Putting With Your Hands

January 15, 2008

Arnold Palmer makes a putting stroke on the green.

There is a difference between putting with your hands and putting with your wrists. Since your hands are the only part of your body to touch the putter, it wouldn’t make sense to eliminate them from the putting process.

Today’s professionals often emphasize removing the wrists, or sometimes incorrectly, removing the hands from the putting stroke. This has as much to do with the conditions of today’s golf courses as it does anything else. Decades ago, in the days when Arnie was king, grasses were not advanced hybrids as many are today, and greens were susceptible to heat damage. Greenskeepers kept their greens much longer and slower than today’s greens.

To consistently reach the hole on these slow greens, golfers were forced to use their wrists for power in their putting stroke. The wrists acted as a lever to generate extra club head speed, much like in the full swing.

Today, we don’t have that need for power in the putting stroke. As a result, golfers started moving towards a firm wrist stroke where the arms, hands, and shoulders work as one unit. Reducing the number of levers in the putting stroke reduces unneeded power and increases much needed consistency.

Like I said, it is unwise to think of your putting stroke as “hands-free.” Your hands, although not acting as a lever like in the past, still play an active and important role in the stroke. For the arms, hands, and shoulders to work together, each piece must be working in unison. If one piece doesn’t pull its weight, the whole system will fail.

A common putting drill is to only use your right hand while making strokes. I like this drill because it emphasizes the role of the trailing hand in judging speed and distance. I also recommend taking putting strokes with only your left hand. It is difficult to flip the wrist with only your left hand, and impossible to use only one shoulder to swing the putter. This drill will give you an understanding of using your hands along with your arms and shoulders to make your putting stroke, without using your wrists.

Written by John at 2:55 pm. Short Game