Okay, so, I’ve been messing around with my putting lately, and I stumbled upon this whole “Cantlay putter” thing. You know, Patrick Cantlay, the golfer? Turns out, he’s got a pretty unique setup, and I got curious. So, I decided to give it a shot myself.
First off, I had to figure out what his putter setup even was. After some digging, found out he uses a Scotty Cameron T5 Proto. Finding one of those is not so easy. I couldn’t find the exact same one, but I found something similar in my friend’s garage – an old Scotty Cameron blade. Not the same thing, but it’s got that same general look and feel.
Next, the grip. Cantlay uses a thinner, pistol-style grip. I rummaged through my box of old grips and luckily, I found one that was pretty close. It was a bit worn out, but I cleaned it up, and it felt alright. Not perfect, but hey, I’m just experimenting here, right?
Getting the Right Posture
- Tried to mimic Cantlay’s setup. He stands pretty close to the ball with the shaft almost vertical.
- Leaned over more than I usually do and let my arms hang straight down.
- Felt super awkward at first!
Then came the actual putting. Man, it felt weird. Because you’re so close to the ball, you really have to rely on your shoulders to make the stroke. I started with some short putts, just trying to get a feel for it. I missed a lot at first. The ball kept going all over the place. But after a while, I started to get the hang of it.
I spent a good hour on the putting green, just practicing. I moved on to longer putts, and I have to say, once I got dialed in, it felt pretty solid. There’s something about that upright setup that makes the stroke feel really pure. It’s like you’re just rocking your shoulders, and the putter head stays right on line. I had fewer putts that slid off to the side than I normally do.
I even took it out on the course for a quick nine holes. I won’t lie, I still missed some putts, but I definitely made a few that I probably would have missed with my old setup. It’s not a miracle cure or anything, but it’s definitely something I’m going to keep messing around with.
So, yeah, that’s my little Cantlay putter experiment. It was a fun little project, and I think it actually improved my putting a bit. Who knows, maybe I’ll stick with it. Or maybe I’ll be on to something else next week. That’s the beauty of golf, right? Always something new to try.
