There’s always been an active debate about which piece of golf equipment might be the least fit in the game. Balls, putters and wedges used to get a lot of call, so, too, shoes, but those segments have seen significant shifts toward fitting in recent years. But there remains one category that is rarely if ever fit or properly diagnosed at all. And it can be argued that it might be the most important, confusing and oversaturated category in the game.
The grip, the only contact a player physically has with his clubs, has been an underserved mystery since we’ve moved from leather to rubber and synthetic materials over more than 75 years. Now, a startup has a high-tech solution that also has the benefits of being intuitive, simple and fast, getting you in the right grip in barely a minute.
Gripscript uses your phone to scan the measurements of your hand, followed by a series of questions about your game and your preferences. Then, the app instantly matches your profile to a top three of recommended grips. The catalog of grips ranges through the major manufacturers including Golf Pride, SuperStroke/Lamkin, Winn, Iomic, NO1 and JumboMax, accounting for several hundred otherwise indeciperhable options. The company grew from the pandemic where a couple of former college golf teammates were holed up together playing a lot of golf during COVID. While their careers weren’t really in the golf industry, they had a desire and saw what seemed to them an obvious, glaring opportunity.
“Everything in this game today is about fitting, but why hasn’t anyone addressed the grip?” said Christian McDonald, who founded Gripscript with Alex Meade last year. He says company research shows that seven of 10 golfers are playing the wrong grip. “It’s your only connection to the club, the one piece of equipment that you touch every time. But there was not a standardized solution that can get the player into the right grip.”
Gripscript uses the camera function on your iPhone (Android coming later this summer) to scan your hand for augmented reality measurements (wrist to longest finger tip and the length of your longest finger). Then, the process follows up with five questions that ask about your material preferences (rubber, cord, hybrid, polyurethane), what your grip needs are (reduce pain, lessen slippage, better accuracy, reduce grip pressure) and your typical ball flight. Depending on whether you’re working with a specific retailer (and a specific catalog of grips) or you’re purchasing the recommended grips on your own, the app recommends three models and provides a purchase link or a way to save results to share with your retailer or fitter.
While the measurement aspect is a cool piece of innovation made possible by the latest smartphone technology (think of the facial recognition capability used to unlock your phone), the questions that lead to a grip recommendation are a key element to winnowing down the ever-expanding universe of grips. McDonald said the company has used A.I.-driven analytics and a system that rates grips across several performance metrics, including tackiness, grip pressure (softness vs. firmness) and face angle awareness (grips with alignment features). It also includes the ideal number of wraps for each specific grip selected. The recommendation algorithm also benefits from machine learning, which compiles user input on past recommendations to fuel future recommendations.
“In the end, we hope we’re really moving the needle on getting people into customizing grips the way they would shafts,” McDonald said. “We want them thinking how the right grip really is going to fit their game, and trying to get them away from just accepting that the grip that comes on the club is what they’re going to play with forever.”
A Gripscript fitting is available through the company’s website, at kiosks at several retailers in New York and North Carolina and via the Gripscript app.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
