Okay, let’s talk about this Nelly Korda putter grip situation. I’ve been watching her play, and man, she sinks some putts. So, naturally, I got curious about how she holds the thing. Looked different from my usual style, so I thought, “Alright, let’s give this a whirl.”
Getting Started
First thing, I just grabbed my own putter. Didn’t go out and buy a new one or anything fancy. Just used my trusty flatstick. I pulled up some pictures and slow-motion videos of Nelly putting. Had to really look close to see how her hands were positioned. Looked like a variation of the left-hand low grip, maybe with some specific finger placement, but I decided to just focus on the main thing: left hand below the right.
The First Few Tries
So I went out to the practice green. Took my normal stance, then switched my hands around. Left hand low, right hand up top. Felt super weird at first. Like trying to write with my opposite hand. My shoulders felt kind of hunched and unnatural. The first few putts were… well, not great. Direction was all over the place. Felt like I had zero feel for distance.
The Grip Specifics (as I tried them):
- Left hand gripping lower down the handle.
- Right hand positioned above the left.
- Tried to keep my arms and shoulders connected, making a little triangle.
- Focused on rocking my shoulders, not using my wrists.
Hitting the Practice Green
I decided I needed to actually practice this, not just hit a few awkward balls. So, I dedicated a couple of practice sessions just to this grip. Started with really short putts, like 3-footers. Just trying to get the feel of the clubface staying square through the stroke. That part actually felt okay pretty quickly. The left-hand low position seemed to restrict my wrist movement, which I guess is often a good thing in putting.
Then I moved back. 10 feet, 20 feet. This is where things got tricky again. Distance control was tough. My old grip gave me a certain feel for how hard to hit it, and this new grip just felt dead. Took a lot of repetition to start getting the ball somewhere close to the hole on longer putts. It wasn’t coming naturally, that’s for sure.
Observations and Feelings
After a few days of really trying it out, I noticed a few things. On shorter putts, inside maybe 6 feet, it did feel more stable. Less tendency for the putter face to twist open or closed. That was a definite plus. The stroke felt simpler, more mechanical, less handsy.
But, man, the feel on longer putts just wasn’t there for me. Maybe it’s something you get used to over months or years, but in my short experiment, I struggled to gauge speed. It felt like I was guessing more than feeling it.
Did I Stick With It?
So, after giving it an honest try for about a week or two, hitting lots of putts… I ended up going back to my old grip. The Nelly Korda style definitely has its merits, especially for stability and taking the wrists out of the stroke. I can see why it works for her and others. But for me, the lack of feel, especially on longer putts, was just too much to overcome quickly. It felt like I was trading feel for mechanics.
It was a good experiment, though. Always interesting to try what the pros are doing. Sometimes you find something great, sometimes you just confirm that what you were doing before works better for you. And that’s golf, right? Always tinkering.
