- 8 hours 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 that's
02:39even all the way through there are strangely you might think okay that's fine those are two good
02:44options but there's a lot more to talk about besides these two right? Yeah of course so we've got a
02:48load of different grips here we talked about the taper in this direction so the width the top and
02:52bottom but you'll notice a lot of putter grips are wider at the top in this direction so from the
02:57side on view and that's designed to fit more between the pads of your top hand a little bit more
03:03easier so you get a bit more stability in the grip better control in that top hand which is really
03:08important. Yeah that's certainly what I've got in my Scotty Cameron here and as Joel said the putter
03:14really is designed to sit in between those two pads isn't it? Yeah you don't want the wrist to be
03:18involved here so you really want the the angle of the shaft as close to your forearm as you can when
03:23you're addressing the ball you don't want to have a big angle between your arm and your putter shaft
03:28because that means your wrist is going to be more involved so the more you can use your shoulders during the
03:32stroke rather than your wrist so keeping this all in one line and just rocking the shoulders you
03:36should be a more consistent putter that way. So what are the other options that we've got to show
03:40people? So we've got a wider super stroke here so this is the slim 3.0 I think they do do much bigger
03:47ones as 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
04:04for the two thumb style so having your hands together with your thumbs together like that
04:08a larger grip is obviously important to do that they come in a lot of different shapes as well in
04:12terms of the leading edge you can get ones that have a narrow front edge or a wide front edge depending
04:17on it's all down to personal preference at the end of the day it needs to feel comfortable in your
04:21hands so it's really important to try a load of different ones just going back to that two thumb grip
04:26sorry yeah go on the one thing that's really good about that two thumb grip obviously gets your
04:30shoulders level but it also because your hands are facing each other it means that your alignment
04:35should be pretty square you know you haven't got one arm climbing on top of the putter this way
04:40or underneath the other way because they're level your shoulders should be square to the target or
04:44parallel left of the target with your putter it should yeah it should be a really very solid
04:50technical putting stroke right and then also by having your hands like that I guess it encourages
04:55you to have a little bit less wrist hinge absolutely keeps the putter more stable definitely which
04:59might help on short putts some people struggle with long putts when they have that type of grip
05:04but for most golfers it might be a way to be more consistent for sure yeah and as I say it's one of
05:09those that you will see players using out on tour I've got a feeling that Bernd Wiesberger uses that
05:13at the moment keep an eye out for him yeah right what else we got well this is an interesting one
05:20from Superstoke again like I said there are other brands we've got a golf pipe one down here which
05:24is really good but this is the counter core technology so there's actually a weight here
05:30that kind of you can pull it out and adjust the weight on the top to adjust the feel of the putter
05:35feel is really important obviously with controlling distance and accuracy and all those sorts of
05:39things so by adjusting the weight of the putter you can kind of tweak the way it feels and suits
05:45your basically your putting stroke so Joe you can change the feel of the putter in your hands by
05:50changing that weight in the top but that's not a dual balanced or counter balanced putter grip is
05:55it or is it making it feel more like a counter balanced putter so as we know counter balanced
05:59putters are heavier at the bottom and heavier at the top just to make it feel more stable and
06:04smoother and this is one where you can kind of promote that a little bit by using a
06:08conventional length grip so if you want a heavier putter or a lighter feeling putter that's one
06:12way you can do that yeah and it's one that it's quite a nice piece of technology that because if
06:18you're buying the grip with the brand of putter you you might get a dual balanced or a counter balanced
06:23putter grip in it this one allows you to kind of set it in exactly the way that you want so it's
06:27kind of worth thinking about there is as you said there's also a golf pride grip down there
06:32which got a slightly different feel to it to the other super stroke grips right the tour sensor from golf pride
06:37it's a really soft feeling grip and i think it's definitely one you should try it's got it's not
06:43tapered so you should feel like even pressure in both hands but it's just a different type of feel
06:48all different putter grips have different textures on the surface the super stroke has like a plus pattern
