You're Correct!

One of the biggest causes of missed putts is having unwanted wrist action in your putting stroke, and although you try your best to stop your wrists affecting your stroke, this natural movement just keeps happening. There are many ways you can turn towards in an attempt to reduce the amount the wrists move, from swapping your hands around on the handle so your lead hand is lower than your trail hand or even adopt the claw style grip.

Many golfers have also changed their putter from a standard 34 or 35 inch length to a belly putter or a longer broom handle putter. This would see the club anchored against the body, which stops the wrists from influencing the putting stroke. The problem with changing your putter now is that from January 1st 2016 you can no longer anchor your putter against your body, so what is the best way to stop your wrists causing havoc in your stroke?

One of the best ways you can do this is by practising with your standard grip, but instead of trying to stop your wrists flicking the putter head through impact, what you need to do is wear your glove, even if you never putt with your glove on. This is because you need to get a 6 inch ruler and slide it into your glove, down the back of your hand.

Make sure that half is inside the glove and half is outside against your lead wrist and the outside of your forearm. Hit some putts, and you will feel the ruler pushing against your wrist and keeping it firm as you move your putter back and through. If your wrists manage to flick the putter through impact, you will feel the ruler dig into the back of your forearm. The more putts you hit, the less you want the ruler to dig in until you can hit your putt without the feeling changing. This will help you to keep your wrists firm and allow you to use the back of your lead wrist to direct the putter face towards your target.

If the butt of your grip points towards your trail hip at impact then your trail hand has flicked the putter head through impact. To prevent this wrist action, you need to make sure that the butt of the grip moves forward to point more towards your lead shoulder.

The thinner the grip you have on your putter, the more your wrists will be encouraged to hinge during your stroke. If you want to reduce the wrist action in your stroke, you should try using a fatter grip like a super stroke or jumbo grip.

The more in the fingers you grip the handle of your putter, the more likely you are to have unwanted wrist action. Ideally, you want to grip the handle in the life line of the palm of your hands, as this will naturally reduce the movement of the wrists.