Todd Sones serves on the Golf Academy of America’s National Advisory Board and is one of Golf Digest’s 50 Best Teachers in America. He’s been a Golf Magazine Top 100 Instructor every year since 1995, but now he’s also a Golf Channel Academy Lead Instructor. To promote that Academy this morning, Todd appeared on Golf Channel’s Morning Drive. The segment only ran a few minutes, but it was full of information.
Todd is a well-respected putting guru or sorts, and he runs a series of golf schools outside Chicago. The topic of Dustin Johnson’s putting debacle at last month’s U.S. Open came up, and host Paige Mackenzie asked Todd why so may professional and amateur golfers tend to push and pull putts. His answer was interestingly simple – balance of power.
Todd explained that when the putter goes back, the right hand is pulling and the left hand is pushing. On the forward stroke, it’s the right hand that’s pushing and the left hand that’s pulling. When players start to push and pull putts, it’s because they are applying too much pressure to the grip on the forward stroke.
If too much pressure is applied to the top of the grip, you’re going to close the putter face. If too much pressure is applied to the bottom of the grip, you’re going to open the putter face. Pressure should only be applied to the sides of the grip.
That’s why Todd prefers a non-leverage grip that runs through the palms of both the left and the right hands. A common mistake that amateurs make is that they grip the putter in the palm of their left hand but in the fingers of their right hand. What this does is position the right forearm above the left forearm, applies pressure to the top of the grip, and causes players to pull putts because they’re closing the face.
You want your forearms to be aligned or matched up, a position accomplished with a grip that runs through the palms. This places a balance of power, or pressure, on the sides of the grip and away from the top and bottom where pressure forces the putter face to open or close. If the forearms are aligned, the putter face can stay square to the path much easier under pressure.
Here is a link to the segment.