You have to love your golf grip. It makes you feel comfortable with the club in your hand. It inspires confidence that the club won't slip out of your hand. It reinforces that you don't have to choke the golf club to hit the ball well -- in fact, the only way is the opposite.
But there are several different types of golf grips out there, with all kinds of textures and materials. So you have to do a little searching to find what works best for you. Over time, I've found I love softer grips. It started with a love affair with the original Wynn wrap almost 20 years ago, and I've largely maintained that. However, I love a good corded grip, too, particularly for durability and all-weather conditions. So, I actually tend to carry a mix of grips -- a cord with a driver, softer grips down to the wedges and back to cords with the short-game clubs.
With that in mind, I recently received a set of Lamkin Z5 grips, and I had my pro put them on my wedges.
The Z5 grips look a little complex at first, and that's because, well, they are. Each grip, which comes in black, blue or red, has five -- really six -- specifically designed zones. There are two zones near the butt end of the club (which, in truth, are really one zone) use a horizontal pattern with a cotton cord weave for traction. In the middle zone, the makeup changes to a FingerLock pattern designed to visually indicate where the lead thumb rests and keeps it from moving. In the bottom two zones, one white, one the lead color, a micro-texture design is built for comfort for the non-golf hand. Then the sixth zone is the entire underside of the grip, which is built for a design of texture and comfort.
Like I said, kinda of complicated. But it's the subtlety here that really won me over. The zone markers, particularly at the bottom end of the grip, are helpful for hand placement, especially on fractional shots. I could easily see a golfer looking down at the Z5 as part of their routine to make sure their grip hits the right touchpoints. The lower half of the grip is particularly comfortable, especially on those more delicate shots. It's a tactile reminder that this is a touch shot.
As a corded grip, you're not worried about the same wear and tear of a softer grip, while you get some attention paid to your comfort. The tackiness is good, and a good wipe-down always helps. The Lamkin Golf Z5 grip comes in at $7 per grip, which is about what I would typically pay for a comfort-driven grip that I would have to replace a little more often.
