Opinion & Analysis
Phil Kenyon: Tapered grips could be holding you back

If there was a simple equipment change you could use to add control and responsive feel to your putting stroke, you’d try it, right? Well, perhaps the most practical and innovative design benefit in putter grip technology has been around for years, just hiding in plain sight. When many people look at a SuperStroke putter grip, they tend to apply terms like “oversized,” “wide,” or “fat” when, in reality, the success formula is in the fact that the grips don’t taper.
SuperStroke refers to its patented No Taper Technology and describes the design as a “uniform grip profile to minimize grip pressure and maintain putter head path for a more consistent stroke.” As a putting teacher, it’s easy for me to appreciate anything that quiets a golfer’s hands in his putting stroke. Let me explain why reduced-taper putter grips work better for most golfers.
LESS TAPER, MORE CONTROL
I see a lot of amateurs who are too handsy and wristy in their strokes rotate the putter head too much. A tapered putter grip can be partly blamed for a wristy stroke. When a putter grip is tapered and it’s thinner in the trail-hand position, golfers sacrifice even more control and consistency. They will fidget and start to make compensations to try to get comfortable. That can lead to too much hand and wrist involvement in the putting stroke.
I’ve done studies that reveal the size of the putter grip and reduced tapering clearly influence the kinematics of wrist movement in the putting stroke. The study basically showed how the no-taper, larger grips like SuperStroke grip could help a lot of golfers. We’ve found that when the grip is thicker and easier to place the hands on, golfers find the proper hand position a lot more easily. The feedback that you get from the consumer and in fittings matches the empirical evidence we found.
When you give a golfer an increased amount of grip to hold on to in the trail hand, you’re adding stability to the control hand. You’re giving them the ability to better control their stroke without excess hand or wrist motion. They generally feel more comfortable over the ball, too, and make fewer adjustments when the trail hand feels comfortable and stable.
In our study with biomechanist Mark Bull, we saw positive effects of a larger putter grip size, particularly in the width of the grip (including the reduced-tapering design) across a sample group of golfers. We found the bigger the grip (with less tapering in the trail-hand area), the slower the rate of rotation and the lower amount of overall rotation of the putter head. It also reduced flexion extension of the wrist, as well as promoting more ulnar deviation in the wrist; more towards ulnar means higher hands through the stroke and less stroke breakdown.
EVEN TOUR PROS BENEFIT
When I first started to work with Gary Woodland, it was at The U.S. Open in 2018 where he finished T36. He had a particular excessive wrist action as he would start his stroke, so we kind of altered his grip just to try and help modify that. He was struggling a bit with the grip change, so we switched the putter grip at the PGA Championship from the stock tapered putter grip to a non-tapered SuperStroke Pistol Tour and it made a significant difference. Gary could place his hands on the club correctly without thinking about it, and he finished T6 that week.
With a non-tapered grip, Gary could take the putter away with less hinge in the wrist. His problem was that his lead wrist would flex immediately as he was taking the putter away and when we got him into the Pistol Tour, it reduced that flexion. It mirrors what our study showed regarding grip size and shape influencing and reducing wrist movement.
Anytime someone’s got overactive hand action or over-active wrist sequences, that’s where I think experimenting with different sized grips is helpful. In a SuperStroke grip, that size is consistent throughout the grip so it’s easier to make a synchronized putting motion.
EXPERIMENT TO FIND YOUR FIT
The other aspect SuperStroke excels at is in offering a variety of grip models that accommodate the different ways golfers grip the putter. Whether they use a claw putting style or lock in the wrists or however they prefer to find that individualized feel and the sensation in the hands and on the club, SuperStroke’s versatility on their product line is very beneficial. It matters which grip gives you the most tactile response, so having different shapes and different options helps personalize the fit a lot more.
Testing and experimenting with a variety of grip designs can be a big benefit to your putting, so it’s something we make a part of our putting fittings. Some people like a more rounded feel while others like to feel a more defined edge in the hands. Whatever gives you quality feedback and a better awareness of where the club face is, that’s the best set-up for you. I also like the new texture and the Spyne technology SuperStroke’s latest Zenergy line. It helps your proprioception and awareness of where that clubface is.
I encourage you to try a grip style that gives you the confidence that putting stroke is stable, consistent and pure with as few compensations or moving parts in your putting stroke. Check out SuperStrokeUSA.com to learn more about the full array of putter grip options that might not only improve the feel of your putting stroke, but also your effectiveness on the greens.
Phil Kenyon is one of golf’s leading putter instructors. Trusted by players like Justin Rose, Max Homa, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Keegan Bradley, Gary Woodland and Francesco Molinari, Kenyon travels with the professional tours and also helms his namesake golf academies. Phil Kenyon Putting has studios located in both Southport and Greater Manchester in the UK, and at Sea Island Resort in Sea Island, GA. Learn more about Kenyon’s online putting academy here.
