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SIZE MATTERS
ON THE GREEN
The person who first uttered “thin to win” likely never tried an oversize putter grip. It started as a fad when K.J. Choi won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-am in 2007 using a SuperStroke Fatso grip (right). Today, big grips from SuperStroke and its rivals are
common on the PGA Tour, with 35 to 40 players using them any given week (including Jordan Spieth, who won the Masters with a Flat-so 1.0). Truth is, there’s a method to the fatness: The oversize grip
can make it easy to take the wrists out of the putting stroke so you
can put a smooth pass on the ball. Research supports the use of thicker grips, too. A Golf Digest study revealed high-handicappers made
more six-footers with an oversize grip than a traditional one (73 percent to 68). Considering their low cost ($15 to $25), there isn’t much
downside. Our advice: Switch out the grip on a back-up putter first
to see if you like it. —E. Michael Johnson
Trendsetter:
K.J. Choi
turned heads
and changed
minds with a
win in 2007
with a fat
grip.
