One of the most fun and challenging things about this great game we all play is that there are myriad things to explore and try, keeping those that work for you and discarding those that don’t. While I realize many golfers just go out and play without giving it much thought, my bet is that most all of you who follow GolfWRX, and particularly weekly columns like mine, are always looking for ways to improve. I’m no different. In fact, I probably illustrate the extreme of experimentation because I’ve spent a lifetime in the game and over 40 years in the golf equipment industry.

In follow-up to last week’s post about the “Two putting triangles,” I thought I would share a recent experiment I’ve been conducting on my own putting. If this just gives any of you an idea that can shave a stroke or two, then I’ve earned my keep, so to speak.

I had been struggling on the greens a bit, not getting nearly as much out of my rounds as I thought I should. And one of the main culprits was that I was just not converting enough of my makeable putts. While my lag putting has been very good, leaving me very short second putts most of the time, where I thought I was sub-standard for an experienced low handicap player was in my success rate in making those “money putts” from 8-15 feet, and I felt like I missed more than my fair share of putts from three to eight feet in length.

To be honest, I tend to get a little “yippy” on those short putts sometimes, but it seemed that mostly my failure to make those putts drilled down to the face angle at impact. I might pull one and push the next one, so I decided to try something new a few rounds ago.

You all know I’m quite the follower and analyst of PGA Tour statistics as a benchmark for performance, so I started there to establish my goals. Here’s what I found.

The PGA Tour average from 4 to 8 feet is just under 69 percent. Given that these guys are the best in the world, have perfect greens every week and experienced caddies to give them a second set of eyes (which have also studied the greens extensively), I figured if I could attain a 50 percent sink rate from that range, I would be “golden”.
Moving out to the range of 10-15 feet, the PGA Tour average drops significantly, to just under 30 percent — only three out of every 10 tries from this range do the tour players make their putts. So, I figured given my recreational status, grainy greens and some very puzzling breaks on my golf course, my personal goal from 10 to 15 feet should be somewhere between one to two putts out of every 10.

In an effort to achieve this improved performance on those shorter putts, I began to experiment on my putting track at home with a “left hand low” grip on the putter. I’ve always gravitated to blade style putters, and usually have one of my own design in the bag. Many years ago, I became convinced that a face-balanced design improve my odds of keeping the face square through impact. But a couple of months before this experiment began, I received a putter from an industry friend that exhibited what is called “lie angle balanced,” the premise being that the face angle is essentially “built in” to the path of the putting stroke.
Anyway, I began to practice making putts of 7-9 feet on my putting track at home and explored its effect with a number of different putters that lean against the wall in my office — all while working to determine the right “left hand low” grip for me. What I found was that it was really easy to get in a groove on the putting track, so it was time to take this to the course.

I quickly found that my putting from these crucial distances visibly improved immediately with the left-hand-low grip. I reduced the action to a simple back and through, and both my “yippi-ness” and face control were dramatically impacted.

So, then I began to keep some stats of my own and here’s what happened over the course of the next 10-12 rounds.

My make percentage on putts under eight feet has improved to almost 60 percent, not that far below the PGA Tour average. Wow. And on putts of 8 to 15 feet, my make percentage leaped to 22 percent, even closer to the tour average. As you can imagine, my golf buddies noticed the change and my scoring dropped by as much as 3-4 shots per round.

Where I’m keeping it different is that I putt the longer putts with my comfortable conventional grip, as it engages the fingertips of my master right hand for optimized touch and feel. So, when success is more about speed than line, I go conventional. But inside 15 feet or so, I employ the left-hand-low grip as those putts are more about line than speed.

While I have always been quite the traditionalist in my approach to this game, I like making putts and shooting lower scores as much as any of you. If you are not converting shorter putts as often as you think you should, you might give this two-grip approach a try.