Opinion & Analysis
The 2 primary challenges golf equipment companies face

As the editor-in-chief of this website and an observer of the GolfWRX forums and other online golf equipment discourse for over a decade, I’m pretty well attuned to the grunts and grumbles of a significant portion of the golf equipment purchasing spectrum. And before you accuse me of lording above all in some digital ivory tower, I’d like to offer that I worked at golf courses (public and private) for years prior to picking up my pen, so I’m well-versed in the non-degenerate golf equipment consumers out there. I touched (green)grass (retail)!
Complaints about the ills of and related to the OEMs usually follow some version of: Product cycles are too short for real innovation, tour equipment isn’t the same as retail (which is largely not true, by the way), too much is invested in marketing and not enough in R&D, top staffer X hasn’t even put the new driver in play, so it’s obviously not superior to the previous generation, prices are too high, and on and on.
Without digging into the merits of any of these claims, which I believe are mostly red herrings, I’d like to bring into view of our rangefinder what I believe to be the two primary difficulties golf equipment companies face.
One: As Terry Koehler, back when he was the CEO of Ben Hogan, told me at the time of the Ft Worth irons launch, if you can’t regularly hit the golf ball in a coin-sized area in the middle of the face, there’s not a ton that iron technology can do for you. Now, this is less true now with respect to irons than when he said it, and is less and less true by degrees as the clubs get larger (utilities, fairways, hybrids, drivers), but there remains a great deal of golf equipment truth in that statement. Think about it — which is to say, in TL;DR fashion, get lessons from a qualified instructor who will teach you about the fundamentals of repeatable impact and how the golf swing works, not just offer band-aid fixes. If you can’t repeatably deliver the golf club to the golf ball in something resembling the manner it was designed for, how can you expect to be getting the most out of the club — put another way, the maximum value from your investment?
Similarly, game improvement equipment can only improve your game if you game it. In other words, get fit for the clubs you ought to be playing rather than filling the bag with the ones you wish you could hit or used to be able to hit. Of course, don’t do this if you don’t care about performance and just want to hit a forged blade while playing off an 18 handicap. That’s absolutely fine. There were plenty of members in clubs back in the day playing Hogan Apex or Mizuno MP-32 irons who had no business doing so from a ballstriking standpoint, but they enjoyed their look, feel, and complementary qualities to their Gatsby hats and cashmere sweaters. Do what brings you a measure of joy in this maddening game.
Now, the second issue. This is not a plea for non-conforming equipment; rather, it is a statement of fact. USGA/R&A limits on every facet of golf equipment are detrimental to golf equipment manufacturers. Sure, you know this, but do you think about it as it applies to almost every element of equipment? A 500cc driver would be inherently more forgiving than a 460cc, as one with a COR measurement in excess of 0.83. 50-inch shafts. Box grooves. And on and on.
Would fewer regulations be objectively bad for the game? Would this erode its soul? Fortunately, that’s beside the point of this exercise, which is merely to point out the facts. The fact, in this case, is that equipment restrictions and regulations are the slaughterbench of an abundance of innovation in the golf equipment space. Is this for the best? Well, now I’ve asked the question twice and might as well give a partial response, I guess my answer to that would be, “It depends on what type of golf you’re playing and who you’re playing it with.”
For my part, I don’t mind embarrassing myself with vintage blades and persimmons chasing after the quasi-spiritual elevation of a well-struck shot, but that’s just me. Plenty of folks don’t give a damn if their grooves are conforming. Plenty of folks think the folks in Liberty Corner ought to add a prison to the museum for such offences. And those are just a few of the considerations for the amateur game — which doesn’t get inside the gallery ropes of the pro game…
Different strokes in the game of golf, in my humble opinion.
Anyway, I believe equipment company engineers are genuinely trying to build better equipment year over year. The marketing departments are trying to find ways to make this equipment appeal to the broadest segment of the golf market possible. All of this against (1) the backdrop of — at least for now — firm product cycles. And golfers who, with their ~15 average handicap (men), for the most part, are not striping the golf ball like Tiger in his prime and seem to have less and less time year over year to practice and improve. (2) Regulations that massively restrict what they’re able to do…
That’s the landscape as I see it and the real headwinds for golf equipment companies. No doubt, there’s more I haven’t considered, but I think the previous is a better — and better faith — point of departure when formulating any serious commentary on the golf equipment world than some of the more cynical and conspiratorial takes I hear.
Agree? Disagree? Think I’m worthy of an Adam Hadwin-esque security guard tackle? Let me know in the comments.
