Trying Out That Cantlay Putter Grip
Alright, so I was watching some golf the other week, you know, like I usually do on a Sunday. And Patrick Cantlay was draining putts again. I started paying closer attention, not just to his stroke, but how he was holding the thing. Looked kinda different, that left hand really low, almost detached looking. Got me thinking.
My putting’s been… well, let’s just say it’s had its moments, mostly bad ones lately. Felt like I was losing connection with the putter face through the stroke. So, I thought, what the heck, let’s give this Cantlay grip a shot. Couldn’t hurt, right?
First Impressions on the Practice Green
Next time I got out to the club, I headed straight for the practice green. Grabbed my putter, and tried to mimic what I saw on TV. Man, did it feel weird at first. Seriously awkward. My left hand felt way down the grip, much lower than my right. Almost like two separate hands doing different jobs.
I spent a good 20 minutes just trying to get comfortable. Rolled some short ones, like 3-4 footers. The initial feeling was that my left wrist felt super locked, almost too rigid. It definitely stopped any unwanted wrist flicking, I’ll give it that. But controlling distance felt… off. Like I had less feel for the head releasing.
- Felt very stable, less hand/wrist action.
- Definitely felt unusual, took time to adjust.
- Distance control was the immediate challenge.
Taking It Out for a Spin (and a Few More Tries)
I decided to stick with it for a couple of practice sessions and even took it out on the course for nine holes. Just to see if it would ‘click’ once I stopped thinking about it so much. On the practice green, I started getting a bit more used to it. I focused on rocking my shoulders, letting the arms and shoulders be the engine, which this grip kinda forces you to do.
On the course? Mixed bag. Some short putts felt incredibly solid. Like, point-and-shoot solid. The stroke felt simpler, less moving parts maybe. But anything outside of about 10 feet? Big struggle. Judging the pace felt like guesswork. I left a lot of putts short, and a couple I blasted way past because I was trying to compensate.
I fiddled around with it a bit more over the next week. Tried adjusting the exact position of the left hand, slightly higher, slightly lower. Tried different pressures. It helped a tiny bit, but that lack of touch on longer putts just didn’t go away for me.
So, Did I Keep It?
Nah, I ended up going back to my old grip. For me, the Cantlay style just made distance control too difficult. I could see why it works for him – maybe it locks his stroke perfectly, or maybe he’s just practiced it for thousands of hours. It definitely promotes that pendulum shoulder stroke and takes the hands out of it, which is good in theory.
But golf, especially putting, is so personal. What works for a top pro doesn’t always translate. It felt like I was trading some feel for stability, and for my game, I need that feel, especially on lag putts. It was an interesting experiment, though! Always good to try new things, see what clicks. This one just didn’t click for me long-term, but I get the appeal for sure.
