Super strokes? -Whats the big deal??

By now you've probably seen the picture. Yes, Tiger using a Super Stroke putter grip.

I was very surprised as well. I guess you can't blame the man for experimenting with new things to fix his putting. But if you remember he's the one who spoke out very profoundly about how belly putters were cheating.  So I would expect the person who is very critical about new techniques, and new methods to putt very traditionally.

Here's a link to an article about Tiger demoing the new grip: http://www.golfwrx.com/140885/tiger-to-change-to-a-superstroke-putter-grip/

Tiger isn't the only person to switch recently. Phil, the arch-rival of Tiger, switched to it at the end of last year. Phil's putting has gotten quite a bit better with the switch, including a major win this year. Phil copied a lot of his style from Sergio who switched a couple years ago, and went to a claw grip on it. Phil and Sergio have been using the claw with a Super Stroke for a while, and both of them were in the top-10 this year for strokes gained putting. So is Super Stroke the key to good putting?

What a Super Stroke grip does, is it takes your wrists out of the stroke by being an oversized grip, and by being multiple times heavier, which makes it harder to flip your wrists. Two of the players on my high school team use Super Strokes, which makes that a third of the players on my team. So are Super Stroke grips going to keep popping up? Is there going to be an even bigger boom with them?

I'm not really sure. In the tournaments I play in I'd say I see about ten Super Strokes, out of fields of 70-80. Jason Dufner was one of the originals to use it, and he has finished second in a major, and won a major after he appeared on tour.

The innovative design is very big to players that struggle with putting. This new grip might be just the thing to make bad putters, decent putters. I don't think a grip can take a person from a bad putter to a great putter. But if you consider Tiger a bad putter, then don't be surprised if he becomes a great putter.