NASSAU, Bahamas — Following a seven-victory season that saw him solidify his spot as the top player in the world, Scottie Scheffler is apparently still looking for ways to get better.
That’s why he unveiled a claw putting grip for part of the first round of the Hero World Challenge on Thursday, where he shot 5-under-par 67 to trail first-round leader Cameron Young by three strokes.
Scheffler, who also won the Olympic gold medal this year and saw marked improvement in his putting after struggling on the greens in 2023, said this is a good week to experiment. He’s been working on it with putting coach Phil Kenyon.
World No. 1 is testing out a saw putting grip this week 👀 https://t.co/1x9bVoYqzd pic.twitter.com/XyZIVelvuU
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 5, 2024
“I felt like this was something that we had looked at last year when Phil and I first started working together, but it was really our first time working together and it’s something that’s different than what I’ve done in the past,” said Scheffler, who had six birdies and a bogey in his opening round at the Albany Resort.
“This year I had thought about it from time to time and it was something that we had just said let’s table that for the end of the season, take a look at it. Took a look at it this offseason and figured this is a good week to try stuff just because you can practice and practice and do all the stuff at home, but there’s just something different about being in competition. I really enjoyed the way it felt, I felt like I’m seeing some improvements in my stroke.”
Scheffler putted with a conventional method and said he will experiment with various lengths to use the claw grip, which sees the right (bottom) hand palm facing down and holding the club generally between the thumb and forefinger.
“Typically the further I am away from the hole I’d say the more likely I am to use the conventional grip because I feel like my speed has always been extremely good, especially from long range,” Scheffler said. “I think I’ve always been a really, really good lag putter. That’s an area where I don’t think I would see much improvement with the grip. The closer I get to the hole, kind of that inside 15-foot range, I think that’s where I’m seeing a lot of the benefits of it.”
Scheffler was first or second in five statistical categories this year on the PGA Tour, including first in strokes-gained total, approach to the green and tee to green. He was 77th in strokes-gained putting.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Scottie Scheffler Experiments With Different Putting Grip at Hero World Challenge.
