100-yards add silk to your stroke · down. instead, consider weighting the putter at the grip end....

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24 SEPTEMBER 2009 // SHORT GAME SPECIAL SHORT GAME SPECIAL // SEPTEMBER 2009 25

add silk to your stroke

Take the hands and wrists out of your putting action with this three-pronged approach.

The smooth putting actions we see on Tour have one common denominator; the hands and wrists remain passive, allowing the blade

to glide back and through with minimal manipulation. Overactive hands and wrists affect the face’s aim and the stroke’s angle of attack, so compromising both line and length; but there are three key areas you can focus on to calm your stroke down. We’ll look at fitting the putter to you and your stroke; finding a grip which allows your hands to work in harmony with each other; and anchoring your stroke via the longer putters readily available today. All of these can and will take the wristiness out of your stroke – and keep that blade looking at the hole for longer .

DaviD armitage is the youngest coach ever to be PGA qualified both in Britain and the USA. A Nicklaus/Flick accredited instructor, he is Head Professional at The Renaissance Club in East Lothian, Scotland.

BY DaviD armitagePga PrO

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Fixed length

Fitting the Putter to youTarget putter length, and club weighting.

1 CuTTing To lengThYou should always be seeking to fit the

putter into your address position; NEVER build your set-up around a

putter which has not been fitted to you. Any PGA pro should be able to help you

create the right putter for your height.

I’m a tallish guy, at 6ft 2in. But like anyone

else, I will make my best stroke when my eyes are

over the ball and my arms are hanging from

my shoulders. To find this position I must bend

forward from my hips. Doing that leaves my hands a set distance from the ground, and

that dictates the perfect length for my putter.

For me, that perfect length equates to 33 and-a-half inches. This length allows me to position my eyes over the ball with arms extended – a consistent position they can maintain without the need for tensing the arm muscles.

By the time my stroke ends, my hands and arms have not deviated from that comfortable, extended position. I’ve been able to execute a smooth and controlled stroke with relaxed arms, and that’s a real boost to feel and consistency.

Unfortunately for club golfers, the standard off-the-shelf putter is 35 inches – way too long for the average player. Here, I am holding a 35-inch putter. You can see how, even at my height, the butt end sticks out way over the top of my hands. A putter that’s too long for you creates two serious problems...

Putting my hands at the top of a longer putter pushes my upper half up; as I stand taller my head and eyes shift inside the line of the ball, which will compromise my ability to line up and stroke the putter down the line.

It also creates angle in the wrists and elbows. There are only two positions my arms can maintain comfortably – extended, or fully flexed. Obviously the latter is out of the question, so extended is the ideal for consistency. Anywhere between the two and you need to add a level of tension to your arms to “lock” those angles in. Tension, of course, kills feel and is hard to apply constantly.

2 CounTer-balanCing puTTers Adding mass to the putter’s head can encourage the left wrist to break down. Instead, consider weighting the putter at the grip end.

When you cut down a putter, you also make it lighter. To regain the weight needed for a solid feel, the normal practice is to add weight to the head, often with lead tape. This can, though, have a negative knock-on effect. A heavier head creates more momentum during the stroke, and wants to swing forwards more – a force that can cause the left wrist to break down and the face to twist off-line. A good analogy is trying to swing a lead weight at the end of a fishing line.

Putter counterbalancing is more common in the States than over here, but there are sets about made up of a series of different trial weights that can be inserted into the butt end of the putter. The correct weighting depends on the putter’s design and length, and the player’s feel preferences.

Around 60 per cent of tour pros now use a system called counter-balancing – effectively inserting a

heavy tungsten plug into the top of the shaft and so weighting the grip

end of the putter, rather than the head. As well as making the putter

feel much more solid, top weighting removes the pressure placed on the

wrists caused by a heavier head. It makes it easier for the hands to

control the putter-face.

When counterbalancing a player’s putter I will ask him to hit several

putts with each weight, without letting him know which weight he is

using. This helps him make a decision based on feel and not what

he thinks he should have. The bottom line, though, is that with the putter weighted at the top you have

removed the pressure on the left wrist to break down as the putter

sweeps forward.



Calming the right hand bellies and broomhandlesConsider a new grip to stop your lower hand taking over. Could one of these increasingly popular methods work for you?With putting, the right-handed golfer’s biggest problem is the right hand itself. Controlling and nearer to the head – at least with an orthodox putting grip – it

can tend to take over the stroke, usually flicking or flapping the blade forwards and causing the left wrist to break down. The action is ruinous for putting

because it changes not just the face angle but also the angle of attack, causing all kinds of miscues. These two grips could prevent that happening...

1 lefT hand low

1 The broomhandle 2 The belly puTTer

2 The saw and The ClawAlmost more common now on Tour than the orthodox right-hand-low grip, this hold sees the hands reversed with the right hand occupying the top end of the grip and the left hand taking over that more dominant position nearer the head. How the hands link is less important than the positioning of the grip in the left hand – firmly into the fleshy palm. This palm positioning allows the shaft and grip angle to follow the line of the left forearm – allowing the two to work as one solid unit which will not break down.

While the classic Saw grip sees the right hand fingers running horizontally across the grip, a different version sees the fingers run vertically downwards. Again, the right hand hold is merely a cradle to stabilise the club, and offers minimal influence.

The important aspect of that

palmy grip is that it helps flatten the wrist angle and

removes any possibility of the

fingers manipulating the

This very long putter uses the chest as the anchor. The left hand works as if it was holding a hosepipe to the sky, with the thumb over the end to stop the water coming out. The fingers of the left hand push gently against the rib cage.

With a sizeable clue in the name, this putter anchors the butt end of the grip in the navel. After this the stroke and stance are pretty much orthodox, as is the grip which can remain right-hand-low.

The sternum acts as a steadying fulcrum for the stroke. The right hand, no longer having to apply force into the ball, can simply guide the putter back and through with a relaxed, extended arm and Saw grip. Yes, this putter is controversial; but in terms of finding a true pendulum stroke, the broomhandle makes it almost embarrassingly easy.

Embedding the grip into your midriff restrains wrist action because by keeping the butt in the navel, you are exerting some control over the angle of the shaft. A quiet-wristed stroke sees the butt remain comfortably lodged into your stomach.

Some players prefer to tuck the left elbow in, others to aim it at the hole – which allows it to pivot up and down the line as the stroke is made, potentially a useful reference.

If your hands and wrists were to flick the putterhead either back or forwards, the butt is pulled out of its anchor point – an instant indicator that your hands and wrists are over-working.

Padraig Harrington – one of the best exponents of the left-hand-low grip

Chris DiMarco converts a Saw into a claw by closing his fingers around the grip.

Both these grips curb the potentially damaging action of the right hand by limiting its influence over the stroke. In the Saw, the putter sits in a kind of cradle between the right thumb and index finger, while the fingers point pretty much down the target line. Clearly this right hand position performs little more than a stabilising function, with very little of the hand in contact with the club. The Claw is the same, merely with the right hand fingers closed round the grip. The left hand grip retains its usual, palm-based hold on the grip. With more of that hand in contact with the club, it can exert a dominant influence on the stroke.

100-yards add silk to your stroke · down. instead, consider weighting the putter at the grip end....

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