A marked improvement by a chance encounter!

[One Planer]

I was working on my putting in the front room last room, when my little boy came in and asked if he could join in.

He's 4 so I thought why not and make a game of it.

Set it up to about 6ft-7ft and stood behind the cup to stop the ball if he missed.

After a few minutes he got one to drop, looks at me and says "Daddy try!" and hands me his putter from his starter set.

Now. Bear in mind this is a junior putter from a Donnay starter set, but the club still a little too big for him. The putter has little to no weight and a playing length of 30". He wouldn't let me use my Scotty, I had to use his.

Do you know what? I couldn't miss Once I'd holed out, back to his turn. So on and so forth.

For the 45 minutes we were playing I could count, on one hand, the number of putts I missed. I even said to HID as a joke "Do you think he'll mind me borrowing it for the weekend".

After a while he decided he wanted to play on the iPad, so I carried on putting and try a little experiment.

My Scotty Cameron has a playing length of 33" (... I'm 6ft). I marked the grip with electrical tape at 31.5" and gripped down to this point. Not at the bottom of the grip, but definitely below the middle with the inch and half of grip exposed above my top hand.

Went back out to 6ft-7ft as previous and was rolling the ball exactly the same as with my boys putter. Contact 'felt' better, the ball seemed to roll better and the results were definitely better. I was much, much more consistent from that distance an even better when I moved down to about 3ft.

All I will say is that, yes, I was fitted for my putter in February 2012, but since making a change my pro suggested, a shorter playing length seems to suit me a little better.

I'm now left with the dilemma. Do I continue to grip down or chop the shaft to suit?

As it stands, I'm going to continue with gripping down on the grip. Just something so odd I felt compelled to share.

Something that appears to have improved my putting markedly, happened upon by a chance encounter with a junior Donnay putter while playing with my son :lol:

 

[moogie]

DON'T grip down
DON'T Chop the Scotty

BUY A DONNAY :thup:

 

[pokerjoke]

Im now picturing you in a Michelle Wie position

 

[One Planer]

DON'T grip down
DON'T Chop the Scotty

BUY A DONNAY :thup:

I'm having my boys :thup:

Im now picturing you in a Michelle Wie position

That's the thing. My posture hasn't changed

 

[tsped83]

Gareth, you are not alone, I am here with you, although we’re far apart…..wait a minute, slipped into a bit of MJ there. I’m Bad, you know it. Sorry, I’ll stop.

Anyway, I’ve also started gripping down on the putter this last week and seeing reasonable improvement. Allows my arms to hang more naturally and relieve a bit of tension and certainly give me the feeling of being more in control of my putter in a passive way, if that makes sense. It feels as though I’m not forcing a stroke, but because my arms hang naturally, I can start the stroke with my shoulders and can keep the wrists out of it. Purely subjective and my own impressions but bottom line it feels more comfortable.

I play a standard 34” putter and whilst I’ve been considering cutting it down to 33/32.5, I’m going to persevere with the choking down for a while first, to ensure its not just a passing fad for me.

One question though. When you’re putting in the front room, presumably you’re not wearing your golf shoes? I’m OCD about practicing putting with my golf shoes on (not indoors obviously) and not trainers/shoes/skis. I’m only 5’9” and I know my Nike TWs give me a bit of a lift, therefore altering my posture/grip over practicing bare foot in the house. What I’m trying to say (and what I’m sure you know) is make sure that gripping down indoors is the same length you would on the course before making any alterations to the putter.

I realise that I am quite, quite mad.

 

[virtuocity]

I grip down to the bottom of my grip on my 33" putter. Don't know about effectiveness but it's natural and comfy to me.

 

[garyinderry]

pics of this set up? I am bent over like jack nicklaus when using a 34inch putter and im just about 6foot.

 

[CheltenhamHacker]

Gareth, you are not alone, I am here with you, although we’re far apart…..wait a minute, slipped into a bit of MJ there. I’m Bad, you know it. Sorry, I’ll stop.

