- 2 days ago
In this video, Neil Tappin and Joel Tadman look at how to find the right putter grip for your game.
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00:00Hi guys, Neil Tappin and Joel Tadman here from Golf Monthly and in this video we are
00:08looking at putter grips, both the grip that you have on the club and the way in which
00:11you hold it. Now over the last 5 or 10 years we've seen a lot of players out on tour holding
00:17their putter in slightly different ways from claw grips to left below right, right below
00:22left, even two thumb grips you see are being used regularly out on tour. So there are lots
00:26of different methods that people are using and I think that has led to a whole host of
00:31different grips being launched into the putter market. So your choice of putter grips is bigger
00:36now than it's ever been and it's a really important decision to make because the choice of grip
00:41you put on your putter will largely depend on the technique that you use. Talk us through
00:47the options that people have. Definitely yeah, I mean we've got a load of grips in front of
00:51us here, they come in a whole host of different shapes, sizes and textures so it's important
00:56when you try different ones to see which ones feel good right for you. But yeah, I'm just
01:01talking through kind of how they vary. So traditional putter grips, this is kind of similar to a
01:06traditional putter grip where it's larger at the top, so wider at the top and then it tapers
01:11towards the bottom. So what that essentially does is it means that you're gripping the putter grip
01:17with different pressures in each hand which means if it's narrow at the bottom your right hand will be
01:22holding it a bit tighter which means it might be a bit more active in the stroke which is why Superstroke,
01:26a common putter brand, there are obviously a lot of different putter grip brands out there,
01:30but Superstroke kind of pioneered that no tapered design so you can see it's the same width at the
01:36top as is the bottom and that means that you're applying equal pressure to the grip from both hands
01:41which means they should be less active or equally imparting force on the putter so your stroke should be a
01:48little bit more consistent. One quick thing Joel, so the the tapered version that you've got there,
01:53what sort of player should be looking out for that because there is a benefit to having a slightly
01:58firmer grip pressure in your lower hand isn't there? Yeah, so if you're struggling to release the putter if
02:02you need a more active right hand so perhaps you miss putts to the right a little bit more.
02:06Or maybe your distance control isn't very good so you feel like you need that flow through the ball.
02:11Yeah, if you're more of a field player rather than a kind of mechanical player you might want to feel
02:17like your right hand is a little bit more active through stroke. Another way you can do that is by
02:20running the right finger down the bottom of the grip during your stroke. We saw Ian Poulter do that
02:25on tour. He won on tour recently by changing his putter grip to having that finger running down the
02:30back of the grip there and that's because he felt like he needed to a little bit more help releasing the
02:34putters so that's another way you can do it. Okay so from there and that super straight grip
02:39that's even all the way through, there are strangely you might think okay that's fine
02:44those are two good options but there's a lot more to talk about besides these two right?
02:47Yeah of course we've got a load of different grips here. We talked about the taper in this
02:50direction so the width the top and bottom but you'll notice a lot of putter grips are wider at
02:55the top in this direction so from the side on view and that's designed to fit more between the
03:00pads of your top hand a little bit more easier so you get a bit more stability in the grip,
03:05better control in that top hand which is really important. Yeah that's certainly what I've got in
03:10my Scotty Cameron here and as Joel said the putter really is designed to sit in between those two
03:16pads isn't it? You don't want the wrist to be involved here so you really want the the angle of
03:20the shaft as close to your forearm as you can when you're addressing the ball. You don't want to have
03:24a big angle between your arm and your putter shaft because that means your wrist is going to be more
03:30involved so the more you can use your shoulders during the stroke rather than your wrist so keeping
03:34this all in one line and just rocking the shoulders you should be a more consistent putter that way.
03:39So what are the other options that we've got to show people?
03:41Right so we've got a wider super stroke here so this is the slim 3.0 I think they do do much bigger ones
03:47as well but this is essentially for people who like the feel of a larger putter grip so you've
03:53got larger hands potentially or your grip that you choose i.e. the way you hold the putter is more
03:59kind of leaning towards this style of grip so for example if you have a two thumb if you want to go
04:03for the two thumb style so having your hands together with your thumbs together like that a larger grip is
04:08obviously important to do that. They come in a lot of different shapes as well in terms of the leading
04:14edge you can get ones that have a narrow front edge or a wide front edge depending on it's all
04:18down to personal preference so at the end of the day it needs to feel comfortable in your hands so
04:22it's really important to try a load of different ones just going back to that two thumb grip sorry
04:26yeah go on the one thing that's really good about that two thumb grip obviously gets your shoulders
04:30level but it also because your hands are facing each other it means that your alignment should be
04:35pretty square you know you haven't got one arm climbing on top of the putter this way or underneath the
04:41other way because they're level your shoulders should be square to the target or parallel left
04:45of the target uh with your putter. It should yeah it should be a really uh very solid technical
04:50putting stroke right and then also by having your hands like that i guess it encourages you to have
04:56a little bit less wrist hinge absolutely keeps the putter more stable definitely which might help on
05:00short putts some people struggle with long putts when they have that type of grip but for most golfers it
05:05might be a way to be more consistent for sure yeah and as i say it's one of those that you will see
05:10players using out on tour i've got a feeling the burnt wiesberger uses that at the moment to keep
05:14an eye out for him yeah um right what else we got well this is an interesting one uh from super
05:21stroke again like i said there are other brands we've got a golf pipe one down here which is really
05:25good but this is uh the counter core technology so there's actually a weight here that kind of you
