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,
02:02if you 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 a bit better.
02:12Yeah, if you're more of a field player rather than a kind of mechanical player you might want to feel like your
02:17right hand is a little bit more active through stroke. Another way you can do that is by running
02:21the right finger down the bottom of the grip during your stroke. We saw Ian Poulter do that on
02:25tour. He won on tour recently by changing his putter grip to having that finger running down the
02:30the back of the grip there and that's because he felt like he needed to a little bit more help
02:33releasing the putter so that's another way you can do it. Okay, so from there and that's Superstroke
02:39grip that's even all the way through, there are strangely you might think okay that's fine those are
02:44two good options but there's a lot more to talk about besides these two right? Yeah of course
02:47so we've got a load of different grips here we talked about the taper in this direction so the
02:51width the top and bottom but you'll notice a lot of putter grips are wider at the top in this
02:56direction so from the side on view and that's designed to fit more between the pads of your
03:01top hand a little bit more easier so you get a bit more stability in the grip better control in
03:06that top hand which is really important. Yeah that's certainly what I've got in my
03:10Scottie Cameron here and as Joel said the putter really is designed to sit in between those two
03:16pads isn't it? Yeah 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
03:29involved 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? So we've got a wider super stroke here
03:44so this is the slim 3.0 I think they do do much bigger ones as well but this is essentially for
03:50people who like the feel of a larger putter grip so you've got larger hands potentially or your grip
03:56that you choose i.e the way you hold the putter is more kind of leaning towards this style of grip so
04:01for example if you have a two thumb if you want to go for the two thumb style so having your hands
04:06together with your thumbs together like that a larger grip is obviously important to do that
04:10they come in a lot of different shapes as well in terms of the leading edge you can get ones that
04:15have a narrow front edge or a wide front edge depending on it's all down to personal preference
04:19at the end of the day it needs to feel comfortable in your hands so it's really important to try
04:23a load of different ones just going back to that two thumb grip sorry tabby yeah go on
04:26the one thing that's really good about that two thumb grip obviously gets your shoulders level but it also
04:31because your hands are facing each other it means that your alignment should be pretty square you
04:37know you haven't got one arm climbing on top of the putter this way or underneath the other way
04:41because they're level your shoulders should be square to the target or parallel left of the target
04:45with your putter it should yeah it should be a really very solid technical putting stroke right
04:51and then also by having your hands like that I guess it encourages you to have a little bit less
04:56wrist hinge absolutely keeps the putter more stable definitely which might help on short putts some
05:01people struggle with long putts when they have that type of grip but for most golfers it might
05:06be a way to be more consistent for sure yeah and as I say it's one of those that you will see players
05:10using out on tour I've got a feeling that Bernd Wiesberger uses that at the moment to keep an eye out for him
05:16yeah right what else we got well this is an interesting one from super stroke again like I said there are
05:22other brands we've got a golf pipe one down here which is really good but this is the counter core
05:27technology so there's actually a weight here that kind of you can pull it out and adjust the weight
05:32on the top to adjust the feel of the putter feel is really important obviously with controlling distance
05:37and accuracy and all those sorts of things so by adjusting the weight of the putter you can kind of
05:43tweak the way it feels and suits your basically your putting stroke so joe you can change the feel of the
05:48putter in your hands by changing that weight in the top but that's not a dual balanced or counter
05:53balanced putter grip is it or is it making it feel more like a counterbalance putter so as we know
05:58counterbalance putters are heavier at the bottom and heavier at the top just to make it feel more
06:03stable and smoother and this is one way you can kind of promote that a little bit by using a conventional
06:08length grip if you want a heavier putter or a lighter feeling putter that's one way you can do that
06:14yeah and it's one that it's quite a nice piece of technology that because if you're buying the grip
06:19with the brand of putter you you might get a dual balanced or a counter balanced putter grip in it
06:24this one allows you to kind of set it in exactly the way that you want so it's kind of worth uh
06:28thinking about there is as you said there's also a golf pride grip down there it's got a slightly
06:32different feel to it to the other super stroke grips right the uh the tour sensor from golf pride and
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
06:53pattern this has something similar but it does feel very different because it's made of a softer
06:58material so it's really worth trying as many different ones as you can all our hands are different
07:02sizes and shapes so they're all going to suit you in different ways so it's trying as many as you can
07:06and finding the one that feels the best in your hands now joel over your i know as a fact that over
07:11your golfing career yeah you've used a few different uh grips yourself uh like ways of
07:17holding the putter what have you gone for what have been the sort of feelings that you've had from
07:21those different yeah i mean so you might find this relevant to your game and it's definitely worth trying
07:25so for me i started with the conventional right below left with the finger kind of running alongside
07:30the other fingers and then i changed to having the finger running down the line of the putter felt
07:35like that kind of took the wrists out a little bit more again that's something you can try and then
07:39i was really struggling with short putts and i changed from from conventional to the left below
07:44right jordan speed a few years ago was holding a lot of putts that way so i thought i'd give it
07:48a try and that actually felt for me like i really was a lot more proficient on short putts i didn't
07:53look at the hole i wasn't that good but it just felt like the um the back of the left wrist wasn't
08:00breaking down as much so i wasn't flicking at the putter at all and if you tend to have that fault in
08:04your stroke that's a really good way of combating that you can even wear a watch and put a pencil
08:09down there as a drill to stop it from breaking down but for me that left below right just felt
08:13like the the back of the left hand was going towards the target and there was no flicking at
08:19all during that stroke and i was really good at short putts for a while i think they kind of
08:23they go in and out of fashion grips and some grips work for a while and then suddenly they stop
08:27working and it's something you can change really quickly so it's just you know trying what works for you
08:31and 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
08:39with your putting try a different grip because it gives you that different feeling it's a bit like
08:43some resetting your brain for a long time now i've been using a claw grip and i felt like my right hand
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 putter
08:59and having it running like this suddenly no problems in that regard and now for me putting
09:05would i wouldn't say it's the strongest part of my game but it's definitely not the weakest area of my
09:09game i'm not i'm throwing away shots on the golf course in other areas more readily than i am on the
09:15green with the putter and that's down to the claw grip and i feel like if i could have started again
09:19from scratch i might have even just started with the claw i know it does it can look a little bit
09:24ungainly 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 golfers 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 anchored
09:42style stroke we've seen it with uh soren kelts as well who who runs it along through the inside of
09:47his forearm obviously got a lot of loft on his putter i think he's got six degrees of loft because he's got
09:52so much shaft lean but that's another way another way we're talking about so many different ones but
09:56that's probably a fifth or sixth way you can hope potentially make the putter more stable less kind
10:01of face rotation and uh more consistent so you know worth a try so there you have it the putting
10:07as joel's just said is a field game and whatever works for you works you know there are some technical
10:12principles at work within putting that are good for everyone to have but beyond that it is an
10:17individual game and one putting stroke really won't look a lot like another one and that's why it's
10:22definitely worth experimenting with different styles of grip and different types of grip on
10:27your putter just to change the feeling in your hands find something that's right for you and then
10:31you 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 whisked through it all there is a lot to
10:40understand a lot to learn if you're thinking about buying a putter or a new grip uh leave a comment
10:44below leave a question we'll get back to you with some hopefully some advice and some thoughts
10:48from us but from here from philford heath for now is goodbye