Left hand low

[Glh]

I am approaching 70.  About 40 years ago I changed to left hand low for putting (inside 50 ft).  My issue with the normal grip was that I  seemed to take the putter back "open" like an iron shot...which meant I had to get it back to square to hit the putt.  That seems to add one more variable to putting the ball.  Plus, my feelings was "automatic"...meaning I was taking the putter back subconsciously.  By putting the left hand low, surprisingly I had to consciously had to move it back and keep it square.  Significant difference in scoring.  Btw....I stayed between a 2 and 5 until age 64.   Now a nine.

[jkelley9]

Pretty cool. The most experience I have had with left hand low was that week Rory switched to it copying Jordan and when I was on the practice green that weekend I said "let's give it a whirl!" tried it once and said "well that felt like crap" and that was the end of it lol. I'm not knocking it, I just haven't actually been taught how to do it correctly, probably. Plus I only hit one shot... like that's a lot of data haha

[Pete]

I changed to left hand low last year and the results are better but it feels worse

[dennyjones]

I switched this year and I'm putting better.   I had a bad habit of opening the face and then starting the putt off line.   With the left hand low, I'm bringing the face square to the ball.   

[Rip62]

I started using it last year because I was missing too many short putts. I fixed that but I really struggled with long putts judging the speed. Anything over 10/12 ft. especially up hill putts I was either way long or short.Two weeks ago I switched to using a coventional grip for longer putts and left hand low inside of 10ft. and I haven't 3 putted in my last 2 rounds.

[b101]

It's made the world of difference for me as it took the hit instinct out of putting as I know it'll go online if I just rock my shoulders. Took about a month to really get used to it and my lag putting still needs work, but otherwise, it's been a revelation - I hole way more than I used to inside of 20 feet and just feel much more confident.

[Patch]

I switched to the left hand low grip a while back. When I first tried it, it felt really unbalanced in a goofy sort of way. However I stuck with it. After a month or so,  I started saving  more strokes per round. It took a while longer to get use to longer putts, but once the new grip didn't feel new anymore, that problem was solved.

I switched because I started hitting putts a little off line with my old grip. Not alot off line, but enough to miss some putts I thought I should have made. 

I even tried to use the LHL grip with my chipping/pitching clubs. Off hand I'say it'not working, but the verdict is still out on this. I have not gave up tinkering with it. 

[dchoye]

33 minutes ago, Patch said:

I switched to the left hand low grip a while back. When I first tried it, it felt really unbalanced in a goofy sort of way. However I stuck with it. After a month or so,  I started saving  more strokes per round. It took a while longer to get use to longer putts, but once the new grip didn't feel new anymore, that problem was solved.

I switched because I started hitting putts a little off line with my old grip. Not alot off line, but enough to miss some putts I thought I should have made. 

I even tried to use the LHL grip with my chipping/pitching clubs. Off hand I'say it'not working, but the verdict is still out on this. I have not gave up tinkering with it. 

I was watching practice round at the Canadian Open on Tuesday and VJ Singh was trying to chip cross handed . I observed him putting cross handed 

I don't know why people call it left hand low.  Why not right hand high? Whenever I use this type of putting grip sometimes it feels like my top hand controls the putter more than bottom one.  

[Patch]

2 hours ago, dchoye said:

I was watching practice round at the Canadian Open on Tuesday and VJ Singh was trying to chip cross handed . I observed him putting cross handed 

I don't know why people call it left hand low.  Why not right hand high? Whenever I use this type of putting grip sometimes it feels like my top hand controls the putter more than bottom one.  

Right hand high would work. Perhaps your right hand is controlling the club speed, while your left hand is controlling the club's path? If so, I suspect you feel the speed part more than the path part. 

My old grip was a variation of the Vardon grip. The difference was I opened both hand to a point where the club head wouldn't close or open due to any wrist action during the stroke. It worked great until I started having pain in my left wrist due to some prvious sergury. 

[WUTiger]

I switched from traditional grip Vardon to "left hand low" about 2002. It worked fairly well, except I had trouble with distance control on longer putts (30 feet or more).

Spring 2015 I switched my putter grip to an oversized WinnPro X 1.18. It just seemed to fill up my hand better, cut down on twitches. On a lark I went to left hand high in a double-overlap grip for some long lag putts. The ball stayed on line, and I had better distance control. So, I use double-overlap on all putts now.

Back in 2014, Rickie Fowler used both, depending on putt length.

 

[CCC]

I remember when the 'Left Hand Low' grip was called the 'Give Up Grip'.

[dchoye]

On July 23, 2016 at 11:38 AM, Patch said:

Right hand high would work. Perhaps your right hand is controlling the club speed, while your left hand is controlling the club's path? If so, I suspect you feel the speed part more than the path part. 

My old grip was a variation of the Vardon grip. The difference was I opened both hand to a point where the club head wouldn't close or open due to any wrist action during the stroke. It worked great until I started having pain in my left wrist due to some prvious sergury. 

I find that my left hand is in control with breaking putts  when there is an apex is involved.  The right hand if it's  straight putts to the hole 

[Golden Greek]

I keep trying left hand low but can't seem to stick with it.  I've worked on it in practice but default back to traditional every time I get on the course.  

[Patch]

20 minutes ago, Golden Greek said:

I keep trying left hand low but can't seem to stick with it.  I've worked on it in practice but default back to traditional every time I get on the course.  

Took me about 8 weeks, practicing 3 times a week with it before I took it out for score. After a few rounds I started getting real comfortable with it. 

[Gunther]

My buddy's pop, 70 yrs old, is a good player, maybe a 12.  But he was a horrendous putter.  He'd miss 2 or 3 a round from 3 feet and in and long range wasn't much better.  

He switched to left low about a month ago, no practice, just took it out to the course.  I'd guess it's saved him 3-5 strokes a round.  I've played with him 3 times now and he hasn't missed a putt inside 3 feet.  Almost shot his age the other day (75), from the whites but still impressive.

I won't do it cuz my putting is decent but if I get into a bind down the road, I won't hesitate.

[Glh]

Oops....now I am an 11.   I use a Ping Anser putter "is that the right name?"  Most of you described why I switched to "left hand low" in the first place...ie: not comfortable, feels awkward. ..etc.  that is good and another reason why I like it.

Probably most of you have several putters around.  I have an old "bulls eye" that I occasionally take with me and putting from the left side on the practice green. (I play right handed).  You might be surprised how well you can putt.  I don'the recommend it during the round but it should confirm your commitment to left hand low.  Good luck

[Pete]

On 23/07/2016 at 2:07 AM, Rip62 said:

I started using it last year because I was missing too many short putts. I fixed that but I really struggled with long putts judging the speed. Anything over 10/12 ft. especially up hill putts I was either way long or short.Two weeks ago I switched to using a coventional grip for longer putts and left hand low inside of 10ft. and I haven't 3 putted in my last 2 rounds.

I've had very similar experience to this. Really improved short putting but my feel for distance is worse. I switched based on putt length for a while but didn't stick with it. I wonder why our distance control is affected?