Those of us who have learned the proper way to hold a golf club know it’s a key fundamental to playing the game well. Yet over time, we tend to make adjustments or simply forget grip basics. That’s why constant reminding is helpful. Taking lessons is one way to get that reinforcement. But a much less-expensive and longer-lasting option is using Golf Pride’s new Tour Velvet with ALIGN Technology grip.

It’s the latest version of one of the world’s most-popular grips and features a raised red ridge along its underside that helps golfers establish consistent hand placement on the club. “It gets your hands on the grip consistently every time before you start to swing,” says Bruce Miller, Retail Product Manager for Golf Pride. “Regardless of how you hold the grip or how technically sound your grip is, if you do it the same way every time, you will likely lower your scores. This helps you get the clubface square to the ball at impact every time. It marries the grip to the clubface so that you know where the clubface is at all times during the swing. Once you lock in your hand position, you just swing the club.”

This isn’t a training grip. In fact, it’s USGA-approved for use in competition. That’s a good thing for PGA Tour pros, as many have already switched to it – one of three Tour pros use a reminder grip. Tour pros previously complained that the ridges available on reminder grips weren’t pronounced enough. So they perpetually tweaked their hand position, just like many amateurs. But with ALIGN Technology, Golf Pride accentuated the ridge so that you can easily feel when your hand position is right and have the comfort to swing away. No more tinkering.

“The red raised ridge assists you in getting your hands in the proper position on the golf club,” says Michael Breed, one of the world’s top-rated PGA instructors. “The ridge is going to find a natural spot in your hands while you hold the club, getting you a consistent feeling so that you will hold it the same way every time. Ultimately you will get a feel of the clubface, which leads to consistency in your shots. And that will allow you to play with more confidence and shoot lower scores.”

ALIGN Technology first made its way onto the golf scene last year, on Golf Pride’s MCC and MCC Plus4 models. Now it’s available on the Tour Velvet, rounding out the Tour’s most widely played models. Reformulated material in the latest Tour Velvet is 8 percent softer than before. So it feels soft but is firm enough to provide responsiveness – you can tell what happens at impact. It’s also more durable than ever. Plus it has a nice-feeling texture that provides excellent traction. “We call it hand nesting,” says Miller. “The skin of your hands literally nests down into the traction pattern, for zero slippage. That’s why roughly half of all tour pros play the Tour Velvet.” And now with ALIGN Technology, it is the new gold standard in golf.