Rory McIlroy: The New Grip Looks To Be Working (Video)

Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports /

The putts just haven’t been falling for Rory McIlroy in 2016, so he’s trying something new.

There’s been a lot of putting news in the air recently. Two months ago, pros and amateurs all over the world were forced to abandon their belly putters once and for all in order to comply with the the USGA and R&A’s ban of the anchored putting stroke, which took effect on January 1. Players affected included Adam Scott, Keegan Bradley and Webb Simpson.

Now, another one of the PGA Tour’s stars is making an adjustment to his putting, but for entirely different reasons. In an effort to fight back against his recent struggles on the greens, world No. 3 Rory McIlroy recently announced that he is switching to a left-hand low grip.

“I felt like over the past few weeks, my right hand was becoming a little bit too dominant,” McIlroy said of the grip, according to Brian Wacker. “I practiced over the weekend just with left below right and it felt really, really good. I’m going to give it a try this week and see where we go with it.”

It’s understandable that McIlroy wants to make a change. He’s made four starts on the PGA Tour this season, and while he’s seen solid results (three top 26s, along with a missed cut), putting has really held him back. Currently, he ranks 189th in strokes gained: putting, 169th in putts per round and 139th in putting from five feet. It’s easy to see how, with just a bit more consistency with the flatstick, McIlroy could have turned a tie for 11th at the WGC-HSBC Champions into something more significant.

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In contrast to his putting woes, McIlroy has been performing well in most other areas. In fact, the 26-year-old ranks fifth in strokes gained: tee-to-green and is 12th in greens in regulation. It seems that his poor performance on the greens is spoiling what should be an excellent season. Thus, the change in grip makes sense–better to be proactive about it than to waste his strong iron play while waiting for things to turn around.

It’s not like the left-hand low grip is an unpopular one–world No. 1 Jordan Spieth, who ranks second on the PGA Tour in strokes gained: putting, uses it and gets great results.

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For the sake of his career, McIlroy will hope to quickly solve his putting problems. Often regarded as the most difficult part of the game, putting can make or break a professional golfer. Confidence is key, and that’s hard to come by when nothing is dropping. Even stars like Sergio Garcia have been haunted by putting over the years, resorting to all kinds of grips and techniques to get the most out of their stroke (the Spaniard now uses the claw grip).

Through two rounds at this week’s WGC-Cadillac Championship, McIlroy has seen mixed results with his flatstick. In the first round, his strokes gained: putting was an abysmal -1.7 – while he was strong in just about every other aspect of the game, his performance on the greens doomed him to a one-under 71, five strokes off the pace.

Round two was another matter entirely. McIlroy’s strokes gained: putting was 2.764, an outstanding figure. While he regressed off the tee and from the fairways, his short game turnaround lifted him to a 65. He now sits in a tie for second place, two shots behind leader Adam Scott.

Given his total 180 between Thursday and Friday, McIlroy’s opening round woes can possibly be chalked up to new-stroke jitters, but we don’t really know. Putting is all about rhythm, and it could simply be that McIlroy got into a great one during Friday’s round. If he still has it tomorrow, then that’s great, but if not, it won’t necessarily be a surprise. Basically, our sample size is too small for it to be meaningful, but it’s certainly worth keeping an eye on as he gets more reps.

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Only time will tell if Rory McIlroy can escape from his recent struggles, but he’ll likely get it done one way or another. Although his career to this point has been relatively short, he’s been in the woods before, and he managed to recover and put up a career year in 2014. He can only hope that history will repeat itself.

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