Every now and then we need to put new grips on our squash racket. It is a necessary evil. An expense that must be made to keep your game up and protect your racket from flying out of your hand. Not only can this break your racket, but it also gets annoying to play with a slippery racket.
When your racket starts to get slippery, and the grip has worn shiny, you know its time to replace the grip.
Before we get into which squash racket grip to buy, we need to understand the difference between a replacement grip and an over grip. After you are done reading, learn how to properly install a squash grip on your racket.
Caution: Using Tennis Racket Grips for Squash
Using tennis racket grips on a squash racket may sound like a good idea, but its not. You might find those really cool looking Babolat and Head grips with their perforations and moisture control gimmicks, but trust me. We squash players sweat more than tennis players and have a different type of swing making our rackets more prone to slipping. You may also notice that tennis grips wrap flush and flat around the handle while squash grips are more groovy. Those grooves fit nicely between our fingers and provide better hold on the racket.
The best Squash grips
Anyways, we have tried several replacement grips and over-grips over many years to solve this slippery problem and learnt that really only a few actually perform well.
Squash Replacement Grips
1. Karakal PU Super Grips: Long Lasting
The Karakal PU Super Grip is the undisputed winner of the game of squash racket grips. The Karakal replacement grip is super tacky and of ideal thickness, providing the most comfort compared to any other replacement grip in the market. Being in the market for as long as I can remember, the Karakal PU Super Grip has shown that Karakal does one thing extremely well: make grips. After having much success with the grips, Karakal adventured into the racket business and manufactured a bunch of rackets. We have seen some pros such as Cameron Pilley and Raphael Kandra use these rackets but meh, not a fan of the rackets much.
The grip however is fantastic. Ideal tackiness and thickness, easy to install, and lasts a decent amount of time in court. For a reasonable amount of play, such as once everyday, the Karakal PU super grip can last anywhere between 2 weeks to a month depending on how much you sweat. See how to extend the life of your squash racket grip.
2. Dunlop Hydra PU replacement Grip: Best for Sweaty Hands
Ramy Ashour uses this. Because its made of Polyurethane like the Karakal, it feels tacky and dry to the touch for long periods. I would say this is better than the Karakal but it is similar, and if the Karakal is not available, nothing wrong with this one.
That’s it for replacement grips. There are really only a few good options in this department. Many squash rackets come installed with terrible grips. Most pros, in addition to changing the strings also immediately change the grip on their racket. Learn about which squash strings are best.
Squash Over grips
1. Black Knight Ultra over grip
If you use over grips, the best one I have tried is the Black Knight Ultra over grip. It feels fine, and grips well in your hand. The packaging does advertise that “the wetter it gets, the better it grips” but I did not find that to be true. Maybe its true for someone else. Over grips tend to wear out faster than replacement grips and you find yourself going through them quite frequently. That’s why they sell them at 3 grips per pack for the price for 1 replacement grip. Anyways, good over grip.
2. Dunlop Gecko Over grip
I actually liked these ones. They perform just as well as the Black Knight Ultra Over Grip but in my opinion feel more tacky in the hand. Not more more I can say about these.
3. Gamma Supreme Over grip
These perform just as well as the over two grips listed above, at first. However they do get slippery faster than the Black Knight Ultra and Dunlop Gecko. Given that over grips generally have short life spans, its fine for playing purposes. They are also slightly cheaper than the other two. These are available for purchase on the beyond nothing online store or through the link:
Pro Tip: Extend the life of your grip
The most annoying thing in squash is a sweaty grip that starts getting slippery. It gets even worse when the grip is fairly new. This happens just because of sweat, and sweat also increases with temperature and humidity. To protect your grip from getting too sweaty, do the following:
- Wear a wrist band. This will block the sweat draining down your arm into your hands and into your grip. After the wrist band itself becomes soaked, change it.
- Hold your racket in your non-playing hand from the throat when not in a rally. The less you touch your grip, the drier it will remain. Try to do this when your not playing a rally.
- Wipe your hands and grip with a towel often. The new squash provisions ( Click to read article!) to keep a towel on court is really useful for keeping your hands and your racket dry.
- In addition to wiping your hands, wipe your forearms up to your elbows as a lot of sweat tends to flow from there to your hand and dampen your grip.
Watch the Video: How to wrap a grip on a squash racquet.
Learn about the best squash racket
how to put grip on a squash or tennis racket
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