Today I'm going to respond to a couple questions that were sent in concerning grips. There's a lot of different grips that are available, especially for putters, so I thought it would be good to discuss how golfers can test which ones may be right for them.
Ulf Ekstam and Bruce Baker have both tried using thicker grips but they're wondering what my opinion is on the advantages and disadvantages of putting them into play.
Hello Surge,
I changed my putter grip to big size. Before, I putted very well. Now the ball does not go into the hole. Is there something different with the thicker grip to consider? My putter is a Scotty Cameron Newport.
Ulf Ekstam
From your class in Hilton Head, April 2011
Bruce's question was about Enlow Grips:
I saw the video on 4/30/2013 talking about [Enlow] grips. I have Enlow grips on all of my clubs and really like the results. In talking to Brad Enlow, it is my understanding that instead of gripping primarily in the fingers, the proper way is to grip more like a baseball bat in the palms. I actually find better clubhead speed and accuracy doing it this way. This is the way I grip it but have never heard any comment from you on the proper way to use these grips.
Thanks,
Bruce Baker
I'm always experimenting with different grips. In fact, I just switched all my grips here at home. It's a relatively easy process and I've been doing it for years, so many grips have come and gone throughout my playing and teaching career. There's one thing that I've understood from very early on. If you don't like the grips you're using, go and get yourself some new ones. I understand the process of switching clubs can be time consuming and not everyone can afford to buy new grips. But, that's why you need to test them out before you purchase them.
The Enlow Grips are a great product. You can learn more about them here. I stand behind them and use them on nearly all my putters. Many Surgites have raved about the benefits of gripping all their clubs with Enlow Grips, so that's an avenue you might want to try.
Regardless of what grip you choose, just remember that you are never stuck with just one set of grips. If you don't like them, change them!
Keep it vertical!
The Surge
If you can't view the YouTube video above try CLICKING HERE. You must allow popups from this site for the link to work.
Comments
Fun with grips
Surge, I also continually work with different grips for both the putters and regular clubs. The main difference is I don't have to cut and toss grips that are still good but I want to switch out for what ever reason. That is because I blow them on and off with an air compressor. No solvent and no need to cut grips. No waste, no mess.
In addition I can take one off and put another one on in less than one minute.
I have tried many grip styles and my least favorite are the Winns. Reason is that they come apart and wear much faster than the Golf Pride and some others. The Enlows are nice but after several trial sessions I keep going back to the Jumbo Max. I feel that the JM's help me keep the wrists firm throughout the stroke. At times I will go back to the jumbo tour wraps from Golf Pride, my current second choice. As for putters, I also have the Two Thumbs (recommended by Terry) and also the Fatso Super Stroke along with several other varieties. Surge has me beat on putters but as I continue to experiment I'm sure I will add to the 8 putters that inhabit my garage.
My latest growth is with shaft and swing weight trials. It's a fun challenge to learn about what works best for me and Cindy. I just ordered the Aldila SVS7 Voodoo which has worked great on my 5 wood so I am getting the same one for my 3 wood to see if I can get it back in the bag. Currently only go with Driver,5 wood and 4 iron for my long sticks. No hybrids and 4 wedges. Always seeking and rarely 100% satisfied. Back out to play this afternoon.
Focus on the target,
Robert M.
TWO THUMBS GRIPS
SURGE;
One correction about the Two Thumbs Grips, they are also readily available in the USA now. Here is an ebay link to them along with the Enlows for any interested parties.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2049127.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.Xtwo+thumbs+grips&_nkw=two+thumbs+grips&_sacat=888&_...
Getting a grip
I hope DH had a grip of something last night, as Wellington got a hiding last night , with 28000 without power this morning. There were fish blowing out of the water & onto land.The shortest day is coming in with a bang down here
I'm using a Ping Piper putter with the standard grip it came with. I was using a more mallet putter with a big jumbo grip for a fair while, with mixed results. Am thinking about trying a jumbo on the Ping, but want a light one.
I have Pride jumbo on my irons, & find them ok. I have tried big jumbos on my irons, but found them too heavy & felt that there was more margin for error, with any rotation of the hands being over accentuated on the club head. Or if you like the cubhead moves futher & faster with any movement of the hands.
I would like to try the Avon chamoi jumbo next time, for my clubs. Some of the guys recommended them on here before some time ago & there under $3 at rockbottom
No Problems
Hi Russty,
From windblown and wet Wellington. No power cuts for us, but 35,000 were without overnight now reduced to 28,000, poor souls. Wind near Mt Kaukau, Khandala was 200kilometres an hour. Just imagine hitting a 3W with that wind hahaha~! Our course still closed until next week. 4 large trees lining the 10th hole were torn down. They had been recently pruned and only one fell onto the fairway itself. So a work party on Sunday will be all hands on deck. The clubhouse is one of the places without power or water at the moment.
