Golf Grip Hurts Pinky Finger - How To Fix It [2024]

Have you ever had your pinky finger hurt after a long day of golf? Or perhaps it has been slowly getting worse and worse over time and now you can’t go 9 holes without some discomfort or pain in your low hand pinky (RH pinky for righties/LH pinky for lefties)?

Pinky finger discomfort (aka trigger finger) is due to an interlocking grip with excessive grip pressure. Explained in greater detail below, golfers should do one or several of the following remedies to help alleviate pinky pain:

Lighten Grip Pressure
Check interlock grip is correct (make sure grip is in fingers and not too much in your palm)
Try adding a couple wraps of tape or go up to the next size grip to help relieve pain
Avoid hitting off mats with concrete underneath/hard ground
Reduce practice/playing time
Take anti-inflammatory medications/cortisone shots
If all else fails, switch to the overlap grip

common fixes to golf grip hurting pinky finger

As shown above, there are many solutions to relieving pinky pain with the top issues being too much grip pressure and an incorrect interlocking grip. If none of the solutions above seem to work or you are willing to change grips, the overlap (Vardon) grip will take pressure off the pinky and eliminate any pain.

Lighten Interlocking Grip Pressure

The main culprit for having pinky pain in your lower hand is having too high of grip pressure on the club. A simple trick from Tom Watson on grip pressure is to back off your grip pressure until the club is almost falling out of your hands.

Now tighten your grip up just enough to feel that you have complete control over the club. This is most likely your perfect grip pressure. Watson also stated that most of the grip pressure should be in the last 3 fingers of the left hand and the middle 2 fingers of the right hand.

Great ball strikers such as Ben Hogan and Fred Couples would often practice with the index finger and thumb of the right hand off of the club. These 2 fingers should feel relaxed, and should not have a major impact on grip pressure. Getting the right grip pressure in both hands should help eliminate any pain you may experience in your right pinky.

Make sure Interlock Grip is Correct

If your interlock grip is incorrect, you may be putting unnecessary pressure on the last few knuckles and your right hand pinky. An incorrect interlock grip may happen by putting the golf club in your palms instead of your fingers and by having the interlock grip too deep into the fingers.

Place your left hand on the grip first. Once your left hand is set, put your right pinky in between the index finger and middle finger of the left hand. Now that your right pinky is interlocked with your left hand, wrap the remaining fingers of the right hand around the grip. You are good to go if it looks good, feels good, and your club is square to the target!

MrShortGameGolf has a great video on the interlock grip and what to avoid. To summarize it, a good interlock grip does the following:

Keeps the grip in the fingers of the hand, not the palm
The right pinky (for RH golfers) rests between the index and middle finger knuckles of the left hand
The left thumb should come to the middle of the right palm and be in line with your right thumb. Make sure to not get the thumbs too close to each other.

Increase grip size by going up in grip size or add layers of grip tape

Increasing grip size or adding layers of grip tape to increase the grip size will help you naturally decrease your grip pressure and possibly get rid of your pinky pain. A grip that is too small makes golfers feel like they have to excessively squeeze the grip to keep control of the grip throughout the swing, especially in the bottom hand.

A larger grip will help you naturally grip the club lighter and still maintain that “secure” connection to the club, reducing the tension in your hands and right pinky that will allow you to swing the club more freely. Oversized grips are thicker with more rubber material which will provide extra vibration dampening at impact.

Using a larger grip helps out arthritic golfers who suffer from joint pain in the wrist or hands. The same principle applies to those with pinky pain or trigger finger. If your pinky causes consistent pain throughout the round, try out a soft, oversized grip to see if it can make the pain go away!

Avoid hitting off mats with concrete underneath

Most golf mats you see at driving ranges are usually a thin mat on top of a concrete pad. It’s the complete opposite of course conditions where you hit onto the forgiving turf of the earth. The shock of impact is just amplified when hitting off a thin mat as you compress the ball and mat into the concrete.

If you practice off mats enough, this is not only hard on your joints but the hard impact with the golf mat can permanently change your club’s lie angle. Tendonitis in the hands, wrists, and elbows is a common occurrence for those who regularly practice off thin mats. This unfortunately only gets amplified by those who have steep downswings and usually take big divots.

If at all possible, avoid using golf mats because of the damage it can do to your body, clubs, and your golf game. Lee Trevino once said that golf mats are one of the worst things for your golf game. You could hit a few inches behind the ball and not even know it because of the amount of give the mats have. If you live in a colder climate like myself, make sure you get a thick, highly cushioned golf mat to absorb the impact of the golf club.

Reduce practice/playing time

This one goes without saying, but the less repetitive stress you put on your pinky, the better. I would reduce practice time before playing time (if you’re lucky enough to get both). Listen to your body for the right amount of practice and playing time. Some it may be only 9 holes per week and others it may be 18 holes or an hour range session each day.

Take anti-inflammatory medications/cortisone shots

This should be one of the last things you try as it is a bandaid to the issue and not a fix. Ibuprofen may or may not help, and is not good for your health long term to repeatedly take everytime you golf. Chances are it will come back or you are only further damaging the muscles and tendons in your fingers and hands.

Cortisone seems to be effective for the short term (0-2 years), as it relieves trigger finger symptoms 50-70% of the time. I could not find any data or cases of it being effective long term. The risks of cortisone injections are small, so you could always get a second injection after a while if the first one wears off.

If all else fails and you are determined to keep the interlocking grip, surgery may be an option. Surgery is effective and it’s rare for the problem to return after surgery. However, you will have to take time off work (and golf!!) and there is always a possibility of having complications due to the surgery.

Switch to overlap grip

If all else fails, you can switch to the overlap grip. Everyone I’ve encountered and read on golf forums who switched to the overlap grip due to pinky discomfort were able to golf pain free.

It should take just a few range sessions to get the overlap grip to feel comfortable. It’s the same exact grip except the overlap has the right pinky on top of the space between the left index finger and the left middle finger.