Part 1 Golf Putter: Grip (Video) - by Pete Styles
Part 1 Golf Putter: Grip (Video) - by Pete Styles

Whenever you watch the best players in the world putt they are all very good putters, but actually they are not using the same technique, using different length putters and certainly using different grips of those putters. And often -- well which is best, well we can really see from watching the best players there isn't one chosen method that’s rising above most of the putting methods kind of a little hybrid of different strokes work for different people.

The classic putting grip would be to take your normal grip on the golf club either with an overlap or interlinking finger here. And then actually just reverse that around so we put the right hand on the grip, take the left index finger for the right handed golfer and place that on top. And then take the right index finger and point out down the shaft. It’s got kind of both full fingers both index fingers pointing more down towards the golf ball, and that would be classed as a reverse overlap putting stroke.

Personally I actually prefer to put cross handed in my own playing, I actually teach most people to putt in a traditional method just because I feel comfortable for most people but if people really struggle with that putting stroke, I am quite happy to recommend a cross handling putting stroke which is the way I play. You will then see people with the pen holder grip or the claw grip or the long broom handle putter grip that sort of thing. And basically they are all trying to find the same thing, they are trying to find the putting stroke whether their hands work in unison and the shoulders can dominate the stroke.

So whichever putting grip you try and don’t be afraid to try a few different methods but we want to try and get a position where the hands can rock in unison and they are not flicking and scooping and the shoulders are dominating. One thing you should also look for in your own putting stroke is to try and get your palms of your hands even and pointing sort of towards the target so they can rock evenly backwards and forwards, not turned in or turned out this way. So the palms are going to be pretty flat as you make your putting grip. Palms flat to the grip as you make your setup and then rocking evenly backwards and forwards. And different to your full swing grip, we are not going to hold the clip too much in the fingers when we putt, we play it a little bit higher up so the putter runs through the lifeline of your hands as you hold your hands around it and then interlink your fingers or overlap your fingers in a way that feels comfortable for you, take a little bit of inspiration from the world’s best players, see how they are doing things, try it out on the practice putting green for a couple of minutes and see which one works well for you.

 2012-07-12

Whenever you watch the best players in the world putt they are all very good putters, but actually they are not using the same technique, using different length putters and certainly using different grips of those putters. And often — well which is best, well we can really see from watching the best players there isn't one chosen method that’s rising above most of the putting methods kind of a little hybrid of different strokes work for different people.

The classic putting grip would be to take your normal grip on the golf club either with an overlap or interlinking finger here. And then actually just reverse that around so we put the right hand on the grip, take the left index finger for the right handed golfer and place that on top. And then take the right index finger and point out down the shaft. It’s got kind of both full fingers both index fingers pointing more down towards the golf ball, and that would be classed as a reverse overlap putting stroke.

Personally I actually prefer to put cross handed in my own playing, I actually teach most people to putt in a traditional method just because I feel comfortable for most people but if people really struggle with that putting stroke, I am quite happy to recommend a cross handling putting stroke which is the way I play. You will then see people with the pen holder grip or the claw grip or the long broom handle putter grip that sort of thing. And basically they are all trying to find the same thing, they are trying to find the putting stroke whether their hands work in unison and the shoulders can dominate the stroke.

So whichever putting grip you try and don’t be afraid to try a few different methods but we want to try and get a position where the hands can rock in unison and they are not flicking and scooping and the shoulders are dominating. One thing you should also look for in your own putting stroke is to try and get your palms of your hands even and pointing sort of towards the target so they can rock evenly backwards and forwards, not turned in or turned out this way. So the palms are going to be pretty flat as you make your putting grip. Palms flat to the grip as you make your setup and then rocking evenly backwards and forwards. And different to your full swing grip, we are not going to hold the clip too much in the fingers when we putt, we play it a little bit higher up so the putter runs through the lifeline of your hands as you hold your hands around it and then interlink your fingers or overlap your fingers in a way that feels comfortable for you, take a little bit of inspiration from the world’s best players, see how they are doing things, try it out on the practice putting green for a couple of minutes and see which one works well for you.