One Arm Putting Drill

[newtogolf]

Prior to the final round of the Honda Classic, TGC showed Rickie Fowler doing a one arm putting drill using his dominant arm and a putting mirror.  I tried it today out on my backyard putting greens and it felt really awkward at first but after about 10 putts it was getting pretty comfortable and I was actually putting pretty well.  It got me wondering,

What is the actual purpose or goal of the drill?

When putting normally should most of the control and weight of the club be in the dominant arm?  

[saevel25]

11 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

What is the actual purpose or goal of the drill?

When putting normally should most of the control and weight of the club be in the dominant arm?  

I do a right hand only drill. For me it requires me to take a longer putting stroke and it allows me to feel the weight of the club more. It lets me feel how the putter should go through impact, more of a pendulum stroke.

 

[billchao]

10 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

What is the actual purpose or goal of the drill?

I've done it in the past (and still do, periodically) because I have a tendency to steer the clubhead more with both hands and add too much speed with my left hand.

I found my speed control was better on short putts (3-15') with just the right hand on the putter so I adopted the feel with both hands on the club. So I do putt with the weight of the club in my dominant hand.

I don't know what the actual purpose of the drill is but that's what I've done for myself.

[newtogolf]

Thanks for the replies guys, what kind of putting stroke do you use?  SBST or Arc?  

[billchao]

2 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

Thanks for the replies guys, what kind of putting stroke do you use?  SBST or Arc?  

I assume you're talking of SBST as a feel? If so, that's how I putt. I had a tendency to have too much clubface rotation in my stroke so I have to feel like there's none at all. Basically firm wrists and clubface square with the path at all times.

[saevel25]

7 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

Thanks for the replies guys, what kind of putting stroke do you use?  SBST or Arc?  

Slight arc. It's unnatural to use a SBST if you use a conventional stance. 

 

[dchoye]

3 hours ago, newtogolf said:

Prior to the final round of the Honda Classic, TGC showed Rickie Fowler doing a one arm putting drill using his dominant arm and a putting mirror.  I tried it today out on my backyard putting greens and it felt really awkward at first but after about 10 putts it was getting pretty comfortable and I was actually putting pretty well.  It got me wondering,

What is the actual purpose or goal of the drill?

When putting normally should most of the control and weight of the club be in the dominant arm?  

Which arm was he using? Right or left

[billchao]

36 minutes ago, dchoye said:

Which arm was he using? Right or left

It says dominant hand and he's a right-handed golfer, so I'm assuming his right.

[natureboy]

Chamblee was talking a lot about how Fowler 'releases' the putter well. It's possible that with one hand off the club and a light grip you can feel the clubhead swinging under its own weight better and it's harder to 'hold off' the release with hand manipulation.

I think Butch Harmon had Tiger working along the same lines when he gave him the beeping putter so he would learn to lighten his grip. 

[boogielicious]

My dominant arm for putting is my left. I don't like the one arm drills because they don't seem to do anything for my stroke. What I do work on is having a lighter grip with my right hand versus my left. I find it easier to control the club face with my left hand and control distance. My left grip is firm but not tight and my right about half that as a feel. If my right grip is firm, I tend to accelerate through impact, which is bad.

If you watched Adam Scott and Sergio this weekend, you saw a bit of this. Both grip the putter with their left hand and only set their right on the grip as a guide to stabilize. The left hand controls the backswing and predominantly the whole stroke.

[newtogolf]

49 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

My dominant arm for putting is my left. I don't like the one arm drills because they don't seem to do anything for my stroke. What I do work on is having a lighter grip with my right hand versus my left. I find it easier to control the club face with my left hand and control distance. My left grip is firm but not tight and my right about half that as a feel. If my right grip is firm, I tend to accelerate through impact, which is bad.

If you watched Adam Scott and Sergio this weekend, you saw a bit of this. Both grip the putter with their left hand and only set their right on the grip as a guide to stabilize. The left hand controls the backswing and predominantly the whole stroke.

Your right handed but your dominant arm in putting is your left, is that typical?  Rickie is right handed and was using his right hand for the drill.  I'm left handed and definitely feel that my left hand is dominant when putting.  

I guess there's no right answer as long as you get the ball in the hole.  

[boogielicious]

23 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

Your right handed but your dominant arm in putting is your left, is that typical?  Rickie is right handed and was using his right hand for the drill.  I'm left handed and definitely feel that my left hand is dominant when putting.  

I guess there's no right answer as long as you get the ball in the hole.  

I am somewhat ambidextrous and can putt almost as well left handed. I just feel better with my front hand in control.

[dchoye]

I tried this one arm technique and it seems to work best for me with chipping 

with putting I tend to get yippy as my left thumb wants to twitch even with right arm in control 

 

[dchoye]

22 hours ago, newtogolf said:

Thanks for the replies guys, what kind of putting stroke do you use?  SBST or Arc?  

For me , I find arc is more natural.

I have to either move my head behind the ball and/or make my left hand weaker to manipulate the stroke to feel SBST.

[dchoye]

On February 29, 2016 at 7:14 AM, newtogolf said:

Your right handed but your dominant arm in putting is your left, is that typical?  Rickie is right handed and was using his right hand for the drill.  I'm left handed and definitely feel that my left hand is dominant when putting.  

I guess there's no right answer as long as you get the ball in the hole.  

You know I haven't thought about this cause I use either arm . But the last few months I been practicing my putting and I been finding I am more consistent with my trail arm  that feel more natural to me.  When I use my forward arm I feel like I need to "brake" into the ball. Still works but not as natural or consistent for me. Though for chipping sometimes I like this "braking" action and use my forward arm  as control 

[Buckeyebowman]

On 2/29/2016 at 1:26 PM, dchoye said:

I tried this one arm technique and it seems to work best for me with chipping 

with putting I tend to get yippy as my left thumb wants to twitch even with right arm in control 

 

I once saw an instructional video by Hank Haney talking about the yips. He advocated one handed putting drills as a way to figure them out. He maintained that the "yip" would generally reside in one hand or the other. Once you figured that out, you could take measures to get that hand out of the putting equation. Also, one handed putting drills do give you a wonderful sense of feel for the swinging of the putter head.

[Patch]

I switched to a left hand low grip a few months ago. I practiced quite a bit the first few weeks just using my left hand. I did this to get rid of that new awkward feeling when making a change. 

[newtogolf]

I've been practicing one arm putting drills since I started the thread and I feel it's been beneficial to my overall putting performance, especially distance control.