Utley putting grip question

carrera · April 27, 2009

How to get right hand "in the palm"

Utley promotes a reverse overlap grip with the grip in the palm (along the lifelines) of each hand, and the thumbs of both hands on top of the shaft. Easy to do with the left hand, but it seems that in order to get the right hand grip in the palm, the base of the right thumb can't sit on top of the left thumb....it has to move farther down the shaft so that maybe it sits on the left thumbnail or so. If the base of the right thumb sits on top of the left thumb, then the right hand grip needs to be more in the fingers, which isn't what Utley wants.

Moving the right hand down a bit to accomplish this feels ok, but the hands don't feel as "together" as they are with a standard full swing grip where the pad of the right thumb is on top of the left thumb.

In Utley's book one picture of his grip shows the base of the right thumb at about the left thumbnail, but he doesn't cover this detail in the description of the grip.

Hopefully the above conveys my question clearly enough. Thoughts?

juststeve · April 27, 2009

Are you left handed?

Steve

Zlim · April 27, 2009

I remember in one of his Videos at Academy Live, he had a tip where in a left hand low grip your right hand's pinky finger should be able to get tucked under (other fingers wrapped around and pinky tucked in) the palm. then you'll have the putter in the palms. not too much and not too little (according to Utley) also your right thumb should not be that far under yout left thumb pad/palm...your right thumb nail should be covered (judging by video)

If I'm wrong let me know, and I saw this on youtube.

carrera · April 27, 2009

Are you left handed?

Steve

No...did I screw up the question above? :)

Standard right-handed reverse overlap grip...where the right thumbpad sits on top of some portion of the left thumb.

txhacker · April 27, 2009

I had the same question with the grip, it does seem to promote the right hand much lower than I am used to, and it does decrease the sense of unity in the hands. Looking closely at the pics in The Art of Putting the right hand does look much lower in order for it to fold over the tip of the left thumbnail. I chose not to grip it like that because the hands felt so far apart.

carrera · April 27, 2009

I had the same question with the grip, it does seem to promote the right hand much lower than I am used to, and it does decrease the sense of unity in the hands. Looking closely at the pics in The Art of Putting the right hand does look much lower in order for it to fold over the tip of the left thumbnail. I chose not to grip it like that because the hands felt so far apart.

Interesting...that captures my feeling exactly. I haven't decided whether it works for me or not...first I wanted to find out if that is in fact what Utley recommends. The book is unclear.

btk_1 · April 27, 2009

I'm thinking if you used a wide grip like the one KJ Choi uses... you could achieve the ideal grip that Utley "describes" in the Art of Putting. With the wider grip, both thumbs could be placed on top of the grip running parallel to each other and pointing straight down along the sides of the shaft. The pressure points could be in the fingertips and against each major lifeline branching toward the middle of the inside wrist of each hand. This would put the forearms in alignment with the grip (and shaft)... which Utley considers the most important aspect of the putting setup, and would require no manipulation (lowering of the right forearm). To get everything perfect, you could bring the right hand up so the tip of the right thumb is even with the tip of the left thumb (unity of both hands).

Since Utley prefers a thin grip to enhance feel, it would take a special combination of a wide grip and fat putter shaft (butt end) to achieve the same feel as the standard Cameron grip and standard shaft he uses (feel coming from the thinness of the grip wall to the shaft). Does anyone know if a wide putter grip / fat putter shaft combination is available? The putter grip wouldn't have to be as wide as the KJ Choi grip to achieve an ideal Utley grip approaching the perfect grip. Just wide enough to allow the (fat) base of the right thumb to fit/rest along the curve of the right side of the left thumb would be a good compromise. At least, this way both hands would have less separation down the grip and you wouldn't have to overlap any part of either hand atop the other.

Thoughts!

JackieTreehorn · April 28, 2009

Thanks for pointing this out...I have been trying Utley putting with my hands essentially together at the same height. Basically palm to palm. I have still been doing pretty good this way but looking to experiment.

btk_1 · April 28, 2009

I'm currently using a Cameron 009 putter with a standard size Cameron grip and the stock shaft...therefore, the top width of the putter grip is pretty narrow. As a result, and since I don't prefer to have any portion of my thumbs overlapping each other... I'm using the following variations to try and achieve the grip "described" in The Art of Putting:

First, I run my thumbs straight down along the top "edges" of the putter grip vs. straight down the top (middle) of the putter grip (as Utley describes). My thumb contact points are still on top of the putter grip, just closer to the side-top edges of the putter grip. I do it this way, because if I run my thumbs down the top middle of the putter grip with no overlap of any portion of my thumbs, then my hands become too separated.

Second, I've changed my fingertip contact points for the last three fingers of each hand... from way up the sides (toward the top edges) of the putter grip (as in Utley's grip -- actually, the tips of his fingers are at or above the top edges)... to more along the bottom "sides" of the putter grip. This mainly gets the top three fingers of the left hand out of the way which allows me to pull my right hand up farther than Utley resulting in more unity of the hands. I can comfortably position the base of my right thumb slightly higher than opposite the left thumb fingernail (where Utley positions it).

That's it... and you can experiment with positioning those fingertip contact points along the bottom (middle) of the putter grip -- which will enable you to pull your right hand up so the tip of the right thumb is opposite the tip of the left thumb... the perfect grip. However, when I try it I feel like I have less control because a smaller portion of each fingertip is contacting the narrow bottom middle of the grip. I'm thinking this would work fine with a wider putter grip/fatter putter shaft combination like I mentioned in an earlier post. I need to try that...

Hope this helps somebody...Good luck!