90 minutes with the power v grip

90-Minutes with the Power-V-Grip

A golfer must haul around an entire bag of specialized clubs to execute the different types of shots encountered on a typical course. Instead of running around the court with a quiver full of racquets, the tennis player dynamically transforms the racquet into a specialized "club" by altering his grip to optimize head angle, backswing and wrist movement. A precise, secure and consistent grip is paramount to reliable shot making. Although racquet frames and strings have benefited from generations of technical improvements, the grip and grip geometry hasn't changed for decades.

I have strong hands but my tennis grip has never felt secure or consistent. Some days I effortlessly hammered consistent, accurate shots; other days I sprayed balls from the base of the net to the back fence. My Continental grip, which I should use to volley and serve, was so tenuous that when the ball missed the sweet spot the racquet torqued in my hand and the shot pathetically dribbled into the net. My poor Continental grip forced me to serve with an Eastern forehand grip producing moderately fast, but easily tracked balls. Once my opponent got the timing, he would turn my pace around by ripping return-of-service winners. With limited wrist snap, my second serve had a good kick but little pace. This invited my opponent to crowd the service box and take it on the rise, to hit outright winners or at least seize control of the net.

About six months ago I realized that I had to completely retool my strokes, starting by mastering grips for the Semi-Western forehand, Eastern one-handed backhand and the Continental for serves, volleys, overheads and underspins. Because it's patient and always available, doesn't get bored and insult me and won't demand a cold beer at the end of the session I decided to hit only with my Silent Partner Pro ball machine until I had mastered the basic strokes. After two months and over 20,000 balls I had developed a bullet-proof, one-handed Eastern backhand and Semi-Western forehand - or so I thought.

Then I encountered "the" problem. When I put the ball machine into sweep mode, forcing me to quickly move between forehand and backhand, I discovered that I couldn't reliably make three-bevel on-the-run grip changes. There wasn't enough racquet handle tactile feedback to determine when I was precisely on Bevel-1 for the Eastern backhand or Bevel-4 for the Semi-Western forehand. At the beginning of my retooling period I had numbered each bevel at the top of the racquet handle and highlighted bevels 1 and 4 on the overgrip with florescent Sharpies. It works great for verifying static grip positions, but I'm not looking at the racquet handle when I'm desperately running down a ball.

I assumed all I needed was live-fire, dynamic grip change experience, so I bought a case Sam Adams and started playing with humans again. Over the next six weeks about 75% of my unforced errors were due to incorrect grip changes. Invariably I wouldn't rotate far enough, resulting in a slightly open face (on both forehand and backhand) driving balls one to three feet beyond the baseline. My Continental grip, and consequently serve and volley, were more tentative than ever. I asked for advice and got clichés: strengthen your hands, reduce grip size, try Brand-X overwrap, use rosin or grip spray. The only semi-practical advice about the slightly open face was to close the face during the backswing using my left hand on the racquet throat. That helped marginally, but is much too awkward to execute on the run. Furthermore, everyone seemed to be clueless as to how anyone could ever be uncomfortable with the Continental grip - there are certain subjects that guys just won't talk about in public.

I became obsessed with the grip - why can't the bevels be indexed, like a bicycle derailleur, to provide unmistakable tactical feedback as the handle is rotated? I glued buttons to bevels 1 and 4, but all that did was impede grip changes and irritate my hand. I mounted a couple of tongue depressors on Bevel-3 under my overwrap. It helped me find my forehand and backhand grips a bit better, but the bump made the grips even less secure.

difficult to establish and prone to twisting. As illustrated on the right,
the PVG is mounted on Bevel-3. The sides of the PVG effectively
double the width of Bevels 2 and 4, and the top of the PVG slightly
reduces the width of Bevel-3. The tapered end enables the index finger to hook over and around the PVG securing the Continental
grip for wrist snapping serves and anti-torque punching volleys.

I'm not a gimmick sort of guy - I don't even use a string vibration
damper. My failed home-grown solutions put me on the right
track and really got me thinking. And the more I thought, the more
optimistic I became that the PVG might be the key to propelling
my game to the next level. With soaring expectations I ordered
2 PVGs on-line. I quickly received several emails including order
and shipping confirmations, and an invitation to address comments, questions or concerns to customer service. Ed Fagen, the President of Tennis Geometrics Company is customer service orientated and sincerely interested in user feedback. The PVG comes with a year long, no-questions-asked full refund guarantee.

I invested an hour to read the detailed PVG theory of operation, grip information pages and installation instructions at the Tennis Geometrics web site. As detailed on the web site, I took 20 minutes to prepare my backup racquet for PVG installation by removing the overgrip, the undergrip and adhesive residue. I received my PVGs two days later and headed out to the court.

