Here’s exactly how Drew Gibson grips a midrange

I love grip articles.

This site is swimming in them.

The right grip is the biggest bang-for-your-buck hack in all of disc golf. You can watch backhand form tutorials on YouTube until your mind turns to mush. Then, of course, go outside and attempt to do the same thing. And you know what’s likely to happen when you do?

Nothing.

At least the first time around.

Days, weeks and months later – heck, maybe even years – things will improve, and the smooth, effortless-looking distance you crave will come. Different grips, however, are not hard to imitate. And when you find the one that works best, almost instantaneously, two things happen:

1. It’ll feel comfortable.
2. You’ll use it properly.

There’s lots that goes into effectively (and regularly) captaining a golf disc, so the right grip won’t change everything. But it’ll quickly lead to a noticeable step in the right direction. 

Choose your adventure: overhands, driving with putters, forehanding flippy fairway drivers, etc. In part, whatever’s hardcore handicapping your disc golf game can be improved with grip.

Today, I’m looking to the buttery midrange ability of none other than Drew Gibson for help. To be more specific, the exact grip he uses to bomb his Finish Line Supra all over the Pro Tour.

In Gibson’s own words, he uses a “modified fan grip” for all of his backhand midrange pulls. In fact, if you follow his game closely, you’ll see he uses this grip on all disc types. So that Crimson Tide-themed Star Destroyer you can’t get enough of? That’s right, from time to time …

It gets THIS grip.

Here’s how to make it happen for your mids:

• Grip the disc tightly with a stock, four-finger power grip.
• Slowly fan your middle and ring fingers out along the disc’s underside.
• Atop the disc’s flight plate, bring your thumb away from the edge just a smidge.

* Note: Straight from the horse’s mouth, for a quick video tutorial of this grip, click here.

Here’s what the above looks like on a disc in Drew’s hand:

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again …

Grip is subjective.

For the most part, I’m in favor of the way Drew’s modified the fan grip. It allows for a good balance of power and control. Grip-wise, the power comes from the locked pointer and pinky fingers, while the control comes from the surface area the extended fingers and thumb cover.

My go-to fan grip’s a bit different, with the biggest change being that I don’t hook my pointer finger beneath the midrange’s rim. Personally, this leads to me griplocking mids like a madman. For the stable-to-understable mids I bag, this doesn’t work well. And while I’m horrible at disc golf, and my opinion understandably counts for little, Michael Johansen does the same thing …

He’s good company.

Furthermore, for what it’s worth, this same grip can easily work for throwing putters, too. If your short- to middle-distance game blows major chunks, go ahead and give Gibson’s grip a whirl.

Who knows?

You might throw mids with more confidence.

Have anything to add? Take to X to let us know – we’ll actually (for real) get back to you.

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