Anyway, I’ve also started gripping down on the putter this last week and seeing reasonable improvement. Allows my arms to hang more naturally and relieve a bit of tension and certainly give me the feeling of being more in control of my putter in a passive way, if that makes sense. It feels as though I’m not forcing a stroke, but because my arms hang naturally, I can start the stroke with my shoulders and can keep the wrists out of it. Purely subjective and my own impressions but bottom line it feels more comfortable.

I play a standard 34” putter and whilst I’ve been considering cutting it down to 33/32.5, I’m going to persevere with the choking down for a while first, to ensure its not just a passing fad for me.

One question though. When you’re putting in the front room, presumably you’re not wearing your golf shoes? I’m OCD about practicing putting with my golf shoes on (not indoors obviously) and not trainers/shoes/skis. I’m only 5’9” and I know my Nike TWs give me a bit of a lift, therefore altering my posture/grip over practicing bare foot in the house. What I’m trying to say (and what I’m sure you know) is make sure that gripping down indoors is the same length you would on the course before making any alterations to the putter.

I realise that I am quite, quite mad.

Or, just take his shoes off when he reaches each green, and put them on to tee off?

Or invest in a paird of these "vibrams" (basically slip on shoes that are almost non existent). I would love to see the elderly members reactions to those! I'm sure you can find a way of some rubber grips on the bottom! (I'm imagining how these would look, how long before TM bring out a pair for the golfer who wants to get back to nature more!)

 

[AmandaJR]

Gareth, you are not alone, I am here with you, although we’re far apart…..wait a minute, slipped into a bit of MJ there. I’m Bad, you know it. Sorry, I’ll stop.

Anyway, I’ve also started gripping down on the putter this last week and seeing reasonable improvement. Allows my arms to hang more naturally and relieve a bit of tension and certainly give me the feeling of being more in control of my putter in a passive way, if that makes sense. It feels as though I’m not forcing a stroke, but because my arms hang naturally, I can start the stroke with my shoulders and can keep the wrists out of it. Purely subjective and my own impressions but bottom line it feels more comfortable.

I play a standard 34” putter and whilst I’ve been considering cutting it down to 33/32.5, I’m going to persevere with the choking down for a while first, to ensure its not just a passing fad for me.

One question though. When you’re putting in the front room, presumably you’re not wearing your golf shoes? I’m OCD about practicing putting with my golf shoes on (not indoors obviously) and not trainers/shoes/skis. I’m only 5’9” and I know my Nike TWs give me a bit of a lift, therefore altering my posture/grip over practicing bare foot in the house. What I’m trying to say (and what I’m sure you know) is make sure that gripping down indoors is the same length you would on the course before making any alterations to the putter.

I realise that I am quite, quite mad.

Soooo funny and I do that all the time - usually just in my head though! Have you ever seen Miranda when she does that in interviews and just can't stop it...first few lines of a song and that's it until the finale

Anyway!! I used to grip right down the very end of my putter grip despite it being fitted for me. Think it may have been Fundy who made comment at Woburn so chatted to my coach about it. He felt I gripped too low to be ideal especially when it came to longer putts and momentum. So I started to make gradual changes as to move my right thumb from the "g" in "ping" on the grip to the "p" felt like I had a wriggly snake in my hand (ooer missus)! Now I check every once in a while but usually my right thumb sits on the "p" and it feels like I putt better or at least more consistently on long putts. Close in I still feel inclined to grip down a bit though!

 

[Alex1975]

Great post!

 

[Allanxyz]

I would just grip down and see how it goes before you go the whole hog and chop it...

Pretty much every other week you hear about a pro getting a tip (last year it was Tiger getting a tip from Stricker, this week it was that Rory had been working with Dave Stockton and was all of a sudden a putting genius)... the consistent thing is... these big improvement upturns never seem to last.

I think although the changes could have some longer term benefits, it's really just the whole "concentrate on one new thing" that really leads to the upturn in form. So the process of changing gives most of the benefit rather than the change itself.

Could be the same here and would be ashame if you found this out after lopping a few inches off your scotty!

 

[One Planer]

One question though. When you’re putting in the front room, presumably you’re not wearing your golf shoes? I’m OCD about practicing putting with my golf shoes on (not indoors obviously) and not trainers/shoes/skis. I’m only 5’9” and I know my Nike TWs give me a bit of a lift, therefore altering my posture/grip over practicing bare foot in the house. What I’m trying to say (and what I’m sure you know) is make sure that gripping down indoors is the same length you would on the course before making any alterations to the putter.

