How to Use A Long Putter, Golf (Video) Tip - by Pete Styles
How to Use A Long Putter, Golf (Video) Tip - by Pete Styles

In this little video tip on how to use a long putter, I am going to talk you about long putters, how a long putter can differ from a short putter and the pros and cons of using it and how to fit one correctly for your game. For this section, I am going to actually use a colleague to help me out here, so I am going to welcome a fellow PJ Professional Claire, she is going to come and stand on the mat and set up the putter. Thank you. So, as Claire sets up, given quite a long putter, it’s a 46-inch putter here and you can see it sits quite high up toward Claire’s sternum here. She has got the thumb on top of the putter, and the right hand sits very low down, so very different grip to a conventional putter grip. Now the right hand initially here is with the thumb down but a lot of people you will see on the TV when they are playing PJ Professionals, they will actually turn their hand over into what we might call the claw or the pen hole the kind of putting stroke. It actually means that the right hand will be a lot less active and a bit more passive during the stroke.

So if I take this ball away now and Claire just rocked the putter back and through, it’s going to take it through with the right hand just moving it backwards and through it gently and the left hand and the chest ought to stay very still. The head is going to be still, unlike a normal putting stroke, no leg action or hip action at all if rocking it backwards and forwards. Now if you feel comfortable holding it quite high up against your chest, that's a really good thing. We would like to see if the shaft can get quite steep there. So you feel like your eyes are over the ball, so if Claire stands up really tall, eyes over the golf ball, looking straight down and if you get a putter that is long enough you might remember a few years ago, Sam Torrance and a few other golfers actually putted with a club almost hanging off the bottom of their chin which we feel a bit strange of the golfers but if it helps the shaft stay vertical and rock backwards and forwards that would be a great way to put.

Now if I can shorten the putter little bit here, there is actually a fitting putter. So I can drop the putter height down a little bit and just see how that makes things different as Claire sets up for the ball again this time. You will see now the putter fits little bit more down into the belly rather than up by the chest, and if Claire puts her hand in a similar position, she changes the angle of the left hand, it is still an anchored putting stroke and she can rock backwards and forwards from there. Alternatively, if Claire is going to feel comfortable with that, she could go to a more traditional type of grip, so bringing both hands down together, so from here downwards it looks like a normal putting stroke but from the top upwards, it is anchored into her belly coming backwards and forwards, so it has one anchored point, knees, hips, head and chest still staying very, very still.

So whichever system of feeling works best for you, you could experiment with longer and shorter putters, all non-standard length, so a standard length putter might be a 34 or 35 inch putter. This could go all the way up to 46 inches to create a chest or belly putter, and if you explore the range of Thomas Golf products on my website, you will appreciate how different length putters can work and get fitted for your game.

 2012-08-07

In this little video tip on how to use a long putter, I am going to talk you about long putters, how a long putter can differ from a short putter and the pros and cons of using it and how to fit one correctly for your game. For this section, I am going to actually use a colleague to help me out here, so I am going to welcome a fellow PJ Professional Claire, she is going to come and stand on the mat and set up the putter. Thank you. So, as Claire sets up, given quite a long putter, it’s a 46-inch putter here and you can see it sits quite high up toward Claire’s sternum here. She has got the thumb on top of the putter, and the right hand sits very low down, so very different grip to a conventional putter grip. Now the right hand initially here is with the thumb down but a lot of people you will see on the TV when they are playing PJ Professionals, they will actually turn their hand over into what we might call the claw or the pen hole the kind of putting stroke. It actually means that the right hand will be a lot less active and a bit more passive during the stroke.

So if I take this ball away now and Claire just rocked the putter back and through, it’s going to take it through with the right hand just moving it backwards and through it gently and the left hand and the chest ought to stay very still. The head is going to be still, unlike a normal putting stroke, no leg action or hip action at all if rocking it backwards and forwards. Now if you feel comfortable holding it quite high up against your chest, that's a really good thing. We would like to see if the shaft can get quite steep there. So you feel like your eyes are over the ball, so if Claire stands up really tall, eyes over the golf ball, looking straight down and if you get a putter that is long enough you might remember a few years ago, Sam Torrance and a few other golfers actually putted with a club almost hanging off the bottom of their chin which we feel a bit strange of the golfers but if it helps the shaft stay vertical and rock backwards and forwards that would be a great way to put.

Now if I can shorten the putter little bit here, there is actually a fitting putter. So I can drop the putter height down a little bit and just see how that makes things different as Claire sets up for the ball again this time. You will see now the putter fits little bit more down into the belly rather than up by the chest, and if Claire puts her hand in a similar position, she changes the angle of the left hand, it is still an anchored putting stroke and she can rock backwards and forwards from there. Alternatively, if Claire is going to feel comfortable with that, she could go to a more traditional type of grip, so bringing both hands down together, so from here downwards it looks like a normal putting stroke but from the top upwards, it is anchored into her belly coming backwards and forwards, so it has one anchored point, knees, hips, head and chest still staying very, very still.

So whichever system of feeling works best for you, you could experiment with longer and shorter putters, all non-standard length, so a standard length putter might be a 34 or 35 inch putter. This could go all the way up to 46 inches to create a chest or belly putter, and if you explore the range of Thomas Golf products on my website, you will appreciate how different length putters can work and get fitted for your game.