Changing your putting method

[JohnnyDee]

Been playing now seriously for 20 years and throughout that time I have only ever putted the one way.

Bog standard right hand lower than left with a normal grip and normal stroke without much in the way of on-green mumbo-jumbo.

I’m intrigued by the amount of tour guys who tinker with this element of their game - given that more often than not they have attained greatness without this fiddling and fussing around.

So with left below right, claw and all the other variants, not to mention Ai... no... I’ll not mention it

Have you made a change that for you was a panacea, and if that was some time ago are you still doing it after the honeymoon has ended?

 

[Blue in Munich]

Originally going to a longer counterbalance putter and using it at full length, now just lengthening a standard putter to get a better posture. Two board comps this year and cut from 8.5 to 6.7, I'd say the honeymoon is still going.

 

[Wilson]

I grew up putting left hand low, when I came back to the game I went to a more traditional style - I’ve just had a putting lesson and had the following changed;
Grip
Posture
Ball position
Advised to chop 2 inches of the putter and maybe change the grip on it.

The new setup feels strange, but it looks feels much easier to putt, my previous bad putt was club back inside then a big shove - the new setup feels like I can’t do that, will be interesting to see how it translates to the course.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Tend to change putter rather than grip if things aren't working

 

[HampshireHog]

Had a putting crisis about 3 years ago, I could go rounds without holing anything over 6ft. I’d always been a wristy putter so tried all sorts of grips to try and reduce wrist movement.
Left over Right - Never got any feel for pace or direction.
Claw Grip - Worked well on short putts, couldn’t get distance putts working.
Fore Arm Anchored - Once again short putts were good, distance was still an issue put more reliable than claw.

In the end I ended buying a mallet putter with a Super Stroke 3 grip and took some lessons handicap has come down 3 shots since. The grip definitely takes the wrists out of play and with a conventional putter grip I can control distance better than other grips and still get the accuracy on short putts.

When I think about it I’m pretty sure that for me any improvement with the other grips was down to the fact that I was concentrating more on those putts, because the grip was so alien to me.

 

[Grant85]

I agree, surprised at the number of different putting techniques.

The technicians say that putting left below right means your shoulders will be straighter. This seems to be favoured by a growing number of tour pros these days and it would be interesting to know if coaches are teaching it to youngsters from day 1.

 

[Val]

Putted left hand low for years then switched to the claw after a bad doze of yips last year

 

[ScienceBoy]

Biggest improvement came after a lesson and a little trim of the putter to suit the better posture.

Broke my PB round the par 3 and played some of my best golf since.

 

[NorwichBanana]

Started out a Right hand Low, but decided to change in 2016 when Speith was holing everything Left hand Low. Been doing it ever since and feel like I hole a lot more now!

 

[Orikoru]

I've only made very small changes through trial and error. For example, thumb on right hand just moved round an inch, little things like that. Never gone out and tried left hand low, or claw, or anything out of the ordinary like that. Have briefly tried them on the putting greens and they always feel completely wrong and awkward. Plus I've been using the same putter for nearly two years now since I got it, I wouldn't want to chop and change because I like the idea of being so used to the weight and feel of my putter that it's not something I even need think about.

 

[shortgame]

Have you made a change that for you was a panacea, and if that was some time ago are you still doing it after the honeymoon has ended?

Had a putting lesson 7 or 8 years ago (maybe longer ) just after the jumbo & 2 thumb grips cane out. A change of hold and grip stopped me getting handsy and I honestly can't see me reverting back to an 'orthadox' style

 

[jimjoachim]

I have started trying the looking at the hole not the ball technique for putts within about 10 feet.
Works really well!! Pace was maybe the only issue but inside 10 feet I could control it ok

 

[Grant85]

Putted left hand low for years then switched to the claw after a bad doze of yips last year

That's the thing that surprises me. While there are a number of different techniques, most people adopt them after a while due to having trouble with conventional methods.

But now we are seeing people from a young age adopting pencil grips, putter up the left forearm - and we had a generation of youngsters using the belly putter (Simpson and Bradley to name the two more successful guys) who now have had to rethink that.

 

[Deleted member 21258]

Used to putt normally, one day the putter was wobbling all over the place on the back swing(never knew why ), but just swapped to left hand down next time out and have never looked back.

Feels very strange when I putt 'normally'. Try it, if it works then great

 

[Roops]

Best change I ever made was to stop thinking about the stroke and focus on where I was aiming. Then just let it happen. There was talk on the box the other day about Sneddekers putting stroke. Apparantley, when measured in the lab, his stroke was all wrong according to the "bible", but he holed everything............to me, anything that looks or feels unnatural is going to be difficult to maintain long term.

 

[Garush34]

If i'm struggling with the putter I will have a small change. Whether that be with grip, stance, ball position or even the putter its self. I have two different types of putters, a milled blade with slight toe hang and an odyssey no. 7 face balanced, the no 7 requires a more straight back straight through stroke, compared to a slight arc with the blade. A few nights on the putting matt and I have things worked out or even just tried something different that when I go back to my normal set up it feels better and works for me. Sometime you just need a different look to see what is wrong.

 

[azazel]

I periodically go left below right when I feel the stroke is a bit wobbly on the way back. It's good for putts where there's little to no break, or where I'm trying to hit it through the break but I struggle badly with distance control so never use it on long putts.

One thing I have started doing for longer putts is to take a couple of practice strokes looking at the hole and then step up to the ball and putt without thinking too much more. I reckon that's a small variaton on the looking at the hole method but seems to work very well; the brain decides how long the stroke needs to be to reach the distance during the practice strokes so stepping up the ball quickly allows me to replicate that.

 

[pendodave]

I periodically go left below right when I feel the stroke is a bit wobbly on the way back. It's good for putts where there's little to no break, or where I'm trying to hit it through the break but I struggle badly with distance control so never use it on long putts.

One thing I have started doing for longer putts is to take a couple of practice strokes looking at the hole and then step up to the ball and putt without thinking too much more. I reckon that's a small variaton on the looking at the hole method but seems to work very well; the brain decides how long the stroke needs to be to reach the distance during the practice strokes so stepping up the ball quickly allows me to replicate that.

I'm the same with left below right. I seem to make a better, more square, contact but just can't get good distance control. Practice and persistence might solve this, but how long would it be??

Apparently, DJ went left lower half way through his round on Sunday.

Re the second point, most tour players seem to be very brisk over the ball. They do all their preshot off the ball. I pointed this out to my pp on Sunday as he takes forever over a putt, with numerous dummy moves away from the ball. As well as still being quite poor, he must add 15 mins to a round with this alone....