On grips and putters Russty. I have 3 x Ping Putters and a Mizuno one. Like Surge I alternate between the 3 Ping ones. When I bought the Ping Zero3 [no longer made by Ping] at Bedale Golf Club in Rural Yorkshire I had it fitted with a new big grip at Whitby Golf Club [Where James Cook sailed from there to New Zealand]. My latest gripping of the club, is an unusual one, but effective. I have both hands horizontally opposed to each other. I have the rear [right] hand raised to it's limit as though I was going to fend someone off with the heel of my hand under their chin. The rear elbow is being bent at a right angle. I then just rock the shoulders striking the ball. Seems to work quite well.
Stay safe up north, the storm is heading your way. Batten down the hatches. Keep a firm grip and hope that you are striding the hallowed turf again soon. DH in Breezyville hahaha.
Getting a grip
Russty,
Where have you located Avon Chamois jumbo grips mate? I have not tried Jumbo grips on any clubs, maybe it is time I gave my wee paws a treat and try them ; - ) Weather slightly better down at this end. Hope it is OK at the top end. DH
Grips
Hi DH
You can find the Avon grips on www.rockbottomgolf.com They were $2.85 US the other day, but will get dearer if our dollar keeps droping. They should have them in a smaller size if you dont need jumbo.
Weather is improving here to. Cheers Russty
Great minds think alike hahaha!
Hi Russty,
Just look at my reply to your first msg ; - ) Like ships that pass in the night hahaha. Glad the weather is improving Cheers DH
Getting a grip
Russty, No need to reply re: Avon Chamois grips mate! Just after I logged on again the final word Rockbottom wormed it's way into my febrile brain
; - ) Checked the site out. Quite interesting both product and price wise. DH at the lower end hahaha
AVIN CHAMOIS
DH;
I also highly recommend the jumbo Chamois, especially for any who have arthritic hands as I do. They are very soft and have a great cushion feel. I have used them for years on all my clubs and just last year went to the Enlow on my woods. Also, don't forget my 1st place for on line shopping. They may be found cheaper there once the S/H is figured in. Good old Ebay
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=&_osacat=47324&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR1.TRC0.A0.XCHAMOIS+JUMBO&_nkw=CHAMOIS+...
A Fitting Story
Robert-interesting subject. Kinda cool the way you can just go through the menu until you get what you like. Why don't the shops just use air?
Speaking of fitting, got the Mizuno JPX 800 HD's ordered. Regular flex steel shaft and stock grips to start, but the Mizuno fitting system looks pretty good. Not a Doc Griffin fitting, mind you, but it will do for now. Would like to hear your impressions of the JPX 800 hd and the Mizuno fitting system.
They will see I'm a bit more vertical in my swing, which is by design. Not sure what other swing elements I should mention during fitting. Any thoughts on that?
freguency charts
i believe i have discovered a serious flaw in putting among great golfers. i did a frenquency chart of the misses on "straight" putts at the 2013 united states open championship. most of the misses were to the left of the hole for the right handed players and to the right of the hole for phil and others who are lefties.if you have the tournament taped, check this out for yourself, or better yet, hit ten putts at ten feet and see where your own misses are.
why?
for me, there is one explanation for this to occur, although there may be more.
the concept (i am a retired teacher) is called retroactive interference in our jargon, but basically means the things you learn before interfer with the new things you are trying to learn.)
the putting stroke is a small swing. therefore your hands and brain are trained to repeat the same things you do with a large swing, and if you are a great golfer, as everyone of the people on the tour are, you work constantly on coming from the inside and on hitting a draw.
this means your back hand is coming over your forward hand. that is, turning the toe over. i believe that is what happens under stress for these great players when they are putting on very tricky and fast greens. it is a tiny bit of a turn, but enough to throw the face of the putter to toe in at impact.
yes, i know that tiger works on doing the opposite, or releasing the toe. this was the part that confused me too! the stuff we hear can drive us to drink. (not bad in moderation.)
how do you stop it? aha....i did it. and it works!
and it is so easy. why didn't i figure this out before?
use your top three fingers to press towards the hole. it is not a gimmick, but a correction to most of our tendencies, that will send the ball right where you have aimed it.
