Q: I like my putter but have been struggling on the greens lately. I’ve been thinking of going to a thicker grip. Thoughts?
A: The old saw “thin to win” pretty much no longer applies in golf—at least not on the greens. Oversize putting grips have gone from a fad to a trend to a staple. But before you make a change, here’s what you need to consider, starting with what you can expect from a thicker grip.
Oversize grips are not a cure-all for inconsistent putting, but many golfers can benefit from using one. As far back as Paul Runyan’s 1979 book “The Short Way to Lower Scoring” the idea was put forth in print. Runyan wrote, “I suggest you avoid grips that seem a bit thin in overall diameter. You will find that a thicker grip encourages a firm-wristed stroke.”
Reducing hand action and using the larger muscles of the arms and shoulders to drive the motion is an improvement for most golfers. The small muscles in the hands and wrists tend to create more putterface rotation during the stroke, and the more the face rotates, the tougher it is to consistently square it up at impact. Hitting with a square face not only prevents pushes and pulls, it also improves contact for more predictable distance.
If those sound like improvements you’d like to make, your head might be in the right place. But it’s not as simple as just swapping out your grip from a jumbo model. It takes a little thinking.
“The main thing golfers need to take into consideration and something they often get wrong is understanding the weight of their putter,” says Bruce Miller, retail product manager for Golf Pride. “What the weight of the head is; what the weight of the shaft is; what the weight of the putter grip is—all to maintain the correct balance and performance.”
Changing the weight of a putter grip can alter feel dramatically, but there are options to counter the effects. If the head feels too light, perhaps add some lead tape. Too heavy requires adding weight in the grip or butt end of the shaft.
It’s an important point because if the weight is off, something is likely to feel awry. That can lead to players manipulating their strokes to accommodate the change in feel—rarely a recipe for success.
How you place your hands on the club also plays a role. These days there’s reverse-overlap, claw, saw, finger down the shaft, armlock—all of which can impact what size grip you use. Hand size also needs to be considered. A mismatch in grip size to hand size can lead to more grip pressure than desired.
Luckily, there are options galore. K.J. Choi started the movement to larger grips by winning the AT&T National in 2007 with the Superstroke Fatso, which was pretty much the only oversize grip available at the time. Not so today.
“We came out years ago with very large grips that had no taper, and that was our patent,” says Arnie Cunningham, PGA Tour rep for Superstroke. “Since then, we’ve grown into a full-line grip company with over 40 options.”
Will a thicker grip work for you? Our advice: It’s definitely worth a try. The cost is nominal compared to the price of a new putter. Plus, if you give an oversize grip a decent tryout and decide it’s not for you, it’s easy to go back to a standard size.