05:30can pull it out and adjust the weight on the top to adjust the feel of the putter feel is really
05:35important obviously with controlling distance and accuracy and on all those sorts of things so
05:39by adjusting the weight of the putter you can kind of tweak the way it feels and suits your basically
05:45your putting stroke so joe you can change the feel of the putter in your hands by changing that weight
05:50in the top but that's not a dual balanced or counter balanced putter grip is it or is making it feel
05:56more like a counterbalance putter so as we know counterbalance putters are heavier at the bottom and
06:01heavier at the top just to make it feel more stable and smoother and this is one way you can kind of
06:06promote that a little bit by using a conventional length grip so if you want a heavier putter or a
06:11lighter feeling putter that's one way you can do that yeah and it's one that it's quite a nice piece
06:16of technology that because if you're buying the grip with the brand of putter you you might get a
06:22dual balanced or counter balanced putter grip in it this one allows you to kind of set it in exactly
06:26the way that you want so it's kind of worth uh thinking about there is as you said there's also
06:30a golf pride grip down there it's got a slightly different feel to it to the other super stroke
06:35grips right the uh the tour sensor from golf pride and it's a really soft feeling grip and i think
06:41it's definitely one you should try it's got it's not tapered so you should feel like even pressure
06:46in both hands but it's just a different type of feel all different putter grips have different
06:50textures on the surface the super stock has like a plus pattern this has something similar but it does
06:56feel very different because made of a softer material so it's really worth trying as many different
07:00ones as you can all our hands are different sizes and shapes so they're all going to suit you in
07:04different ways so it's trying as many as you can and finding the one that feels the best in your
07:08hands now joel over your i know as a fact that over your golfing career yeah you've used a few different
07:15grips yourself uh like ways of holding the putter what have you gone for what have been the sort of
07:20feelings that you've had from those different yeah i mean so you might find this relevant to your
07:23game and it's definitely worth trying so for me i started with the conventional right below left with
07:28the finger kind of running alongside the other fingers and then i changed to having the finger
07:33running down the line of the putter felt like that kind of took the wrists out a little bit more
07:37again that's something you can try and then i was really struggling with short putts and i changed
07:42from conventional to the left below right jordan speed a few years ago was holding a lot of putts
07:46that way so i thought i'd give it a try and that actually felt for me like i really was a lot more
07:51proficient on short putts i didn't look at the hole i wasn't that good but um it just felt like
07:57the um the the back of the left wrist wasn't breaking down as much so i wasn't flicking at
08:02the putter at all and if you don't tend to have that fault in your stroke that's a really good way
08:06of combating that you can even wear a watch and put a pencil down there as a drill to stop it from
08:10breaking down but for me that left below right just felt like the the back of the left hand was
08:16going towards the target and there was no flicking at all during that stroke and i was really good at
08:21short putts for a while i think they kind of they go in and out of fashion grips and some grips work
08:26for a while and then suddenly they stop working and it's something you can change really quickly so
08:29it's just you know trying what works for you and then it might just suddenly stop work and you can
08:34always change back so it's just what feels comfortable at the time yeah i would agree with what
08:38you just said say that if you are struggling with your putting try a different grip because it gives you
08:42that different feeling it's a bit like some resetting your brain for a long time now i've been
08:46using a claw grip and i felt like my right hand was way too active if anyone has suffered with the yips
08:52it's such a debilitating thing in golf i've certainly suffered with it in the past myself and by taking
08:57the the palm of the right hand off the putter and having it running like this suddenly no problems in
09:03that regard and now for me putting would i wouldn't say it's the strongest part of my game but it's
09:07definitely not the weakest area of my game i'm not i'm throwing away shots on the golf course in other
09:12areas more readily than i am on the green with the putter and that's down to the claw grip and i
09:17feel like if i could have started again from scratch i might have even just started with the
09:21claw i know it does it can look a little bit ungainly and people think oh you're struggling
09:26with your putting but actually if it resets your brain and you feel comfortable with it then go for
09:31it that would be my advice and there's a whole host of golfers on tour that have switched to the
09:35claw grip and got some really good at success you look at tommy fleetwood uh webb simpson one at
09:39sawgrass using the claw grip obviously he uses uh that anchored style stroke we've seen it with uh
09:44soren keltzer as well who who runs it along to the inside of his forearm obviously got a lot of loft
09:49on his putter i think he's got six degrees of loft because he's got so much shaft lean but that's
09:53another way another way we're talking about so many different ones but that's probably a fifth or sixth
09:57way you can hope potentially make the putter more stable less kind of face rotation and uh more
10:03consistent so you know worth a try so there you have it the putting as joel's just said is a field
10:09game and whatever works for you works you know there are some technical principles at work within
10:14putting that are good for everyone to have but beyond that it is an individual game and one putting
10:19stroke really won't look a lot like another one and that's why it's definitely worth experimenting with
10:25different styles of grip and different types of grip on your putter just to change the feeling in
10:29your hands find something that's right for you and then you might just be able to hold a few more putts
10:33guys thank you very much for watching if you have any questions about any of this stuff and we have
10:37sort of wisked through it all there is a lot to understand a lot to learn if you're thinking
10:41about buying a putter or a new grip leave a comment below leave a question we'll get back to you with
10:46some hopefully some advice and some thoughts from us but from here from Philford Heath for now it's goodbye
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