Why do I chip and putt better with my right hand than I do with both hands?!

[PhDPaul]

I have found that I chip and putt much better using one hand, rather than two. My chips and pitch shots are high, land soft, and roll predictably when I use my right hand. (I'm right-handed). However, when I incorporate the left, I immediately de-loft the club face and lose feel.

I have found that my feel when putting one handed is much better also, and I have fewer off-center hits. Further, my ability to hit the ball with only the left arm/hand is poor -- the shots are low and inaccurate, and I don't have much feel.

Given the discrepancy here, does it make more sense for me to adopt a hitter (rather than swinger, i.e., Homer Kelly) type swing? Alternatively, would a one-plane rather than two plane swing be better (i.e., Jim Hardy's philosophy)? I've been working and reading a lot, and I can't understand what is causing this...

More importantly, I can't seem to figure out how to fix it.... I can't hold the lag with the right wrist into and past impact when using both hands the way I can with only the right hand. My thinking is this is responsible for the difference....

Any tips or feedback is appresciated. Thanks in advance!

-Paul

[geauxforbroke]

My father was in the same boat several years ago. He could chip well with only his right hand, but not with both. I don't know what your chipping mechanics look like, but I can share what we figured out in his mechanics. When chipping with only the right hand, you will hinge your right hand more naturally and hold that in order to control the club head. This is the perfect chipping technique, commonly called the "hinge and hold". When he placed two hands on the club, he had the tendency to become much more round in his chipping swing and release the club. Do a youtube search for "hinge and hold" and you'll get all kinds of videos to explain.

[Mr. Desmond]

Like most right handers (assumption and generality), your right hand is dominant.

Try relaxing the left hand on the grip and the left arm- my thought is that you are allowing the left hand to dominate a bit when it goes on the grip - something changes in your swing - to offset that, relax the grip and that arm.

I just tried it with a kids club in my kitchen - feel as if the left hand and arm are just along for the ride AND keep the flex in your right wrist as you come into impact (do not straighten it) and just pivot around the front leg.

[Hacker James]

For a long time, I putted with my right hand only. I would do it either 90 degrees to the line, or I could also putt side saddle. It was quite effective at the time. I had a little technique where I would cross my left hand over to my right hip and measure a fist distance from my body to hold the putter grip in my right hand. The side saddle putt would involve my cupping my right wrist and sort of push the putter with my arm. Now I use a longer putter to enable me to stand taller (had some back pain) and I use a split claw grip which works very well. The one handed method was also necessitated by an eye condition known as upper right hyper and if I turned or tilted my head a certain way, I would see two images that would separate. Looking straight down the line I did not have the problem.  A few years back, one of the PGA pros putted one handed, I do not remember the name and there are probably more than one.