grip or has this been accounted for in the design of the grips?

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

I am 38 years of age and have been playing for 18 years and I am a 7 handicapper.

Many Thanks,

Gordon

Answer
Hey Gordon,

Years ago I experimented with adding extra tape (under just the right hand) also, with some decent results. I've never really liked the really soft grips.  They just didn't feel good to me...lots of folks like them.  As far as the swing weight goes, yes, technically anything you do to the club will effect the swing weight to some degree or another, but I doubt seriously if most people could tell any difference at all just from adding some extra tape under the grip.  Until they started making mid-sized grips in the early 90's padding the shaft with extra tape was the only way to do this.  I think there are several grips out there with extra material built under the lower half of the grip.  I'd put one on a wedge or something and try it out before I changed them all out though. (And I still wouldn't worry about the swing weight.)

Good luck

John