Squaring Putter Grips – The Next "Level!"
10:23 pm, Mon, 28 March 11
When I was with Dana Upshaw a few weeks ago, I got to see his setup for putting on putter grips perfectly square – making the flat portion of the grip perpendicular to the face of the putter. When grips are not square, you are “adjusting” your hands to make the face look square to your line, and this kind of adjustment is likely to make it more difficult to putt to your capabilities.
This evening I returned from our annual golf trip to Florida, with 14 of the best golf buddies a person can have. Before going on the trip, I took a closer look at my putter grip, and realized that it was not “quite” square and so I installed a new grip. I used an electronic leveling device to help me square the grip, and am sure it is much better than it was. I could feel it being easier to square the face when I placed the putter on the ground.
While on the trip, I looked at a few of my friend’s putter grips, and all were not on square. This is probably more prevalent that most people think, it is not a trivial matter to get a grip on square. One is not likely to be able to do this by eyeballing the grip installation.
When I returned home this evening, a package from Golfsmith was here and it had the Putter Alignment Jig that they sell. Pretty slick, based on using a laser that projects a vertical line and you put the jig on the putter flat surface and work the grip until it is square. Dana did some additional mods to this to make it work even better, and I plan to do so sometime soon.
Getting your putter grip checked for alignment is well worth the time!!
Tony