I usually wear trainers when kicking around the house, so that's what I will have been wearing.

I don't notice any difference between that or when I'm on the course.

I'm going to give it another bash when I get in tonight, just to make sure it wasn't a flash in the pan.

 

[JustOne]

I was working on my putting in the front room last room, when my little boy came in and asked if he could join in.

He's 4 so I thought why not and make a game of it.

Set it up to about 6ft-7ft and stood behind the cup to stop the ball if he missed.

After a few minutes he got one to drop, looks at me and says "Daddy try!" and hands me his putter from his starter set.

Now. Bear in mind this is a junior putter from a Donnay starter set, but the club still a little too big for him. The putter has little to no weight and a playing length of 30". He wouldn't let me use my Scotty, I had to use his.

Do you know what? I couldn't miss Once I'd holed out, back to his turn. So on and so forth.

For the 45 minutes we were playing I could count, on one hand, the number of putts I missed. I even said to HID as a joke "Do you think he'll mind me borrowing it for the weekend".

After a while he decided he wanted to play on the iPad, so I carried on putting and try a little experiment.

My Scotty Cameron has a playing length of 33" (... I'm 6ft). I marked the grip with electrical tape at 31.5" and gripped down to this point. Not at the bottom of the grip, but definitely below the middle with the inch and half of grip exposed above my top hand.

Went back out to 6ft-7ft as previous and was rolling the ball exactly the same as with my boys putter. Contact 'felt' better, the ball seemed to roll better and the results were definitely better. I was much, much more consistent from that distance an even better when I moved down to about 3ft.

All I will say is that, yes, I was fitted for my putter in February 2012, but since making a change my pro suggested, a shorter playing length seems to suit me a little better.

I'm now left with the dilemma. Do I continue to grip down or chop the shaft to suit?

As it stands, I'm going to continue with gripping down on the grip. Just something so odd I felt compelled to share.

Something that appears to have improved my putting markedly, happened upon by a chance encounter with a junior Donnay putter while playing with my son :lol:

Per chance, he doesn't have a driver and a set of irons that you can try? :rofl:

 

[Alex1975]

DAMN... Just too late... Nice one JO!

 

[One Planer]

Per chance, he doesn't have a driver and a set of irons that you can try? :rofl:

It's funny you mention that James

 

[Foxholer]

Now. Bear in mind this is a junior putter from a Donnay starter set, but the club still a little too big for him. The putter has little to no weight and a playing length of 30". He wouldn't let me use my Scotty, I had to use his.

Do you know what? I couldn't miss Once I'd holed out, back to his turn. So on and so forth.
.....
Something that appears to have improved my putting markedly, happened upon by a chance encounter with a junior Donnay putter while playing with my son :lol:

It's happened before!
http://blogs.golf.com/equipment/2011/06/robert-garrigus-making-big-noise-with-a-small-putter.html

Garrigus went the opposite too - to a Long, so from 28" to 40+!:mmm:

 

[CMAC]

I think everyone can benefit from a shorter putter or grip further down.

 

[garyinderry]

gareth try it out on the course. I think you will find it may not be so hot when you are trying to lag a 40 footer!

just last weekend I had a bit of tape on my putter to remind me where to put my right index finger (slightly futher down than normal). I was rolling them in for fun at home. come the 8th hole I removed the tape as I couldn't hit a barn door with a banjo!

 

[London mike 61]

Great thread. I had my putter cut down a few months ago after I realised that when I was out on the course I never gripped the thing at the end of the handle at any time.
Now that I am used to it I know that I won't grip any lower than a certain point , and it just feels so natural . If I want to hit a long putt I widen my stance and vice versa for short ones.
the pro ( and others ) told me that by shortening the shaft I old alter the characteristics of the putter and that would affect the balance weighting and I might have to swing harder to hole long putts.
from their point of view , if it is made in a certain way then it's made that way for a reason and you should not interfere with it. Well I think that is a old of cobblers ! , you have just proved in a short test that adapting your grip on the putter improves your general holing out.

I hope you find it just as effective the next time you play.