Grip It and Rip It
“Grip it and rip it” is a golf phrase that means taking the driver and swinging as hard as possible off the tee, accepting less accuracy in exchange for maximum distance. The phrase became famous through John Daly, the American golfer whose powerful, all-out swing carried him from ninth alternate to champion at the 1991 PGA Championship.
What is grip it and rip it?
Grip it and rip it is a slang expression rather than a formal golf term. It describes both an attitude and an approach: pull out the driver, place the hands on the club, and swing without holding back. The phrase puts the focus on power and commitment, not finesse.
The phrase carries a clear trade-off. A golfer who grips it and rips it is choosing distance over precision. The drive might find the fairway 280 yards out, or it might end up in the trees. That risk is part of the deal. Some golfers love it and treat the occasional wild miss as a fair price for the thunderbolt drive that finishes 30 yards past their playing partners, while others find that the same approach turns a decent round into a card full of blow-up holes.
The expression has spread beyond the course and now shows up in everyday speech to mean going all-in on something without overthinking it. In golf itself, though, it almost always refers to one specific situation: a driver in hand, a tee in the ground, and a player committed to swinging out of their shoes.
The origin: John Daly and the 1991 PGA Championship
The phrase is tied to one of the great underdog stories in golf. In August 1991, John Daly was the ninth alternate for the PGA Championship at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Indiana. According to Wikipedia, after Nick Price withdrew because his wife was about to give birth, and three other alternates could not get to the course in time, Daly drove ten hours overnight from Memphis and arrived without a practice round.
He won by three strokes. Daly opened with a 69, followed by rounds of 67, 69, and 71 to finish at 12 under par, beating veteran Bruce Lietzke. Galleries followed his every shot, drawn by his enormous backswing and prodigious distance off the tee, with fans roaring each time he attacked another driver.
The nickname stuck, and so did the phrase. A year later, in 1992, Daly published a book titled Grip It and Rip It! with HarperCollins, framed around hitting the ball farther. According to Wikipedia, Daly led the PGA Tour in driving distance 11 times between 1991 and 2002, averaging 288.9 yards off the tee in his rookie season when the tour average was 261.4. By 1997, he had broken the 300-yard barrier, becoming the first player on tour to average more than 300 yards per drive over a full season.
How it works on the course
The mechanics behind grip it and rip it are simple enough to describe. The golfer takes a full backswing, often longer and looser than a coach would teach, and uncoils with everything they have on the way down. Daly’s swing was famous for going well past parallel at the top, with his clubhead pointing back at the target. The hips fire on the way down, and the arms whip through the ball at full speed.
What separates this from a controlled tour swing is intent. A tour player working on accuracy might swing at 80 to 85 percent of maximum effort. A golfer gripping it and ripping it swings at 100 percent and accepts the consequences. The phrase is not a coaching method but a mindset, a willingness to commit fully and deal with the result later.
The approach makes the most sense on holes where distance pays off, and trouble is forgiving, such as wide par 5s with no water in play. On tight tee shots with out-of-bounds down one side, the same swing can be expensive.
Grip it and rip it vs. bomb and gouge
Readers often confuse grip it and rip it with bomb and gouge, the more recent term for a long-hitting strategy. They overlap, but they are not the same thing.
| Term | What it means | Era and origin | Treated as strategy or attitude |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grip it and rip it | Swing the driver as hard as possible off the tee, accepting less accuracy | Tied to John Daly from the 1991 PGA Championship onward | Mostly an attitude or catchphrase |
| Bomb and gouge | Hit the ball far off the tee with the driver, then “gouge” it out of the rough onto the green | The term first appeared in Golf Digest in 2006 | A deliberate, data-backed strategy |
Bomb and gouge have a sharper analytical edge. According to Golf Digest, the approach gained credibility through the work of Columbia economics professor Mark Broadie, whose strokes gained research showed that distance off the tee tends to produce better scores than fairways hit. Bryson DeChambeau became the public face of the strategy after his 2020 U.S. Open win at Winged Foot, where he averaged over 340 yards off the tee.
Grip it and rip it is older, looser, and more about feel. Bomb and gouge is the modern, calculated version of the same instinct.
Is grip it and rip it a good approach for amateurs?
The answer depends on the player and the hole. Mark Broadie’s research, summarised by Golf Digest, found that hitting the ball farther usually adds more strokes gained than hitting it straighter, even at the amateur level. Being closer to the green usually beats being a few yards back in the fairway.
Penalty strokes change the maths, though. An out-of-bounds drive costs at least two shots, which more than wipes out any distance gain. The swing that works as grip it and rip it on a forgiving hole can become a scorecard wreck on a tight one. Recreational golfers tend to lose more strokes through penalties than through finding the rough, which is why the phrase has stayed more popular as an idea than as a serious playing strategy.
Related Golf Terms
- Clubhead speed — How fast the clubhead is moving at impact, measured in miles per hour.
- Driver — The longest club in the bag, typically used off the tee on par 4s and par 5s.
- Greens in regulation — Reaching the green in the expected number of strokes minus two putts (GIR).
- Grip — The rubber or cord covering on the handle of a golf club.
- Greenside — The area immediately adjacent to the putting green.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who first said “grip it and rip it”?
The phrase predates John Daly, but he is the player most associated with it. His swing and his unlikely 1991 PGA Championship win turned it into a household saying among golf fans, and his 1992 instructional book carried the title.
Is “grip it and rip it” a real golf strategy?
Not in the formal sense. It is a slang expression and a mindset, not a coaching method. The closest formal equivalent on the modern tour is bomb and gouge, which uses data to support an aggressive distance-first approach.
Did John Daly write a book called Grip It and Rip It?
Yes, HarperCollins published it in 1992. The 142-page instructional book, written with co-author John Andrisani, is aimed at helping recreational players hit the ball farther by simplifying the swing.
What is the difference between grip it and rip it and bomb and gouge?
Grip it and rip it is an older slang term for swinging the driver as hard as possible. Bomb and gouge, which first appeared in Golf Digest in 2006, refers to a fuller strategy of bombing drives and then advancing the ball from the rough toward the green.
Should beginners try to grip it and rip it?
Most coaches would say no. The approach can lead to penalty strokes that hurt scores more than the extra yardage helps, and a controlled swing with a club the player can manage usually produces better results while the swing is still being built.
Sources
- Wikipedia. “1991 PGA Championship.” Accessed November 2025.
- Wikipedia. “John Daly (golfer).” Accessed November 2025.
- Golf Digest. “Thirty years later, John Daly reflects on an improbable PGA victory.” 2021.
- LINKS Magazine. “John Daly’s Famous 1991 PGA Championship Win.” 2022.
- CNN. “How the birth of another golfer’s child led John Daly to an astonishing victory at 1991 PGA Championship.” 2023.
- PGA.com. “How driving distance has changed over the past 40 years on the PGA Tour.”
- MyGolfSpy. “How Driving Distance Has Evolved on the PGA Tour.” 2024.
- Golf Compendium. “PGA Tour Driving Distance Leaders By Year.”
- Golf Compendium. “Meaning of ‘Bomb and Gouge’ in Golf.” 2020.
- Golf Digest. “The new school driving strategy that changed golf, and can help your game.” 2024.
- USGA. “2024 Distance Report.”
