- 10 minutes ago
From oversized SuperStroke grips to traditional tapered models, the choice of putter grips has never been greater. Learn about the latest technology and what to look for when selecting a new grip to gain more confidence and hole more putts.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:03Hi 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
00:16holding
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
01:26Superstroke, a common putter brand, there are obviously a lot of different putter grip brands
01:30out there but Superstroke kind of pioneered that no tapered design so you can see it's the same width
01:35at the top as it is the bottom and that means that you're applying equal pressure to the grip
01:40from both hands which means they should be less active or equally imparting force on the putter so
01:47your stroke should be a little bit more consistent. One quick thing Joel, so the tapered version that you've got
01:52there, what sort of player should be looking out for that because there is a benefit to having a
01:58slightly firmer grip pressure in your lower hand isn't there? Yeah so if you're struggling to release
02:02the putter if you need a more active right hand so perhaps you miss putts to the right a little
02:06bit
02:06more. Or 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
02:29the the back of the grip there and that's because he felt like he needed to a little bit more
02:33help
02:33releasing the putter so that's another way you can do it. Okay so from there and that super
02:38stroke grip that's even all the way through there are strangely you might think okay that's fine those
02:44are two good options but there's a lot more to talk about besides these two right? Yeah of course
02:47we've got a lot of different grips here we talked about the taper in this direction so the width the
02:52top and bottom but you'll notice a lot of putter grips are wider at the top in this direction so
02:57from the side on view and that's designed to fit more between the pads of your top hand a little
03:02bit
03:03more easier so you get a bit more stability in the grip better control in that top hand which is
03:07really
03:07important. 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
03:23when
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
03:32during the stroke rather than your wrist so keeping this all in one line and just rocking the
03:36shoulders you should be a more consistent putter that way. So what are the other options that we've got to
03:40show
03:40people? Right so we've got a wider super stroke here so this is the slim 3.0 I think they
03:46do do much
03:47bigger ones as well but this is essentially for people who like the feel of a larger putter grip
03:53so you've got larger hands potentially or your grip that you choose i.e the way you hold the putter
03:58is more kind of leaning towards this style of grip so for example if you have a two thumb if
04:03you want to
04:03go for the two thumb style so having your hands together with your thumbs together like that a larger grip
04:08is obviously important to do that they come in a lot of different shapes as well in terms of
04:13the 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
04:25grip sorry 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
04:44or parallel left of the target with your putter it should yeah it should be a really very solid
04:49technical 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 but
05:04for most golfers it might be a way to be more consistent for sure yeah and as i say it's
05:09one
05:09of those that you will see players using out on tour i've got a feeling that bern fiesberger uses that
05:13at the moment to keep an eye out for him yeah um right what else we got well this is
05:19an interesting
05:20one uh from superstock again like i said there are other brands we've got a golf pipe one down here
05:24which is really good but this is the counter core technology so there's actually a weight here that kind of
05:30you can pull it out and adjust the weight on the top to adjust the feel of the putter feel
05:35is 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 it making
05:55it
05:56feel more like a counterbalance putter so as we know counterbalance putters are heavier at the bottom
06:01and heavier at the top just to make it feel more stable and smoother and this is one way you
06:05can kind
06:05of promote that a little bit by using a conventional length grip 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 dual
06:22balanced or a 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
06:31a 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
06:45in both hands but it's just a different type of feel all different putter grips have different
06:50textures on the surface the super stroke has like a plus pattern this has something similar but it
06:56does feel 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
07:05different ways so it's trying as many as you can and finding the one that feels the best in your
07:09hands
07:09now 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
07:24game 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 risks 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 from conventional to the left below right jordan speed a few years ago was holding a lot of putts
07:47that
07:47way so i thought i'd give it a try and that actually felt for me like i really was a
07:51lot more proficient
07:52on short putts i didn't look at the hole i wasn't that good but um it just felt like the
07:57um the back
07:59of the left wrist wasn't breaking down as much so i wasn't flicking at the putter at all and if
08:03you
08:03tend to have that fault in your stroke that's a really good way of combating that you can even wear
08:08a watch and put a pencil down there as a drill to stop it from breaking down but for me
08:11that left below
08:12right just felt like the the back of the left hand was going towards the target and there was no
08:18flicking at all during that stroke and i was really good at short putts for a while i think they
08:22kind
08:22of they go in and out of fashion grips and some grips work for a while and then suddenly they
08:27stop
08:27working and it's something you can change really quickly so it's just you know trying what works for
08:31you and then it might just suddenly stop work and you can always change back so it's just what feels
08:35comfortable at the time yeah i would agree with what you just said say that if you are struggling with
08:40putting try a different grip because it gives you that different feeling it's a bit like some
08:43resetting your brain for a long time now i've been using a claw grip and i felt like my right
08:50hand
08:50was way too active if anyone has suffered with the yips it's such a debilitating thing in golf i've
08:54certainly suffered with it in the past myself and by taking the the palm of the right hand off the
08:59putter and having it running like this suddenly no problems in that regard and now for me putting would
09:05i wouldn't say it's the strongest part of my game but it's definitely not the weakest area of my game
09:09i'm not i'm throwing away shots on the golf course in other areas more readily than i am uh on
09:15the
09:15green with the putter and that's down to the claw grip and i feel like if i could have started
09:19again
09:19from scratch i might have even just started with the claw i know it does it can look a little
09:23bit
09:23ungainly and 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
09:33of
09:33golfers on tour that have switched to the claw grip and got some really good success you look at tommy
09:37fleetwood
09:37uh webb simpson one at sawgrass using the claw grip obviously he uses uh that anchored style stroke
09:43we've seen it with uh soren kelts as well who who runs it along to the inside of his forearm
09:48obviously
09:48got a lot of loft on his putter i think he's got six degrees of loft because he's got so
09:52much shaft lean
09:53but that's another way another way we're talking about so many different ones but that's probably a
09:57fifth or sixth way you can hope potentially make the putter more stable less kind of face rotation
10:02and uh more consistent so you know worth a try so there you have it the putting as joel's just
10:08said
10:08is a field game and whatever works for you works yeah there are some technical principles at work
10:13within putting that are good for everyone to have but beyond that it is an individual game and one
10:19putting stroke really won't look a lot like another one and that's why it's definitely worth experimenting
10:24with different 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
10:33putts guys thank you very much for watching if you have any questions about any of this stuff and
10:37we have sort of whisked through it all there is a lot to understand a lot to learn if you're
10:41thinking
10:41about buying a putter or a new grip leave a comment below leave a question we'll get back to you
10:46with
10:46some hopefully some advice and some thoughts from us but from here from philford heath for now is goodbye
Comments