Putter Grip and Face Rotation Experiment
October 2015 I studied the putter face aiming data of 43 golfers, and plotted the aim point of each on a target board. The putts were all ten feet long with an accuracy goal of one degree; 2.09 inches from center. One of the biggest miss factors in putting, other than an aim bias, is face rotation through impact. An observation of Tiger’s putting this weekend at The Open started the wheels rolling in my brain; why does Tiger still us the same small Ping grip on his putter after all these years? Doesn’t he know about all the high tech grips available? Or does one of the best players ever know something we don’t know? Especially since I have a new Lamkin Flat Cat grip on my EXO Rossie. So I performed a test of fifty putts (twenty five on video) with five different style grips, and putt length of eight feet (keeping a one degree miss inside the cup). I used my Rick Wright Putting Laser (wrightputtingdynamics.com) for a consistent start line, and a Blast sensor for accurate data. Putter face rotation change was what I wanted to examine, and was rather surprised at my results (not very scientific; it would be fun to do the same process with many golfers…wait for it). Here is what I discovered:
The Super Stroke 2.0 grip rotated the most averaging 0.92 degrees open per putt; made three of five on video.
The Flat Cat rotated an average of 0.78 degrees open per putt; made four of five on video.
The Scotty grip rotated an average of 0.54 degrees open per putt; made 3 of five on video.
The skinny Ping grip rotated 0.28 degrees per putt; made five of five.
The Rosemark grip rotated 0.24 degrees per putt; made 3 of five.
The Rosemark grip paired with a See More putter; along with the Ping were more than twice as accurate overall. The video will display some of the Blast data which I usually use for tempo training, but in this case we have a fantastic cluster from loft, lie, speed, stroke lengths, and face positions. (blastmotion.com) Interesting note: The Champion Golfer of the Year also used a small grip.
Hi Ed – Just ran across this post tonight. Do you feel that the type of putter or combination of putter and griphad anything to do with the rotation of the putter? Thx, Bill
Hi Bill,
Sorry for the delay, been on the road. I agree! I think it would be cool to do the same thing with different grips with the same putter. The idea came from the Flatso grip, and I was using putters off the sale rack. Thanks , again.
Regards,
Ed