Big Putter Grips – Why?
Big Putter Grips?
Ask Yourself The Right Questions!
We all want a Magic Bullet to improve some part of our golf game – and often the most looked for area is putting. Big Putter Grips are one of these potential Magic Bullets for golfers – but you should be a little careful to ask yourself WHY you think this will help you.
A good example comes from a putting instruction session I did this weekend. This golfer has been struggling making putts, and decided to put a very large putter grip on his putter to "help him take his hands out of his stroke." This is the reason I typically hear for making a decision to play with a large putter grip – but sometimes it may not be the right choice to help golfers putt their best.
In this case, one of the golfer's struggles was with Speed Control. Not only did he look very tense in his putting setup, but he would "add a little extra" to his stroke – add velocity – after impact. I suggested he consider that the big grip was not allowing him to naturally create speed in his putting stroke. I had him try a smaller putter grip – and you could immediately see this felt better for him and he was more relaxed. He still has some work to do to get rid of that "extra speed" after impact, but he now will have a grip that is a better fit for him.
"Taking Your Hands Out Of Your Stroke?" – well, maybe – but perhaps you can go too far in that. We hold the putter in our hands Our hands can help us – when we make good, natural putting strokes – to be Putting Artists. So consider these thoughts and questions if you are thinking of putting a very large grip on your putter…
- Will taking your hands out of your stroke improve your speed control and ability to make putts – or will it possibly promote you making a more mechanical, less effective putting stroke?
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If you change to a larger putter grip, what does that grip weigh and does any change in weight affect your feel in your putting stroke? Some larger putter grips weigh as much as 60 grams more than conventional smaller putter grips.
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Finally – did you experiment and test, or just putt a new grip on the putter and hope for better results? Putting performance is important! – take the time to investigate some different grip options. Who knows, you might be surprised at the grip that works best for YOU!!
Club Fitting – NOT Club Selling!
Tony
