The First Secret to Better Putting

CJ Goecks: Hey CJ Goecks here, and I want to give you the first secret, I don't want you to tell anyone this, but the first secret to improve putting starts with your grip.

That's the only area you have in contact with the club, and if you get this correct, you're well on your way to making more putts.

First and foremost, what we want to do is we want to place the club right in the lifeline, this fatty part right in between your two palms here right here.

If you can see that, when I get that club right in there, that shaft and my forearm match up perfectly.

That's the key. I always like to tell my students, "The machine with the fewest moving parts, it breaks down the least." If there aren't a whole lot of things going on, if we're set up pretty square, it makes it real easy.

If we get the grip right here in our left hand in the palms, and this is obviously for a right-handed golfer, my right hand slides underneath, and we're going to have both thumbs straight down the shaft.

This finger, this pesky little finger.

What do we do with it? I've seen most people, what they do is they try to interlock it just like their full swing.

That's a full swing grip.

That puts the club too much in the fingers of your right hand.

We don't want that.

We don't want hand action.

What we want is we want the big muscles to control, so this finger is going to come into the air, and that right hand slides underneath just like that.

Now, this finger can sit this way or this way.

They're both called the reverse overlap.

Remember, in full swing, the right hand, the lower hand, that finger overlaps, but with putting, it's going to be reverse overlap.

Make sure that the grip gets in the lifeline right here, right hand slides under, and you can just simply stick your arms out, bend your arms into the front of your chest or belly, and then bend over. Now, what you're going to see from this angle is that you cannot see this grip, this green grip here.

If I had the club more in my fingers, you can see the green grip, you can see the angles I have created.

What we're trying to do is create fewer angles, and you can see now how my shaft and my forearms all match.

The first key to putting better is getting your grip on there correctly.

Remember, from right here, grip in the palms, both thumbs straight down the shaft, elbows in, and bend over until you get in this position.

I always like to touch the top part of my knee.

That ensures that I'm in the proper position as I bend over, but we're going to get to more of that here in just a second.