Fundamentals of Putting

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• Main Menu
• Overview
• The Mechanics of Putting
• Diagnostics and Observation
• Putter Fitting
• The Grip
• Ball Position
• Setup and Alignment
• Lock and Rock
• Swing Plane
• Rhythm
• Eye Movement
• Pre-Shot Routine
• Pre-Shot Routine Template
• Green Reading
• Wind Effects on the Green
• Practice Drills
• Rhythm Drills
• Distance Control Drills
• Eye Movement Drills
• Speed Control Drills
• Pressure Putting Drills
• Before You Play
• Linking the FOP with the Mechanics
• ASSESSMENT

The Grip

To avoid any confusion, when we talk about the grip in this section, we are not referring to the material wrapped around the shaft, but the manner in which we hold the putter. The major variations of grip will be discussed below.

Grip Pressure:

One of the most important aspects of gripping the putter is grip pressure. Too tight a grip results in a contraction of the muscles of the hands, wrist and forearms. The tension from a tight grip may even spread to the upper arms and shoulders.

When the muscles are tense, this will interfere with a smooth, rhythmic and natural swing. The putting stroke should be a relaxed stroke, and that cannot happen if there is too much tension in the muscles. For this reason, the hands should use as little pressure as possible when gripping the putter.

Hand Dominance:

It is difficult to distribute the work load evenly between both hands on the putter. This may not be the case in the full swing, during which centripetal forces are significant – up to 60 to 70 pounds with a driver -- and without a good sound grip with both hands the club could easily fly out of the hands.

Given that even distribution of the work load is difficult to achieve, it is important to remember that the swing unit – the putter, hands, wrists, arms and shoulders should all function as one unit. All must move together if possible. So while there are “dominant” and “passive” hands, the talk of dominance is more a description of the thought process for initiating the swing rather than the actual movement of either the right or left hand.

That said, when making a putting stroke, the golfer needs to have even less pressure on the passive hand than the dominant one. This will help eliminate confusion and conflicting reactions by the hands during the putting stroke.

As we will learn later, rhythm is important if we are to make a consistent and repeatable stroke. To develop good rhythm, a one-handed practice drill is extremely effective. Putting with one hand and an extremely light grip permits the natural dynamics of the swing unit to dominate timing and path. When we use the second hand, which adds stability to the motion, we must recognize that it is there to hold the putter in the correct swing plane and not to initiate the motion of the stroke.

The effect of the dominance of one hand is best exhibited with the split grip, left - or right - hand low. In either case, one hand needs to take charge of initiating the motion.

Grip Types: Reverse Overlap:

The conventional grip is the Reverse Overlap.

This -- if you are right-handed — requires that you hold the putter in your right hand with about 4½ inches of grip above the pinky. Now place the left hand on the butt end of the grip with the left index finger overlapping the pinky and ring finger of the right hand and the thumb centrally positioned down the grip and under the meaty (heel) portion of the right thumb. The grip of the putter should not extend more than about ½ inch above the upper hand.

There are slight variations with regard to finger position but a good starting point is as described above.

Advantages:

One advantage of this grip is, that it will be different from the normal grip used for the full swing and thus a reminder to grip the putter lightly. This grip will promote light grip pressure which in turn promotes a relaxed, rhythmic stroke. As soon as grip pressure increases, rhythm suffers.

A second advantage is that the hands are closer together than with a split grip, which allows for both arms to be relatively straight and the shoulders to be level. The player will find that the left arm will be slightly more bent than the right.

Disadvantages:

The hands are inclined to fight each other for dominance unless the grip is extremely light and/or one hand dominates the swing motion thought process.

Because the hands are close together when using this grip, it will allow for easy wrist rotation unless the student consciously fixes the wrists.

In general, the reverse overlap grip has a lot going for it and is a good starting point for any student. If, however, the teacher sees issues that would impede a good, natural putting stroke, he/she should not hesitate to look at alternative grips.

Grip Types: Split Grip:

There are at least three types of split grips.

The right - hand low is a very interesting grip, because it will tend to promote a straight right arm, which will minimize the potential effect of two degrees of freedom - the Up-Down movement and the Wrist Break. It also will help encourage a more rhythmic swing, similar to a one handed grip (to be discussed later in practice drills).

As long as the student recognizes that the swing is in a plane (as discussed in previous sections) and that the right hand dominates, then this will promote a relaxed, in-plane, simple and natural swing, during which the natural “Inertial Frequency” (discussed in the section on Rhythm) is allowed to influence the rhythm of the swing more effectively. Grip pressure with the right hand low is very light, and the left hand is considered to be going along for the ride and to stabilize the putter in the inclined (about 72 degrees to the horizontal) position.

The left-hand low grip is very similar to the right-hand low grip and has all of the same advantages.

Note that even though the one hand is low and may act as the dominant hand to initiate the swing, this may not always allow for a smooth swing. One needs to experiment with the thought that the upper hand in the true split grip is the initiator and dominant or thought - controlling hand.

The long putter and side-saddle putter grips differ from the left-hand low and right -hand low in that the upper hand is positioned with the thumb pointing upward. These grips eliminate the Wrist Break degree of freedom, while the long putter also eliminates the Up-Down degree of freedom. In the case of a side - saddle grip, the right hand ( the lower hand for a right-handed player ) dominates and the upper hand pivots. In the long putter, the right hand stabilizes the putter inclination and the torso’s big muscles initiate the swing motion. Some golfers have had some success by holding the shoulders still and making the entire movement using the lower hand. This is not recommended, as it introduces a source of error through the activation of the Forward and Backward (toward and away from the body) degree of freedom.

Grip Types: The Claw Grip:

This grip, which has been used successfully by a few professional golfers, is a not recommended as it is considered a “crutch. ”

With the “claw,” the left hand holds the handle in a conventional manner with the thumb down toward the putter head, while the right hand is turned over, with the thumb up and turned toward the body. The right hand does not have all the fingers wrapped around the grip but only two, three or all four fingers (extended not wrapped around the putter grip) on the top of the putter grip, with the thumb on the underside of the shaft.

The reason why this grip works for some golfers is that it forces the left hand to dominate and eliminates the fight between the two hands as to which is in charge of making the motion, while encouraging a smooth swinging of the shoulders, arms and hands through the stroke. The right hand (the claw) is not capable of applying any pressure to the grip and is used only to stabilize the putter. This is a very good example of forcing hand dominance when other methods don’t seem to work.