The handles of your golf clubs have long been an afterthought. Even during a club fitting, little time is often spent turning in your grips. At the end of the process you will usually be asked a simple question: Which grip do you prefer? – and then you’re on your way.
The people at Golf Pride do not think this is the wisest approach.
“We believe in designing equipment for your hands,” says James Ledford, president of Golf Pride. “No handles for your clubs.”
For Ledford, that distinction is more than semantics. Golf Pride views grips as a true performance category, not just a finishing touch. Although club heads, shafts and balls have been studied for decades with standardized testing and performance data, grips have largely escaped the same level of scrutiny.
“There really are no established protocols for how the industry studies equipment,” says Ledford. “We all understand the delivery numbers of clubheads. We don’t really have those standards for grips yet.”
Golf Pride wants to close that gap.
Rather than treating grips as passive components, the company approaches them as active performance tools that impact shot quality, consistency and, most importantly, confidence. According to Ledford, the grip should not be the final decision in the fitting process, but the starting point. Most golfers think about the club head first, then work their way up the shaft, and only finally think about the grip. The company deliberately reverses that order.
At Golf Pride’s state-of-the-art Performance Lab in Pinehurst, NC, players undergo a Tour-level grip adjustment that takes into account hand size, climate conditions, texture and firmness to narrow down possible grip choices. Then it’s time to actually shoot on a simulator until you find the grip that feels best for your swing. It quickly becomes clear how influential the grip can be.
“This is where we really try to understand handles as equipment,” says Ledford. “It’s about collecting real data on how grips affect performance.”
Handles have been the silent constant in the bag for years. Golf Pride is betting that once golfers start treating them like real stuff – and not an afterthought – the lull won’t last much longer.
Golf Pride MCC grip
The MCC™ (New Decade® MultiCompound) is an innovative hybrid grip that combines the positive performance of rubber and cord. The MCC features the exclusive Golf Pride® brushed cotton cord in the upper hand for firm control in all weather conditions, and a high-quality rubber material in the lower hand for ultimate feel and responsiveness.
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