“Grip It And Hole It”
We have discussed in the last issue how important it is to get into the correct posture for a repeatable putting action. This issue we will be concentrating on the grip and how it can affect our results on the greens.
Your Lifelines
The majority of amateur golfers tend to adopt the same grip for putting as they do for the full swing, which can only cause problems, mostly when under pressure. In the full swing, we are trying to get the club to run through the base of the fingers, as this will help with achieving the correct hinge and release. Unfortunately in the putting stroke, we are not looking for the surges of power that this type of grip encourages, but more a stroke that can be controlled under pressure using the larger muscles of the shoulders and forearms. So by allowing the putter to be placed higher in the palm of the hand, in the lifelines, we can hopefully keep the small twitch muscles out of the stroke, making it more of a smooth one piece action, as opposed to a hit with the hands.
Now we have our hands quiet, we should be looking at how we place them on the putter and there are now some different ideas as to how this should be done. For years it was accepted that the right hand low, reverse overlap was the grip that most professionals used as it promoted great feel, but feel is an over used word in teaching and it tends to hide the fact that to putt well you have to have good technique. Theories have changed over the years and there are now many more options that we can give to our students to enable them to master the art of putting, from long and belly putters, to the claw and saw grips, palms together and left hand low.
If we look at things from a science point of view, physics tells us that if the force applied during stroke comes from behind the mass (the putter head), then the putter can become less stable through impact and has the chance of going off line. This hit with the right hand will apply to the majority of your students.
So, that means that we should encourage people to try different styles that will take the right hand out of play and keep the left hand the dominant one, pulling the club through to the target, keeping the force in front of the mass and making it more stable and online through the impact area.
All of the above grips and styles are worth a try, but I would certainly recommend the left hand low grip as it is now considered by many knowledgeable teachers as the best way to achieve a solid repeatable putting stroke for your students and is certainly worth introducing early on in your putting lessons.
You will notice if you watch the golf on TV, how many players from all different tours are now favouring this type of action, so it is good for all levels of golfers.
By placing our student’s hands on the putter in the correct fashion, using proven scientific theories, they will have a better chance of holing more putts and lowering their scores, and if anyone asks why it should be this way, just tell them it’s a ‘physics thing’!!
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