Tom Long – Golf Professional
Overactive hands and wrists in a putting stroke can significantly hinder consistency and accuracy. Putting requires precision and control, and excessive hand or wrist movement introduces unnecessary variables, making it difficult to maintain a smooth, repeatable stroke. When hands and wrists dominate, the stroke becomes inconsistent, leading to mis-hits, poor distance control, and off-target putts.
The ideal putting stroke relies on the shoulders and arms working as a pendulum, with minimal wrist action. Overactive hands disrupt this pendulum motion, causing the putter face to open or close unpredictably, which affects the ball’s direction. Additionally, excessive wrist movement can lead to deceleration or acceleration through impact, disrupting the tempo and making it harder to judge speed.
The following practise drill will help in reducing wrist movement during your putting stroke – it can be used with either a conventional grip (right hand below left) or reverse grip (left hand below right)
See photographs 1 and 2 – you will see that I have placed a golf ball between my inner wrist and the side of the putting grip. Try and keep the ball in position throughout the putting stroke – neither dropping it nor applying pressure by overworking your wrists. Initially, I suggest practising hitting putts using one hand (photographs 3 + 4) and then both hands (photographs 5 + 6)
This drill forces you into putting more from your shoulders in a pendulum type movement. Try replicating this feeling and technique when putting on the golf course.
