You're Correct!

The way you grip your putter is all down to personal preference, and although there are numerous ways to grip your putter, improving the way you grip it will give you more control over your stroke and help you to become more consistent on the greens.

Most of the time when youre struggling with your putting, it can be down to how you place your hands on the handle. The grip you use for your power swing shouldnt be the same as for your putter. In the power swing, you hold the club more in your fingers, allowing your hands and wrists to generate power, but when putting, your hands and wrists should be passive throughout.

The traditional putting grip would see the handle of your putter in the palm of your hands. This prevents excessive movement from the hands and wrists, allowing you to make a smooth and consistent stroke. If your hands are on the putter correctly, it should feel like an extension of your forearms.

The cross handed grip was first brought to the fore in the early 90s. If youre a right handed player, having your left wrist below provides more stability throughout the stroke as it prevents the right wrist from breaking down.

An unusual grip that came to light around a decade ago is the claw grip. This grip has grown to the extent that there are now many variations of the claw. The aim of the claw grip is to take away almost all of the movement out of the wrists, promoting a smooth stroke rather than a flick of the wrists at the ball. The big drawback is that you lose quite a lot of feel due to your low hand having very little contact on the handle. On the other hand, it helps to promote a more constant arc for your stroke that improves your consistency.

Whichever way you decide to hold your putter is all down to what feels good to you. If you experiment with some of these alternatives, you may find that a new grip could give you a more controlled and fluent stroke.

With golf shown on TV almost every week of the year it is easy to see how the best players in the world swing, pitch and putt. This leads to many golfers tinkering with their putting techniques and grip, especially if a player who usually struggles on the greens all of a sudden seems to start holing lots of putts.

When the most famous golfer on the planet makes a change of any kind its big news. Because of this attention, many golfers want to copy the changes Tiger makes, not realising that this could have a damaging effect on their game. The best way to implement a change in your golf is to do it alongside the help of a PGA Professional.

Every time a new way of holding the putter is brought to the attention of the golf world you can be sure that many amateur players will give this fashionable way a go in the hope that its a magic formula to help them putt better. Before you fall into this trap just remember there is no magic formula in putting, only good mechanics and practise will see you improve.