Putting Grip

There are those who say that the grip may very well be of primary importance when it comes to fundamentals of the golf game. But if you take a close look at golf pros who are excellent putters you will find that they use a wide variety of grips for every aspect of their game. and when it comes to putting posture, alignment and consistency are more important than grip when compared to something like driving. So your putting grip, and we'll talk about what it should be like, is not necessarily the thing you should work on once you get the right idea.

When you drive the ball you need to have a good hand release at impact. this means taking a strong grip. Most people have no clue what that means. A strong grip is one that allows you to turn your wrists more at impact. When you grip the club for a drive you typically want to slide your hands a bit more to the right so that the "V" shape made between your thumb and index finger point more toward your right shoulder (if you're right handed). This grip alignment means you will more naturally move your wrists a little further through the ball at impact, and thus create more speed and distance. But it just won't do for putting at all.

Putting is all about being quiet. Move as little as possible, and only as much as necessary. straight back, straight through (although pretty impossible) is what you should shoot for. So even though there will be some minor pronation and supination of your hands through a putting stroke, these should be kept at a bare minimum. And the best way to accomplish this is with a much weaker grip.

A good way to think of every kind of grip in golf is the "hand sandwich." Take a sheet of paper and press it between your palms. Weak grip, strong grip, no matter what you're trying to accomplish, your hands should always be neutral in respect to each other. This is especially true when putting. You never want your left palm facing one direction and your right another by more than a few fractions of a degree. I've often wondered if a good teaching tool would be a putter with a flat handle would help many golfers with goofy hand placement, but since such a thing may not ever exist, you'll just have to use the piece of paper instead.

Once you've got your grip in a neutral position, weaken your grip by making the "V" shape point more toward your chin than your shoulder. This will keep you from closing the club head any more through impact with the ball. But an even better way of removing most of this pronation temptation is to use a reverse grip by placing your left hand (again, from the right-handed perspective) below your right. This makes it very difficult to pronate in either direction since the large muscle memory gets a little flustered in this position. You will find that a reverse putting grip will take you a few practice sessions to get comfortable with, but will do wonders for keeping your putts on line.