You're Correct!

One of the most crippling things a golfer can go through is the putting yips. This is almost a condition that sees mainly your trailing hand make an unconscious jerking motion towards the ball as you move the putter in the forward stroke.

There have been many different ways used to try and prevent this from happening and up until now with limited success. Over the past few years, you will have seen a number of players on the tour holding the putter in a very unusual way with their trailing hand looking like it is gripping the handle like the player is holding a saw.

The idea of the saw grip is to move the trailing hand in the same way as you were trying to saw a piece of wood in half. This way you will eliminate the option for the trail hand to jerk the putter towards the ball and cause your putt to start off line. If you are suffering with this or a similar type of yips then this is what you need to do.

Firstly, take your normal set up over the ball, and when you would be ready to make your putting stroke, take your trail hand off the handle. Check that the lead hand is holding the putter along the life line of the palm of the hand, and now turn your trail hand so the palm is facing your body. Place the centre of your thumb on the back of the handle and then the fingers of the hand on the flat front of the grip. Now your hands are on correctly, move the putter using only your trail hand by making a sawing motion back and forth and hit your putt.

Keep hitting putt after putt to get the feeling for the action you need to make and then take some balls and find a 3 foot putt. This would be a nightmare normally if youre suffering with the yips so hit some putts making your sawing action and you will instantly start to see yourself holing plenty of putts as your trail hand is no longer able to jerk the head towards the ball.

The great thing about the saw grip is that is reduces the amount of wrist movement during your stroke. This is essential if you need to stop your hands and wrists from flicking the club uncontrollably into impact. Not only will you be in control of your stroke again, you will drastically reduce the number of putts you take in a round because you will hole out your close range putts better.

When the saw grip first came to the fore, many people believed it was almost the last resort to curing your putting woes, yet the reality is far from that. The constant nature of the pendulum movement it produces actually means that it is a very effective way to putt and as a result will see you hole more putts than you normally would.

If you want to become a good golfer then you really need to be a good putter too, and as the saw grip is one of the most constant ways to putt, this would be a great step to becoming as good a golfer as you can be. If the saw grip sees you at your most effective on the greens then this is the way you need to putt so you can maximize your potential as a golfer.