My sources (social media) have alerted me to an interesting trend: a new style of putter grip, which is apparently gaining traction across the golf-loving nation of Japan.
Here’s a couple of demonstrations of the grip that have popped up on my social media feeds recently. And rather than calling it the social-media-putting-grip-that’s-trendy-in-Japan, I’m officially titling it the butterfly grip, because golfers’ hands kind of resemble a butterfly when they hold the club this way.
The main components of the grip basically involve clasping the ring and middle fingers of your left hand with your pinky, ring and middle fingers of your right hand. This intertwines your fingers in a way that actually has a few benefits:
- It places the grip deeply in palm of both your hands, which can prevent the wrists from taking over your putting stroke.
- It tucks your elbows into your side as a result, which allows the shoulders to power your putting stroke.
- It places both hands relatively level to each other, which levels out your shoulders for a more level strike over all.
- It’s hard to squeeze too firmly with your fingers so intertwined, which keeps grip pressure soft in both hands.
I haven’t tried the grip yet, but Golf Digest‘s video editor Ben Walton says he hit three putts with it in his house and that it makes his putting stroke feel “more locked in” and “really stable”. Early in the testing process, but encouraging nonetheless.
Give the butterfly grip a try if you’re looking to shake up your putting, and remember who first termed it the ‘butterfly grip’ when some tour player wins with this grip in about two years and sends the method mainstream.
• • •
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
