News
New putter, claw grip paying dividends for David Toms
David Toms finished tied for second at last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship. And if you didn’t catch the coverage, you might naturally be wondering if the Louisiana native was doing anything differently to record his best finish in three years.
True, his long, slow putting stroke is pleasant to watch, but it hasn’t served him well in recent years. DT has ranked 131st, 85th, 160th and 118th in Strokes Gained: Putting over the past four seasons.
The decline isn’t totally surprising, given Toms’ age: 48 now, in his mid-40s at the time of the drop off.
In response to the earlier question: Indeed, Toms was doing something different last week. A couple of things, actually.
First, DT put a Cleveland TFI 2135 1.0 in the bag at the Frys.com Open to begin his season.
Related: Our Cleveland TFi 2135 putter review
Second, as Toms told Roy Lang III of the Shreveport Times, he switched to a new putting grip to go with the new putter.
“Clawing it, or whatever you call it,” Toms called the method. “I’ve tried it a few times in my career – I’ve shot in the 60s every time,” Toms said. “I’ve never went to it for a whole tournament.”
Our staff photographer, Greg Moore, captured this shot of Toms trying out the claw and SuperStroke grip combo on the putting green at the Tampa Bay Championship in 2013.
The new putter/grip combo led to a 0.606 Strokes Gained-Putting tally at the Frys.com Open and an impressive 1.489 at the Sanderson Farms Championship.
Discussing his decision to move away from the Scotty Cameron Newport 2.6 model he’d favored in recent years (pictured below) to the Cleveland TFI and claw grip, Toms said:
“I was committed to it the first event out. The hardest thing to do is being on the putting green with everybody looking at you like, ‘What’s this guy doing?’
“People look at me like I’ve been a good putter my whole career — to something drastic, I just have to get past it. It helps my stroke, it helps my setup. I’ve been making good solid putts.
“I’ve made some solid par-saving putts and capitalized on a lot of birdie putts. I really feel good moving forward now that I’m committed to it. I’ve spent a lot of time out at our golf academy (265) hitting putts more so than ever because I want to get used to that new putting style. It’s worked well for me. As long as I stick with it, and trust it, maybe I can do some good things.
“I have got to get over the mental hurdle of doing something different. That’s the way golf is. I said I’d do it for awhile and see how it holds up under pressure. It held up nicely on some tough greens to putt.”
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans
GolfWRX is live on site this week at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans for the PGA Tour’s one-and-only two-man team event.
As usual, general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums — including some pretty spicy custom putters and headcovers — await your viewing.
Be sure to check back for more photos from the Big Easy, as we’ll continue to update this page with additional galleries throughout the week.
General Albums
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Monday #1
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Monday #2
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Alex Fitzpatrick – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Austin Cook – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Alejandro Tosti – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Davis Riley – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- MJ Daffue – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Nate Lashley – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- James Nicholas – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Kevin Streelman – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Rasmus Hojgaard – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Tom Whitney – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- SangMoon Bae – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Daniel Berger – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Rory McIlroy – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Russ Cochrane – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Aldrich Potgieter – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Steve Stricker WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Drew Brees WITB (Legendary New Orleans Saints QB) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Derek Carr (New Orleans Saints QB) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Thriston Lawrence WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
Pullout Albums
- MJ Daffue’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Cameron putters – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Swag covers ( a few custom for Nick Hardy) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Custom Bettinardi covers for Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Doug Ghim’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Patrick Cantlay spotted testing a Scotty Cameron blade putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
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Pingback: David Toms is back thanks to new putter & claw grip | GolfJay
Frozengolfer
Nov 12, 2015 at 9:08 pm
I guess whatever gets it in the hole right?