A lighter right-hand putting grip

I have become a steadier, more confident and an altogether better putter since I changed my putting grip not so long ago. Where my right hand used to be dominant, now my left hand is. I hold the club quite tightly in my left hand, with the hand well under the shaft. This brings firmness into the left wrist—firmness all the way up the left arm, in fact. And when you take the putter back, the left wrist doesn't break. It remains firm.

Since adopting this new grip and style, I am not conscious at all of the right hand during the stroke, but I certainly used to be. I was so tense with the right hand on the backstroke that I would pick the club up outside the line and would frequently hit the ball with the heel of the putter.

Employing this new left-hand control, I find I keep the putter blade close to the putting surface without having to make a deliberate effort to do this. Furthermore, the blade contacts the ball squarely. That, of course, is what makes a ball roll true. When I putted with the right hand in control, I used to flip the ball and it rolled so erratically that it never fell when it caught a corner of the cup. Now it seems the cup is a lot more receptive.

JO ANN PRENTICE, Roebuck Golf Club, Birmingham, Ala.

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