Nearly two years after its “Reverse Taper” putter grip, Golf Pride is back with a model without any taper at all—hence its name.
Almost two years later, the companion release is here in Golf Pride’s renewed attack on the putter grip market.
The Zero Taper grip is just as it sounds, a grip that is the same size below each hand and more of a standard offering than the Reverse Taper that the company debuted in 2023.
That grip offered a progressively larger profile from the end cap to where the grip stops on the shaft, a useful construction for golfers who might have an overactive lower hand leading to a balky, inconsistent stroke (we won’t use the “Y” word that rhymes with “zips”).
According to Golf Pride retail product manager Bruce Miller, the Zero Taper targets “that segment of players that have just become accustomed and used to the same feel in both hands—a parallel-style grip.”
The grip is not a cylinder but more of a deep horseshoe shape below a flat top, engineered to allow players to square the putter face with a consistent feel. And the grip is made of polyurethane, which has some “give” while also providing responsiveness.
The key is consistent feel and hand placement, and for the latter the grip has a number of markings that provide visual cues.
“They’re Easter eggs, they’re hiding in plain sight,” Miller says. “A lot of players just simply kind of step up, put their hands on there and just putt, they don’t think about that stuff. But this is for the player that needs or wants that.”
Five equally spaced lines run parallel on the side of the grip and there is a straight line on top leading into large Golf Pride lettering. “You’ve got to paint your wagon,” Miller says of the branding, but there’s a method in that too. Perhaps you’ll place your hands on a Zero Taper grip with a thumb over the “G”—and ideally do that before every single putt.
“If they step back and realize that if they have a routine, if they place their hands on there with some level of consistency, it’s not going to hurt their game—it’s going to help them,” Miller says.
The Zero Taper—in large and medium sizes and in multiple colors—will be available at retailers nationwide and online at golfpride.com starting Feb. 17.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Golf Pride’s Newest Putting Grip Is a Straight Shooter.
