There are many options available in grips today. Choosing the right grip depends largely on personal preference. Particularly, the weight, sizes, and the material affect the playability - including the swing weight and the balance point, as well as the feel and the club-head release.

Market Trends – EPDM (Ethylene-Propylene-Diene-Monomer), Elastom ETM and other new compound materials available today feature different gripping characteristics - softness, tackiness, friction, etc. Nevertheless, conventional rubber grips are still popular, and are used by many major golf club manufacturers. 
   
Weight – The weight of a grip would be one of the most important specifications when you re-grip your golf clubs. Popular and widely used grips weigh at around 50 grams, while the weight of grips ranges from less than 20 grams to almost 70 grams. Majority of grips in the market, except for putter grips, are in the range of 40 – 55 grams. Changing from a 50-gram grip to a 40-gram grip would increase the swing-weight up to 2 – 3 point depending on the shaft length, club weight and balance point (see “swing-weight” for more details). It should be noted that changing the weight of grip without considering the effect to the swing-weight could lead you to a disastrous result.




Sizes – Grip sizes can have a significant impact on your golf swing. In general, larger grips inhibit free releases of the club-head through the hitting zone, and smaller grips do the opposite. The size of grip can range from 0.5 inches (junior size) to more than 0.8 inches. Poplar sizes, however, are 0.580 – 0.600 (M58 – M60) while 0.580 is considered as standard. Also, grips can be built up by adding wraps of tape to the shaft - one wrap should increase grip size by 1/64, two wraps 1/32, etc. One layer of tape on a 0.600 shaft would produce a grip 1/16 oversize. Depending on your preference, grip sizes of a certain section can be built up (i.e. a section your left hand is placed) by partially adding wraps of tape to the shaft.

Materials and Designs – The majority of grips are slip-on today. Natural rubber, synthetic rubber and compound materials in conjunction with a number of code and surface configurations offer different gripping characteristics. Grips could be either round or with a reminder, which is a line or rib on the underside of the grip that reminds the golfer where the hand should be placed. Normally, the reminder is set up squarely with a shaft; however, some professional players use the reminder with a skewed position (i.e. 10°) on purpose.

Basically, there are two types of grips - soft type and hard type. Hard type grips are often built with code made of cotton. A variety of types of code (classic, GX, tour wrap) are available, and grips could be half or full coded. As a result, a wide range of selections in grips are available today. The code provides not only harder surface textures but also other functions such as additional frictions and moisture absorption. Coded grips tend to be heavier. On the other hand, soft grips made of compound materials such as Royal and Winn are rising in popularity.

EPDM (Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer) in particular has become popular due to the frictional properties and the extended life to wear.

The recent introduction of Elastom ETM by Winn is noteworthy. The Winn grips tend to offer extremely softer feeling and vibration absorbing characteristics.

Leather grips provide excellent tackiness and feel; however, the downside is cost, maintenance and poor playability in wet conditions, and a smaller number of golf clubs are equipped with leather grips nowadays.

It is also noteworthy that hardness (or softness) of a grip seems to cause a similar effect on club-head release as in grip sizes. In general, a harder grip inhibits free release of the club-head through the hitting zone, and a softer grip does the opposite.

Putter Grips – There are two primary putter grip styles - puddle style, and pistol style. The puddle grip features a wide flat part for the placement of thumbs, which is conducive to a one-piece stroke. The pistol grip is characterized by the protruding section of the grip which is to provide more control.

Grip Manufacturers – Eaton/Golf Pride, Royal Grip, Lamkin and Winn are the most prominent grip manufacturers in the U.S. Golf Pride offers a full range of grips made of rubber and compound materials. "Sofftie", durable, high-traction compound offers a satiny, soft, resilient surface with distinctive leather like cosmetics. Royal first introduced EPDM grips, which have become one of the most popular materials nowadays. Winn offers a wide range of grips in terms of weight, color and sizes, which are exclusively made of patented Elastom ETM. Other grip manufacturers include Avon, LongShot, and Mars Golf.