06:54this has something similar but it does feel very different because made of a softer material so it's
06:58really worth trying as many different ones as you can all our hands are different sizes and shapes so
07:03they're all going to suit you in different ways so it's trying as many as you can and finding the
07:07one that feels the best in your hands now joel over your i know as a fact that over your golfing
07:12career yeah you've used a few different uh grips yourself uh like ways of holding the putter what
07:18have you gone for what have been the sort of feelings that you've had from those different yeah i mean
07:22so you might find this relevant to your game and it's definitely worth trying so for me i started with
07:26the conventional right below left with the finger kind of running alongside the other fingers
07:31and then i changed to having the finger running down the line of the putter felt like that kind
07:36of took the wrists out a little bit more again that's something you can try and then i was really
07:40struggling with short putts and i changed from from conventional to the left below right jordan
07:45speed a few years ago was holding a lot of putts that way so i thought i'd give it a try and
07:49actually felt for me like i really was a lot more proficient on short putts i didn't look at the hole
07:54i wasn't that good but um it just felt like the um the the back of the left wrist wasn't breaking
08:00down as much so i wasn't flicking at the putter at all and if you tend to have that fault in your
08:05stroke that's a really good way of combating that you can even wear a watch and put a pencil down
08:09there as a drill to stop it from breaking down but for me that left below right just felt like the
08:14the back of the left hand was going towards the target and there was no flicking at all during that
08:20stroke and i was really good at short putts for a while i think they kind of they go in and out of
08:24fashion grips and some grips work for a while and then suddenly they stop working and it's something
08:28you can change really quickly so it's just you know trying what works for you and then it might
08:33just suddenly stop work and you can always change back so it's just what feels comfortable at the
08:36time yeah i would agree with what you just said say that if you are struggling with your putting try
08:40a different grip because it gives you that different feeling it's a bit like some resetting your brain
08:44for a long time now i've been using a claw grip and i felt like my right hand was way too active
08:51if anyone has suffered with the yips it's such a debilitating thing in golf i've certainly suffered
08:55with it in the past myself and by taking the the palm of the right hand off the putter and having it
09:00running like this suddenly no problems in that regard and now for me putting would i wouldn't say
09:06it's the strongest part of my game but it's definitely not the weakest area of my game i'm not i'm
09:10throwing away shots on the golf course in other areas more readily than i am on the green with
09:15the putter and that's down to the claw grip and i feel like if i could have started again from scratch
09:20i might have even just started with the claw i know it does it can look a little bit ungainly
09:24and people think oh you're struggling with your putting but actually if it resets your brain
09:28and you feel comfortable with it then go for it that would be my advice and there's a whole host of
09:33golfers on tour that have switched to the claw grip and got some really good success you've got
09:37tommy fleetwood uh webb simpson one at sawgrass using the claw grip obviously he uses uh that
09:42anchored style stroke we've seen it with uh soren kelts as well who who runs it along to the inside
09:47of his forearm obviously got a lot of loft on his putter i think he's got six degrees of loft because
09:51he's got so much shaft lean but that's another way another way we're talking about so many different
09:56ones but that's probably a fifth or sixth way you can hope potentially make the putter more stable
10:01less kind of face rotation and uh more consistent so you know worth a try so there you have it
10:06putting as joel's just said is a feel game and whatever works for you works you know there are
10:12some technical principles at work within putting that are good for everyone to have but beyond that
10:17it is an individual game and one putting stroke really won't look a lot like another one and that's
10:22why it's definitely worth experimenting with different styles of grip and different types of
10:27grip on your putter just to change the feeling in your hands find something that's right for you and
10:31then you might just be able to hold a few more putts guys thank you very much for watching if you have
10:35any questions about any of this stuff and we have sort of whiffed through it all there is a lot
10:39to understand a lot to learn if you're thinking about buying a putter or a new grip leave a comment
10:44below leave a question we'll get back to you with some hopefully some advice and some thoughts
10:47from us but from here from Philford Heath for now it's goodbye
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