How To Grip A Putter Without Professional Training
Does gripping your putter constantly seem like a struggle every time you want to get the ball into the hole? Do you often feel like you might miss the putt way before you’ve even hit the ball? Or worse, do you ever wonder how to grip a putter properly in the first place?
These are simply symptoms that point out to the ugly truth that you’re not gripping your putter properly. And that is exactly why you’ve developed this lack of confidence which is affecting your game.
Putting is nothing but a pretty basic understanding of mechanics involved in golf. As a beginner and professional, there has to be at least one consistently successful putting technique that you develop in order to get the ball into the hole.
While there many ways to grip a putter, something that I have discussed at length below, as a golfer you need to pick one and master that particular technique completely in order to control your putter head more efficiently and produce better and more consistent results on the greens.
What you need to know before you learn how to grip a putter
Gripping a putter properly is something that a golfer learns in his own individualistic way, so there’s no perfect way of achieving the goal. This is something that all golfers, amateurs and experts, should know.
Each grip has the tendency to produce a different outcome depending on personal skills and experience. But there are certain putting grips that are quite popular among many golfing experts and I think it would be best to discuss them first before we delve into the step by step procedure of learning how to grip a putter properly.
Overlapping Putting Grip
The most common grip embraced by golfers is the overlapping putting grip.
This particular grip doesn’t require the golfer to exert a lot of wrist flexibility. While at the same time, it provides a high level of putting quality.
As a beginner, I adopted this technique, like the majority of golfers, and it took me a while to master this traditional technique before I started experimenting with a few others.
Interlock Putting Grip
As the name suggests, the interlock putting grip requires the golfer to hold the iron in such a way so as to interlock the pointer finger with the pinky.
This popular putting grip is practiced by golfers who like to experience the highest level of putting quality, especially on unsteady surfaces.
Cross Handed Putting Grip
Also popularly known as left-hand-low putting grip, this technique evens out the position and movement of the shoulders along the golfer’s line quite efficiently and naturally. This is highly beneficial for golfers who want to obtain higher consistency with shorter putts.
Reverse Overlap Putting Grip
The overlap putting grip and the reverse overlap putting grip are one and the same thing except for a minor change. In the overlap putting grip, the right-handed golfer’s right-hand pinky finger quite conveniently overlaps the left-hand pointer finger. And the opposite is done with reverse overlap putting grip. The pointer finger of the left-hand overlaps the pinky finger of the right-hand.
Now, this may seem like a tiny change but it isn’t. With reverse overlap putting grip, golfers can achieve a whole different level of putting quality than the feel provided by overlap putting grip.
Ten Finger Putting Grip
Back in the days when golfers didn’t have the wonderful opportunity of playing on smooth and steady putting greens, the ten finger putting grip was quite popular. This technique required golfers to use all ten fingers to grip the iron. The sole purpose of adopting this technique was to achieve ultimate putting quality when playing on wobbly and unstable putting greens.
Claw Putting Grip
A grip that involves more shoulder action than wrist action produces more consistently solid strokes. And the claw putting grip falls in that category. There are many different ways to carry out the claw putting grip but the whole concept remains the same; eliminate wrist action as much as possible to incorporate more shoulder movement in order to achieve steadier and more consistent results.
How to Grip a Putter – Step by Step Instructions
1. Select Your Putter
Picking the right kind of putter is an extremely crucial step in ensuring that you achieve maximum comfort, discipline, and success in the game of golf. You will find many different types of putters on the market, so choose one that has the perfect combination of comfort with balance.
While it is true that getting bigger and better at the game largely depends on your personal skills and individual strokes, choosing a putter that offers lots of control along with comfort can nevertheless go a long way in helping you achieve your golf goals.
2. Place the Club
Now it’s time to place the club in the lead hand. The grip of the club must be positioned right in the middle of your lead hand.
Note that the heel pad of that hand and the end of the club are both lined up together, with your thumb stretching out and fingers pointing downwards.
Credit: wikihow.com
3. Hold the Club
Once you’ve properly placed the club in your lead hand, wrap your hand tightly yet comfortably around the grip of the club. It should look like your hand is creating a fist in an upward position but without your thumb. The thumb needs to be suspended in the air right above the shaft following the straight line of your wrist. It’s as if you were holding a TV remote.
4. Bring in the Trail Hand
Now take your trail hand and place it on top of the lead hand, but not completely. The pinky of your trail hand should be placed in between the middle finger and forefinger of your lead hand. As a result of which, the trail hand positions itself below the lead hand with the palm and thumb of both the hands facing each other.
5. Complete the Grip
Once the intertwining of the pinky of your trail hand is in place, use the idle fingers of that hand too tightly embrace the shaft of the club, thus forming a fist yet again but in a downward position.
The thumb of your trail hand should cover the thumb of your lead hand in a straight line along the shaft. Don’t forget to apply some pressure with these thumbs on the shaft of the club. It helps in getting a better grip and producing a sharper stroke.
6. Adjust the Putter’s Face Head
In order to align the face head correctly, make sure that the golf ball and the putter’s face head are in line with each other. To check if you’ve properly achieved this, there should be an angle of fewer than 30 degrees between the club and your belly button.
Next step is to ensure that the face head of the putter is wide and clear instead of facing upwards or downwards. This particular check needs to be made if you want to achieve a particular angle of direction with your hit.
7. Perform the Swing
Once you, your hands and your club are ready in the correct position, let your instincts guide you and take control. With consistent practice, you’ll know how to address your club head more efficiently and comfortably, producing a flawlessly smooth swing.
You should know that the strength and angle of your swing are also influenced by many other factors, such as the gap between the ball and the hole, the condition of the turf, and level of the slope if there is any.
You know the basics now, so start practicing
Putting is one of the many most troublesome skills to master in the game of golf, which is why you should be practicing it consistently. And don’t just do that. Make sure that you’re spotting your mistakes and coming up with better strategies to undo those mistakes.
If one putting technique is constantly not working with you, then don’t be afraid to try another. Practice that new putting technique and check whether it’s contributing to improving your golf game. This is how professionals have gotten better at the sport.
The step by step instruction guide of how to grip a putter that I’ve provided you with is one of the most common ways to grip a putter. There are much more other ways to do the same thing, so the method you select entirely depends on how comfortable you are with it.
I hope you enjoyed this post. Please don’t forget to leave a comment if you have anything valuable to add to the list. I would love to hear how you mastered the art of learning how to grip a putter.
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Sources:
1. http://www.golfsamurai.net/short-game/how-to-grip-putter.htm
2. http://atruegolfer.com/2012/02/how-to-hold-putter-8-correct-putting-grips/
