Scottie Scheffler made a putting switch in March, opting to go from a blade to a mallet putter-head ahead of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He struggled on the greens for the first two months of the season, a big reason he did not win any trophies in January or February.
But after making that change, the World No. 1 won that week at Bay Hill, won The Players seven days later, and then triumphed at Augusta National the following month. He added four more PGA Tour victories during his historic 2024 campaign, not including his incredible come-from-behind victory at the Olympics in Paris.
Fast forward to this week at the Hero World Challenge, and Scheffler has made another change to his putting routine. He still has the same flat stick, a TaylorMade Spider Tour X, but he now employs the ‘Claw’ grip, in which your strong hand—in this case Scheffler’s right—makes a claw-like shape when gripping the putter. Players will use the claw grip to try to have their putter resemble a pendulum, in which you rely more on shoulders to sway the club through impact. Theoretically, the putter head should move straight back and straight through, thus creating straighter putts.
The con to using this grip is that it’s uncomfortable, especially soon after making the switch. It also should not be used on slower greens.
Through the first few holes at the Hero World Challenge, Scheffler has only utilized the claw grip from inside of six or seven feet. You can see him do so in the video above.
Since he is the best ball-striker in the world, Scheffler makes a living by hitting his approach shots within 10 feet, which leads to plenty of birdie opportunities. But Scheffler has missed a ton of putts from short-range over the past couple of years amid all of his accolades, accomplishments, and green jackets. So, perhaps this switch will lead to more consistency inside of 10 feet, a metric where Scheffler ranked 139th in 2024. If the move pays off, the rest of the tour will be on high alert as Scheffler dominated the sport throughout the 2024 season. Imagine what he could be if he improves from close range.
So far in the Bahamas, Scheffler has converted both opportunities that he gave himself inside of 10 feet. He’s 2-under through 7 holes as of this writing, but his comments on why he made this switch—and how he feels about it—will undoubtedly draw the most intrigue from day one.
Stay tuned for further updates.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