@golfoncbs The infamous Adam Hadwin tackle ? #golf #fyp #canada #pgatour #adamhadwin ? Ghibli-style nostalgic waltz – MaSssuguMusic
Podcasts
Fore Love of Golf: Introducing a new club concept

Episode #16 brings us Cliff McKinney. Cliff is the founder of Old Charlie Golf Club, a new club, and concept, to be built in the Florida panhandle. The model is quite interesting and aims to make great, private golf more affordable. We hope you enjoy the show!
Opinion & Analysis
On Scottie Scheffler wondering ‘What’s the point of winning?’

Last week, I came across a reel from BBC Sport on Instagram featuring Scottie Scheffler speaking to the media ahead of The Open at Royal Portrush. In it, he shared that he often wonders what the point is of wanting to win tournaments so badly — especially when he knows, deep down, that it doesn’t lead to a truly fulfilling life.
View this post on Instagram
“Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about it because I’ve literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport,” Scheffler said. “To have that kind of sense of accomplishment, I think, is a pretty cool feeling. To get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, I’m not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I’m not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world, because what’s the point?”
Ironically — or perhaps perfectly — he went on to win the claret jug.
That question — what’s the point of winning? — cuts straight to the heart of the human journey.
As someone who’s spent over two decades in the trenches of professional golf, and in deep study of the mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of the game, I see Scottie’s inner conflict as a sign of soul evolution in motion.
I came to golf late. I wasn’t a junior standout or college All-American. At 27, I left a steady corporate job to see if I could be on the PGA Tour starting as a 14-handicap, average-length hitter. Over the years, my journey has been defined less by trophies and more by the relentless effort to navigate the deeply inequitable and gated system of professional golf — an effort that ultimately turned inward and helped me evolve as both a golfer and a person.
One perspective that helped me make sense of this inner dissonance around competition and our culture’s tendency to overvalue winning is the idea of soul evolution.
The University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies has done extensive research on reincarnation, and Netflix’s Surviving Death (Episode 6) explores the topic, too. Whether you take it literally or metaphorically, the idea that we’re on a long arc of growth — from beginner to sage elder — offers a profound perspective.
If you accept the premise literally, then terms like “young soul” and “old soul” start to hold meaning. However, even if we set the word “soul” aside, it’s easy to see that different levels of life experience produce different worldviews.
Newer souls — or people in earlier stages of their development — may be curious and kind but still lack discernment or depth. There is a naivety, and they don’t yet question as deeply, tending to see things in black and white, partly because certainty feels safer than confronting the unknown.
As we gain more experience, we begin to experiment. We test limits. We chase extreme external goals — sometimes at the expense of health, relationships, or inner peace — still operating from hunger, ambition, and the fragility of the ego.
It’s a necessary stage, but often a turbulent and unfulfilling one.
David Duval fell off the map after reaching World No. 1. Bubba Watson had his own “Is this it?” moment with his caddie, Ted Scott, after winning the Masters.
In Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, reflecting on his 2011 Super Bowl win, Rodgers said:
“Now I’ve accomplished the only thing that I really, really wanted to do in my life. Now what? I was like, ‘Did I aim at the wrong thing? Did I spend too much time thinking about stuff that ultimately doesn’t give you true happiness?’”
Jim Carrey once said, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”
Eventually, though, something shifts.
We begin to see in shades of gray. Winning, dominating, accumulating—these pursuits lose their shine. The rewards feel more fleeting. Living in a constant state of fight-or-flight makes us feel alive, yes, but not happy and joyful.
Compassion begins to replace ambition. Love, presence, and gratitude become more fulfilling than status, profits, or trophies. We crave balance over burnout. Collaboration over competition. Meaning over metrics.
Interestingly, if we zoom out, we can apply this same model to nations and cultures. Countries, like people, have a collective “soul stage” made up of the individuals within them.
Take the United States, for example. I’d place it as a mid-level soul: highly competitive and deeply driven, but still learning emotional maturity. Still uncomfortable with nuance. Still believing that more is always better. Despite its global wins, the U.S. currently ranks just 23rd in happiness (as of 2025). You might liken it to a gifted teenager—bold, eager, and ambitious, but angsty and still figuring out how to live well and in balance. As much as a parent wants to protect their child, sometimes the child has to make their own mistakes to truly grow.
So when Scottie Scheffler wonders what the point of winning is, I don’t see someone losing strength.
I see someone evolving.
He’s beginning to look beyond the leaderboard. Beyond metrics of success that carry a lower vibration. And yet, in a poetic twist, Scheffler did go on to win The Open. But that only reinforces the point: even at the pinnacle, the question remains. And if more of us in the golf and sports world — and in U.S. culture at large — started asking similar questions, we might discover that the more meaningful trophy isn’t about accumulating or beating others at all costs.
It’s about awakening and evolving to something more than winning could ever promise.