I have been using (what I thought was ) the Runyan putting and chipping grip this year, but it has not been a ten finger grip. Does that mean that I have been doing this wrong and that I have to make place for index finger of he left hand to grip the shaft as well? The drawing in his book "The short way to lower scoring" P.64 doesn't look just like this one here ...!?
Paul Runyan, short game maestro, used the reverse overlap putting grip to win 24 PGA Tour events, three major championships, two Leading Money Winner titles, and some forty PGA Sectional tournaments, all while being consistently out-driven by his fellow competitors by 30-50 yards. It was this grip that he explained and illustrated in his book, The Short Way To Lower Scoring.
In his later years, after experimenting with the Baseball Grip (including the exaggerated, split-hand version), he elected to eliminate the overlap. The hand alignments (positioned opposing each other at 45 degrees to the shaft per the photo in my post above) remained unchanged, as did the grip pressure (equally firm in both hands).
He presented this grip in his presentation to the 1990 PGA Teaching and Coaching Summit. After viewing that presentation this spring (thanks, O.B. Left!), I tried it and have been using it ever since. At the very least, it is easier to teach (and learn).
The Reverse Overlap version is sound -- you have not been "doing this wrong" -- but Mr. Runyan came to believe that his ten-finger version was superior. Give it a try and draw your own conclusion.
The end goal is to sink more putts. Go with the grip that gets that job done.
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