Step1: Install the PVG (10 minutes)

The PVG is 6.0" long and should be trimmed to the players hand size. The square end of the PVG is attached to the end of the racquet over the butt cap. The tapered (beveled) end points toward the racquet head. The Continental grip is enhanced by enabling the index finger to be hooked over the tapered end of the PVG; trimming the PVG to an appropriate length is critical!
Caution: The following procedure worked for me, but this is my one and only experience trimming a PVG! I suggest that you read all of the fitting and customization instructions at the Tennis Geometrics web site in detail.

Determining optimum PVG length appears to be a function of hand size and grip technique, i.e. the area of your palm that wraps around the grip and the length of your index finger.

With the Continental grip I use the entire diagonal length of
my palm, which measures 4.0" from the inside of the index
knuckle to the heel. I trimmed the PVG with a razor knife
4.0" below the end of the taper, reducing the total length by
1.5". If you choke up for return of service or to volley you
may want to add the choke length to the diagonal palm
length before trimming.

Following the mounting directions I tightly wrapped two
layers of tape to secure the PVG to Bevel-3, installed an
overwrap and, as is my personal practice, wrote bevel
numbers with a Sharpie along the top of the handle.

If you're concerned with cutting the PVG too short let it hang off the end of the racquet and make the cut when you're confident that you've established the optimum length.

Step 2: Testing the Eastern Backhand (15 minutes)

I configured the ball machine for medium paced topspin to have the ball hit about a foot inside the baseline with a waist high bounce. The low-to-high swing of the Eastern backhand grip felt great and extremely secure with the high density PVG providing just the right amount of cushion. However, I wasn't sure whether I should wrap my index finger around the tapered end of the PVG or squeeze my fingers together along the body of the PVG - the grip felt that it could work either way. I chose to keep my fingers together and slid the heel of my hand a bit further down the butt of the racquet.

The first few hits were perfect - solid contact, no racquet vibration,
good topspin and depth. But soon the balls begin flying a bit long.
Verifying my grip I noticed that I had unconsciously rotated half a
bevel clockwise toward Bevel-2, slightly opening the face. I could
use the left hand guide technique to close the face during the
backswing, but that doesn't work well on the run. I simply rotated
my grip a bit further counter-clockwise from the Eastern backhand
(Bevel-1) toward the Semi-Western backhand (Bevel-8). The closed
face and additional top-spin enabled the balls to consistently snap well
within the court.

I often get fooled by low, skidding shots, jabbing at the last moment causing the racquet to torque in my hand, netting the ball. To simulate low skidding shots I configured the ball machine to impart slight backspin. The PVG made the backhand grip so secure that even at full arm extension and I could chop low skidding balls squash-style without the racquet torquing.

Step 3: Testing the Semi-Western Forehand (15 minutes)

I configured the ball machine for medium paced top-spin to hit about
a foot inside the baseline producing a waist high bounce. Unlike the
Eastern backhand where the finger tips hook around the Bevel-4 side
of the PVG, with the Semi-Western forehand the inside index knuckle
rests on built-up Bevel-4, the finger tips wrap around the back of the
grip and the narrowed, raised portion of Bevel-3 presses firmly into
the web between thumb and index finger.

Like the Eastern backhand experience, the first few balls were
perfect and then started sailing deep. Using the same strategy I
rotated the grip clockwise half a bevel toward the Western forehand (Bevel-5) and the grip locked solidly producing crisp, topspin forehands.

Step 4: Testing On-The-Run Grip Changes (20 minutes)

My primary issue is unforced errors resulting from inaccurate or incomplete grip changes. To force on-the-run grip changes I configured the ball machine for random sweep mode spraying balls along the width of the baseline. It took about 20 balls to get the sense of how the changing Eastern backhand and Semi-Western forehand grips related to the position of the PVG in my hand.

The three-tiered PVG provides such positive tactile feedback that the fingers lock onto the grip instead of grasping at air. This enables me to relax my hand and forearm until the moment I start the forward swing. Relaxed muscles generate better acceleration and topspin. But I still had to fight the inclination to lock my fingers a bit short of full rotation and sailing balls a few feet deep. It may take several sessions to internalize how my hand and finger tips relate to the top, sides and tapered end of the PVG to ensure that the head is vertical at the point of contact.

Step 5: Testing Volleys (15 minutes)

Changing grips reacting to passing shots was the most uncomfortable and unreliable component of my game. When I took a volleying position I never knew whether I should cheat by assuming an Eastern forehand or Eastern backhand grip and then change grips as needed, or start with a Continental grip and rotate one bevel to reach the appropriate Eastern grip. Mastering the Continental grip negates the need to change volley grips and provides a single grip for the three strokes associated with a serve-and-volley game: serve, volley and overhead.

