The way you hold a golf club determines the kind of stroke you'll make, and its quality.
Many golfers pay close attention to how they grip the club before they swing at the ball, but the gripping a putter correctly is just as important.
There are several ways to hold a putter, but before we go over them, let's talk about grip pressure -- how firmly you hold the putter in your hands.
A putt is a soft stroke.
It demands a soft hold on the club.
You should hold the putter only so tightly that the handle will not shift around in your hands as you swing it back and forth, that the entire putter moves back and forth in unison.
Think of holding a fragile object as lightly, but as securely, as you can.
To place your hands on the putter, start with the left hand (right hand, for left-handed golfers).
Place it on the club so the back of the hand faces the target.
Close the hand around the shaft.
The thumb rests lightly on the shaft and points straight down it.
It is when the other hands gets placed on the shaft that we start talking about different grips.
The basic idea behind any putting grip is that the hands need to work in a more delicate fashion than in the full swing.
Each style of putting grip departs from the swing grip for that very reason.
The swing grip is designed to make the hands lead the body into an active, powerful motion.
That's not what we want in putting, so we make changes that quiet things down.
The first kind of grip, and the most common, is the reverse overlap.
With this grip, the left index finger does the overlapping, instead of the right index finger.
All four fingers of the right hand are on the shaft, and the right thumb rests lightly on the shaft, pointing straight down it, just like the left thumb.
The left index finger rests on top of the last three fingers of the right hand.
A second grip is a modification of the interlocking grip some golfers use in their full swing.
The little finger of the right hand interlocks with the index finger of the left hand.
Again, both thumbs point straight down the shaft.
Some golfers putt left hand low, or cross-handed.
This means their left hand is closer to the putter head rather than the right.
The advantage of this grip is that it prevents the left wrist from bending backwards on itself as the putter comes through the ball -- a grievous error in the putting stroke.
A fourth grip, called the claw, is meant to take any hinging motion out of the wrists, and swing the putter back and forth on a straight line so the putter face is always square to the target line.
The club is held normally in the left hand, but the right hand holds the shaft between the tips the four fingers, sitting on top of the shaft, and the thumb tip on the bottom.
Some golfers use this grip to combat jerkiness or hesitation in their stroke, called "yipping.
" Finally, there is a split-handed grip in which the hands are not held together, but are separated by any number of inches, so that one hand, normally the right, can take firm control of the stroke.
Each one of these grips has advantages.
When you find the one that works best and gives you the most confidence, stick with it.
You'll be sinking putts from all over.