Split Personality

Rather than split personality, I really should call this post 'split grip', but personality does come into it.

Before I took a recent break, I had started to experiment with a split putting grip. To be precise, my right hand (as a right-hander) was low on the putter grip and my left hand was right at the top of the putter grip. That gap between my hands (visible on the grip) was probably about 4 or 5 inches.

Further, my right, lower hand grip was conventional - thumb straight down on top of the grip. But my left hand was really only lightly holding the top of the grip - basically only thumb and forefinger holding the club. However, my left elbow was resting fairly firmly on my left side and stomach (tucked, you could say).

The putting action therefore involved almost exclusively the use of the right hand, with the left hand and arm providing a 'legal' brace of the top of the club. My left hand and wrist were not anchored in any way.

This use of the right hand and arm only in putting works for me for the following reasons (and works for many, according to research from a reputable golf equipment manufacturer - Google split hand putting).

1. When you throw an object into a bin from distance, throw a dart, throw a ball (perhaps other than a rugby ball) you throw it with your dominant hand in order to maximise success. This throwing action is a one-sided action. Despite lots of talk about limiting the control exerted by a 'dominant hand', we actually want that dominant hand to dominate - at least in putting.

2. When you give up control to your dominant hand, there seems to be a natural tendency to make a smooth and rhythmic stroke. Possibly it's because, ironically, there is a slight reduction in the feeling of power or control. When two hands are involved, this tendency is reduced. The hands can seem to fight each other for control - something that lots of quirky grips like pen, pencil, claw, etc. are intended to obviate.

3. By using the top hand to stabilise the top end of the grip, helped by the brace of the lead elbow, the lower (right for me) hand is freed up to make a smooth stroke. It's no secret that the long and belly putters, now only usable subject to the new rule, became popular with players who had lost the ability to make a smooth and consistent putting stroke with two hands on the putting grip. A great many good players actually practice putting with one hand to help them achieve this smoothness or rhythm in their stroke.

So where does personality come into it? There are players who have the temperament, calm and confident, to putt in any way at all with great success. There are other players, like me, who are far from calm and confident on the putting green. Perhaps it's because we are perfectionists or just plain scared of failure, and are candidates for nervy, inconsistent putting, maybe even the yips. We need a method that at least encourages (and to a large degree even demands) a smooth technique, which just happens to have the bonus of a legal bracing move as part of the deal.

The final part of the equation, as in most things golf, is trust. That is, trusting that the brain (via ones eyes and other senses) has the capacity to calculate the strength of hit required and in the direction needed. This might in fact be the fly in the ointment for our split personality / split grip method. But I'm giving it a go.