What Is a Ribbed Golf Grip?

In today’s market, golfers have a plethora of golf grips to choose from. They are offered in a multitude of materials, textures, firmness, styles and color combinations not to mention sizes so it is understandably that golfers can easily be confused by their subtle differences or by the terminology. One such term that I have been asked about recently is concerning ribbed grips (or also known as reminder golf grips). Not familiar with these terms? Then you might be new to golf.

Why Ribbed?

Most golfers are only intimate with the outside of a grip as that is the only contact they have on a golf club. For those that re-grip their clubs or for others, or for someone that picks up a grip for the first time notices that it has a large opening at the mouth (bottom portion) and is hollow to allow it to slide over the butt end of the shaft. If you hold the grip up to your eye and pointed toward a light, one can see the inner portion of the grip. In the vast majority of the grips offered today the inner portion will be perfectly smooth.

The inner core of a grip can be designed with an internal feature than when placed onto the golf shaft will produce a pronounced raised rib in order to change the feel of the grip. This rib can aid in hand positioning. The term “reminder rib” is also used to describe a ribbed grip as it can help “remind” the golfer the proper position. This is permissible in the Rules of Golf for any non-putter grip. The raised rib must be straight, run along the full length of the grip and must not exceed a certain dimensional tolerance. If by chance you look inside the grip and see what looks like a flat side extending the length of the grip, it will be apparent that you have a ribbed grip.

Prior to 30 years ago, the vast majority of grips on the market were ribbed. Many grips at that time had very intricate patterns of paint fill that needed aligned so the grip didn’t look crooked when installed. If the grip was correctly aligned, then the rib would be positioned perfectly along the backside of the club (or 6 o’clock position). This would position the raised ribs in the fingers of both hands when held with an interlocking or overlapping grip.

Change of Buying Habits

In 1992, Lamkin introduced the Perma Wrap and Golf Pride the Tour Wrap, which looked liked simulated versions of leather wrapped grips. These grips where plain black and did not possess the intricate paint fill of so many of the grips at the time. For someone haphazardly installing the grips onto the shaft, this would lead to the rib being positioned anywhere but the traditional 6 o’clock position on the club. As these grips became overwhelmingly popular, soon the trend was for manufacturers and clubmakers alike to use the round or non-ribbed version of those grips to reduce the possibility of incorrect installation.

As time passed, people have become accustomed to requesting round grips, to the point where many golfers relatively new to the game may never have felt what a ribbed reminder golf grip was on a golf club. Grip manufacturers have produced most of their popular models in both round and ribbed versions, even though many component suppliers may choose to stock one or the other, rather than both. Often times in the catalog literature the component manufacturer will list whether or not the grip is round or ribbed.

What “Ribbed” Golf Grips Does Hireko Offer?

Looking for ribbed golf grips? Then Hireko has models from Avon, Karma and Lamkin.