Putting “Left-Hand Low”

Crosshandedness, don’t knock it before you try it.

Every putt I have made in the past 10 of my golfing years has been made with the same style grip. I learned in high school to use the baseball style grip while putting, extending my right index finger to promote more control and receive more feedback from my miss hit putts.

Not too long ago I was playing golf with a lefty and noticed (on the 8th green, I was a little slow on the pickup) that he was putting with his right hand low. It sparked my interest, after all; lefties seem to know what they’re doing (most of the time) on the greens. I was a little leery of trying anything new on the green since that’s where I make up a lot of my strokes, so I put it off for a while. This past week I’ve spend a LOT of time with the crosshanded putting grip.

The first thing I noticed is that I stand a lot more upright with the crosshanded grip. I think this is due to the fact that I like to keep my right elbow tucked to my torso a little when I’m putting. With my right hand higher on the grip, it feels more comfortable to stand up more (and closer to the ball. This is neither good nor bad, however it’s something to take notice of since it took a little of adjustment (and a scratched up CD) to get my eyes in my preferred position; an inch inside the ball.

Taking on a new style of gripping the putter is going to feel awkward, I think I might have been more comfortable on the other side of the ball with a left handed club. Right off the bat I was hitting all my putts dead straight and solid. My only reservation was the distance, but of distance and direction, I’ll take direction every day of the week. After blowing a few putts right over top of the hole, I settled down and started making putt after putt.

Becoming comfortable with my left hand low took a while. But after the initial “break in” period, I was able to switch back and forth (with my standard grip) between practice putts. The one thing I noticed a lot more than anything else is the crosshanded grip allowed me to forget about my stroke. It really simplified my takeaway and follow through into one machine-like motion. As someone who’s used to a flowing “gate” stroke where I can finesse and adjust my stroke on the fly, this was a little disconcerting, until I figured out a way to use it in my game.

Round after round I’m always great on lag putts and anything from 5-10 feet, but I lose confidence on the short ones (and I’m sure a lot of golfers are the same way). Removing all the movement and hitting a putt dead straight is exactly what I need in my game. At the risk of complicating my game (I know, keep it simple, stupid) I’m going to take this mentality out to the course, putt comfortably outside of 5 feet, then take the sure putt crosshanded.

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Try out this grip (even if it’s uncomfortable at first), it doesn’t cost you anything, and you might just find a way to work it into your game.

Nike Juice

At first glance, the new Juice 312 ball from Nike seems to be a strict case study in the limits of golf ball marketing. Everything from the package design to the price seems to push the boundaries. I heard rumors several months back that this ball will be replacing the Mojo line, but have yet to see any solid evidence of the Mojo going away.

The Juice ball is a low compression, low spin ball that’s geared for more yardage off the tee. When I found myself rolling several putts with this ball, a few things stood out right away about its appearance. First, the 312 dimples are far less than many others that have been pushing almost 400 dimples. This makes for what appear to be 3 dimple sizes that look larger than other balls.

The alignment aide on the Juice balls is the word “GINORMOUS”, found on one side of the ball, making me fumble around a little to find it before each putt. I would have liked to see a variety of words on balls in the other sleeves in the box, perhaps something along the lines of “MASTODONIC” or “HERCULEAN”.

Putting with the Juice was a lot of fun. I rolled a dozen from varying distances with a Scotty Cameron Circa ‘62 # 3. I had no problems sinking putts at any distance, and felt that the ball rolled true. The feel of the ball seemed a little more firm than the Maxfli Noodle control ball, and sounded a bit crisper off the face. I also rolled a few, alternating with a Nike One Platinum and found the same higher pitched sound with the Juice. I think the sound had a lot of impact on my perception of the ball feeling firm, but perception is reality on the greens.

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Fun ball to putt with, staring at “GINORMOUS” all day on the green can only give you confidence. A dozen Juice 312’s are completely worth it if you can find them on sale. MSRP of $28 seems a little high, however, for a two piece ball with large dimples.