As illustrated in the figure above, the PVG redefines the Continental grip. In addition to hooking the index finger around the tapered end, the size of Bevel-2 is doubled, making it easier to find and secure the grip on the run.

I set up the ball machine for medium pace, heavy topspin with about 18 inches of net clearance and took a volleying position halfway between the net and service line. I've never felt so comfortable at the net. The grip was stable and didn't torque even with off-center volleys. I was especially pleased with the control I had slicing knee-high volleys. This definitely redefines my net game.

Step 6: Testing Serves (15 minutes)

Now that I was warmed up I was ready to test the last of the four basic strokes, the serve. I'll assume that if the flat serve feels good then my overhead will be fine. I loaded a hopper with 75 balls, intending to hit 25 each of flat, slice and kick serves.

Flat Serve: Previously I had hit flat serves with the Eastern forehand grip (Bevel-3) which limits wrist snap and produces little ball movement or hop. The Continental grip enables greater wrist range of motion. After driving the first 10 balls into the net I adjusted my toss and timing to compensate for the enhanced wrist snap and racquet speed. The serve starting going in nicely. Although it didn't initially feel faster, the ball finished with a distinctive topspin hop which should make it tougher to feed off the serve's pace to hammer return-of-service winners. The Continental grip wrist-snap is a new motion for me. I'm convinced that I'll pick up 5% to 10% additional speed when I learn to synchronize the wrist-snap with my forward-leaning body momentum.

Slice Serve: Because of the lack of wrist-snap, my Eastern forehand grip limited the pace of my slice and kick serves. Instead of snapping the wrist, I snapped the forearm tomahawk-style at the elbow. This produced decent ball movement at the cost of pace. I also had to modify my toss to strike the ball directly over my head and that caused back and shoulder strain. I want to use the same standard loop-toss for every type of serve. A toss that takes the player forward into the court has better biomechanics (less back and shoulder strain) and doesn't telegraph the type of serve.

It took me about 15 balls to get used to hitting a slice with a toss that takes me well into the court. Once I established the timing and body position, the slice produced wicked hooking and skidding, but more important, it had about 85% of my flat serve pace. I had intended to use exactly the same grip for all serves, but I noticed that I could enhance ball movement by slightly turning the Continental grip toward Bevel-1. Since the PVG doubled Bevel-2 width, there's plenty of room for micro-adjustment and experimentation.

Kick Serve: My second serve must be over 90% reliable but still have enough pace to keep my opponent from crowding the service line. For the kick serve I used the same slightly modified slice serve grip and impacted the ball at the seven o'clock position brushing across, over and through toward one o'clock. The PVG allowed me to generate much greater wrist snap producing significantly more topspin. Consequently the balls dove into the middle of the net until I adjusted for clearance. The speed was a great improvement, about 70% of my flat serve. Spin produces control but I need to find a compromise between brushing across the face of the ball for high percentage second serves and driving through it to produce greater pace.

Conclusion

My problems with on-the-run grip changes and the Continental grip make me the ideal PVG poster boy. It's as if Tennis Geometrics designed it to address my specific issues. I've already installed my second PVG on my primary racquet. The tactile indexing and increased head acceleration has given me the confidence to develop strokes that require extreme grip changes such as the full Western forehand and Semi-Western backhand for slower surfaces. But first, with my newly acquired Continental grip, I plan to exploit fast hard courts by developing a serve-and-volley game.

This shouldn't imply that the PVG only benefits players with grip change issues. The player who employs an Eastern forehand and a Continental/Eastern two-handed backhand (which only requires one bevel rotation) may benefit from the increased comfort and grip security, and everyone will benefit from the enhanced Continental grip.

The downside of the PVG is two-fold. Most players don't think about their grip. They simply grab the racket and start swinging, unconsciously dependent on wrist-rolling to produce the appropriate racquet head angle at ball contact. Using a PVG forces the player to become grip aware and to start analyzing their stroke. Even if the player maintains his current grips, they will feel different with the PVG - potentially requiring frustrating, time-consuming trail-and-error adjustments.

The other issue is customization. I sea kayak with a wing paddle. Although it looks similar to a standard paddle it has a pronounced scoop with aerodynamic properties that profoundly alter the mechanics of the forward stroke. When I'm forced to use a conventional paddle I splash around like a novice and wonder how I ever used a flat-bladed paddle. I assume that once I've adapted my grip to the PVG, returning to a conventional grip will be difficult. That makes demo-ing new racquets or using a borrowed racquet impractical. Even if a racquet has a PVG, it's customized for hand size, and may not fit. From my point of view, that inconvenience is a small price to pay.

You couldn't ask for a better money back guarantee - invest a few dollars and a couple of hours to see for yourself. If using the PVG does nothing but create a new awareness of the importance of racquet grip, then it's well worth the time and effort.

Copyright 2007 Byron W. Putman