Traditionally when you take hold of the putter handle, if you are right handed, you would position your left hand at the top of the handle, with your left thumb pointing directly downwards along the front of the grip. You would then close your fingers around the back of the grip. Your right hand would be positioned lower than your left, but again your thumb would point downwards on the front of the handle and your fingers would be closed around the back of the handle. You would then either overlap or interlock your left index finger with your right little finger. This now has you using a traditional putting grip.

To alter to using a claw putting grip, you need to position your left hand as just described, with your left thumb pointing downwards on the front of the grip and your fingers wrapped around the back of it. However, in a claw putting grip your right hand holds very differently. You need to position your right hand below your left but so that your hand is next to the handle on the right hand side of it, so that your fingers are pointing straight downwards and your palm is turned in towards your body. You now need to position your right index finger and right middle finger on the front of the putter grip, roughly in the position that your right thumb would have been in if you were using a traditional putting grip. Your right thumb should now be positioned on the back of the hold. Your right ring finger and little finger are positioned so that they rest against the right hand side of the handle.

Holding the putter in this way will minimize the control that you have over the stroke with your right hand. If you are particularly dominant with your right hand when you putt, you will use your wrists excessively during the putting stroke, especially as you move the putter through impact with the golf ball. This wristy putting action will produce a putting stroke where it is difficult to control the speed of the putter head, the connection the putter head makes with the ball and the position that the putter face is in as it makes contact with the golf ball. This will make your putting stroke extremely inconsistent and as a result of this, your putting results will also be extremely inconsistent.

A wristy, flicky, putting action will impart more speed into the club head of the putter than a stroke that displays more passive wrists and more of a pendulum action. As the speed of the putter head varies, the speed transferred to the golf ball will also vary from stroke to stroke and it then becomes difficult to control the distance that the ball is being hit. A putting stroke that has passive, quieter wrists produces a much more consistent club head speed and therefore it is much easier to control the distance of your putts by altering your swing length.

A wristy putting action also influences that connection that the putter face will make with the ball. As you flick your wrist through impact with the golf ball, the putter head will rise from the floor and due to this the lower part of the putter face will connect with the upper part of the golf ball. This again will affect the distance that the golf ball travels, as hitting the upper part of the ball with the lower part of the face will see the ball travelling a lot less than if the centre of the putter face connects with the side of the ball.

Finally, flicking your wrists will also make accuracy difficult as the action will tend to close the club face, resulting in it aiming left of the target line as it connects with the ball.

So if you struggle with your putting then try altering to a claw grip as it will take the dominance of your right hand away from the stroke and get you swinging the putter much more like a pendulum, which is easier to control. Your putting will improve and your scores will get lower as a result of you taking fewer putts on the green.