(Note: I finally used my professional audio on this one. I am wearing a lavaliere mic so you do not hear that tin can echo sound. I even put on a shirt too.)
December 29, 2018- by Steven E. Greer, MD
Jack Nicklaus and Jason Day are two people who call Ohio home. Both are among the best putters ever to play the game of golf. Yet they have completely different putters and swings. How do they do it?
The key is to understand your putting stroke. The position of your hands on the grip is the most important factor deciding your putting style.
More common decades ago, Jack Nicklaus and his peers used a weak grip, or one where the right hand was supinated. That swings the putter head back and forth on an inside-out arc that smacks the ball.
More common nowadays is to have a strong grip, or one with a pronated right hand. This takes the putter back more on a straight line.
The two different swings require different putters. The Nicklaus swing requires a toe-balanced putter. The Jason Day modern stroke requires a center-balanced mallet putter.
I putted like Nicklaus for 30-years and never thought about it. Now that I have the modern grip, I was not hitting crisp putts with my toe-balanced clubs. I just figured out why.
Which method is better, Jack’s or Jason’s? Good question. Both almost never missed a 10-foot putt.