I have found this grip to be an improvement over the orthodox grip as it prevents the shifting of the hands at the top of the grip, a very common fault with beginners and curtails the freedom of the wrists and prevents the tendency to use the forearm too freely in the swing.

As you can readily see by making the following experiment:

Place the two hands extended at arm's length together, the palm of the right hand up, the left hand down. Double the fists as you would in grasping a club by the orthodox method.

Then observe that if you had a club in your hands you could make a half circle by turning the wrists and hands over so that the palm of the right hand is down and the left up.

There is the greatest freedom in turning the wrists, and as the most common fault with beginners is using the arms to do the work which the shoulders, back, and legs are better fitted for, anything which helps to restrain the natural tendency in this direction as the Vardon grip does is beneficial. It will influence you unconsciously to utilize the more powerful muscles.

It has the further advantage of being a guide in bringing the hands and club back to the ball in the correct position as they were in the address, because you will find by a few experiments how awkward it is to get back to the ball from the top of your swing, using the "Vardon grip," in any other way than by turning on a perfect pivot. If you are compelled by the lack of freedom in the wrists to extend the arms fully to get any play at all in the wrists, it will be bound to reduce the tendency to pull in the arms too soon, and will thereby largely overcome the tendency to slice.

The same experiment I suggested above, which shows the freedom and play of the wrists in the orthodox grip, made with the Vardon grip, will show you how much this grip curtails the freedom of the wrists. In comparing the two methods the difference will be more noticeable if the hands are clenched tightly as you would in grasping a club. Then by bending the elbows slightly you will observe how extremely difficult it is to turn the wrists at all, keeping the hands tightly closed as in grip-ping a club.