Oh, the novelty of a belly putter, or so I thought. Cumbersome, awkward, non-traditional. Why would I want one?

Then I find my MacGregor Muirfield (traditional blade) putter going south on me and I was in dire need of a change. All of a sudden a 40” Odyssey 2-ball putter showed up in my bag (winnings from a friendly side wager) and I was back to square one trying to relearn how to putt.

First impressions, I hated it! It was just so much heavier than a traditional putter, I felt like I lost all forms of touch and feel. All my putts seem to just blow past the hole, but the sucker was extremely accurate, so I saw a glimmer of hope.

First thing, I just couldn’t get used to resting the putter on my belly so I shortened it by an inch (39”, I kept the 1-piece belly style putter grip). This allows me to use it much like a traditional length putter but with a more upright stance. Then I spent an hour on the practice green testing out various stance & grip position until I finally came up with a working combination, cross handed split grip. Separating my hands allowed me to have better control over my stroke and incorporating the cross-handed grip straightened out my take away, it was like blessing from the golfing heavens.

I need to work a little more on distance control for putts over 15 feet but anything within 12 feet I am deadly!