Best Way to Grip Your Putter Perfectly

For a scratch golfer or professional, almost 50 percent of any shots in a round are played with a putter. For high handicappers, putting usually accounts for 40 percent of the score. For every player, the putter is possibly the most important club in the golf bag.

You should use a completely different grip for the putter. With the long shots you want looseness and freedom in the wrists for distance. With putting you want firm wrists. The grip is also used for other short shots.

• The left hand is positioned well to the left on the club. You should not be able to see your knuckles or the logo on your glove. The thumb is straight down the front of the grip. The clubshaft runs up through the fold in your hand, very different from your long game grip.
• To add the right hand, hang the left index finger out. Put the heel of the right hand against the other three fingers of the left hand and complete the grip with the pad of your right thumb on the front of the grip. The left index finger sits on the outside. The most common position is to sit it on the third finger of the right hand.
• In a perfect putting grip the right hand is pulled p high on the left hand so that the second and third finger of the left hand are inside the palm of the right hand. This keeps the two hands united – and is much better than having the right hand totally below the left hand.
• Both thumbs should be visible. The left hand should be turned well round to the left, with the left thumb showing, not hidden as it is in the long game grip. The putting grip is much more open. To create the right position, hold the club out in front of you and arch the wrists. If you can’t achieve this position, both hands are probably too much on the top of the club. Allow them both to be turned slightly beneath it. You should see both thumbs but not your knuckles.

• For short putting you may like to put the right index finger down the back of the grip. It is traditionally known as the ‘after forty finger grip’, the idea being that it steadies the grip for slightly older players, who presumably might have shakier hands than their younger counterparts!