it keeps the face square to the hole/target or the spot on the ground, etc, and the ball will stay on the line in your mind and when that happens, all you have to do is think speed which is the main thing you must think about to make a curving or straight putt. can you imagine beating your golfing buddies on the green. they will turn green with envy....lol...after years of putting you down! (pun intended!)
i would like to get feedback either way to this comment, but only after you have given it a decent try. my email address is bt0813@att.net.
like surge who likes to repeat himself...lol....again, you press your top fingers, i.e. your left hand top fingers if you are a righty, etc. against the grip which keeps the toe of the putter from approaching the ball ahead of the heel. the amount of pressure? i tried a tiny bit, then more and finally the exact amount, and bingo, like magic, the ball goes right where you aimed it. no excuses like dominent eye stuff etc. you will be able to do this. i have faith in all of you because of your motivation to become a better putter.(it is not the putter, it is not the grip. it is muscle memory who was your enemy.)
good luck. all of us bad putters have to stick together.
i now look forward to the green where for too many years i was terrible.
for too many years, i have tried everything, including multiple putters. but this is the only thing that works for me. i think it will work for everyone. let's see. please let me know. thanks in advance.
perhaps i have brought some joy into your lives. let's hope so.... and finally, don't forget to walk around the ball to find the "fall line" in order to factor that into the putt. many of the players i watched in the open did not do that. they looked like hackers sometimes which disturbed me...however maybe their caddies had done that in advance or the books and charts they carry helped find that. it certainly looked like a pro am broke out to me! bob tannenbaum hallandale fl.
great post
You have some really good points addressed in your post.
I like that you kept track of the misses on the side of the hole for both righties and lefties. This happens on fast greens when the player "decels" (decelerates) through the strike. When this happens the ball always will fall down hill slightly before it starts rolling. Additionally is the factor of the shoulders opening before the strike because of the player peeking too soon. A 100% guarantee of the putt being pulled.
Kudos to finding that the fingers of the top hand control the club face through the stroke. Not many have figured this out.
As for the toe of the putter turning over under stress it does happen. the root of the problem is the eyes are not parallel to the line of the putt. Under stress golfers will swing the club/putter down the eye line and not the aim line.
Again you have found some of the basics of making putts. Thanks for the post.
An early Christmas present for many
Bob Christmas Tree, you have given many an early Christmas present with your putting 'grip' tip. : - ) I have tried it only indoors, using the floorboards in the dining room as alignment tools. It certainly surprised me when I made some practice swings. The putter head even when taken back a fair way, in my estimation, it stayed On-On-ON all the way??? Now all I need is on course confirmation that what I have seen is the bees knees! Any feedback will be forwarded to the address you have provided. Thankyou for sharing this idea with me and other Surgites. It may be a game changer for many of us. DH in NZ
PS. I still prefer it being sung as 'Oh! Tannenbaum.......' Hence my cheeky intro.Haben Sie Deutsche? DH
dave peltz
hi,
bob again. a bit on the chart i did. i knew that dave peltz does them to show that pros miss on the "high side of the break" more often than us hackers do.
dave was a nasa scientist and believes in numbers and experiments. i like that, and read his first book which opened my mind to the science involved with golf. love this stuff.
there are too many beliefs that are bs out there, especially in golf.
my first comment might be the reason why we miss on the low side of the break.
we also do not factor in the fall line like the pros do. he advises us to always miss on the high side because the ball may go in the side door that way and he is right. it does.
if any of you know dave, please send him my idea about forward pressure of the top three fingers. he will run experiments, and if they work, will use it in his short game schools.
Avon grips
First - good luck to DJ for the weekend. Second - I know a number of Surgites used the Avon Chamois grips - I was looking for grips with more cushion, so I tried them when I cut all of my clubs down at the end of last season. A fabulous grip at an excellent price. Thanks to the surgites who recommended them. Thanks for the excellent daily Surge.
Hit em well friends
Jerry - Warren, MI
Hitting a slightly plugged ball
Im from the desert in South Australia and quite often I will be looking at a ball that is in a slight depression. How do I hit the ball with our up swing? I feel mentally uncomfortable when I have to do this. Also I came across a ball that was half plugged in wet ground and thick grass, had no idea how to deal with that one. Can you help. I'm loving this swing. Thanks Surge for making golf enjoyable.
Situational
Surge does demonstrate essentially this in his Situational Shots: On The Course video series when he shows how to hit a ball that's come to rest in an old divot. Essentially, that's the time when the adage about swinging up goes away. You have to go down and get it and not try to swing up so much so you don't kill your wrists in the process. You'll end up most of the time with a low bullet of a shot, so plan your target line accordingly.