Although you can potentially use any putter with a left hand low grip, you will find that most people who putt this way lean toward Plumber’s Neck Putters and Mallet Putters.
Based on this finding, we have curated a number of putters that should work very well with a cross-handed grip.
In the second half of the post, we outline the advantages and disadvantages of putting left-hand low. We hope you enjoy this buyer’s guide, and we pray that the golfing gods treat you kindly on the greens if you decide to make the switch to this style of putting.
Table of Contents
Best Anser Style Putters For Left Hand Low
If you use the PGA tour as a reference point, Plumbers Neck Anser style putters tend to be the preferred option for players that employ a left hand low putting style. This is mainly because the offset built into plumber’s neck putters makes it easy to align your eyes, shoulders and feet when putting cross handed.
Based on this, we have compiled an awesome list of plumber’s neck putters.
PING Heppler Anser 2 Putter
Bearing the same heel-toe weighting that helped make the original Anser 2 so popular, the Heppler version also shares the original’s angled heel ballast. The all-steel Heppler Anser 2 stands apart with color blocking that creates its own eye-pleasing alignment assistance. The Ping Heppler Anser 2 is built with a classic plumber’s neck design, while the black and brown color combination gives this putter a very distinct look.
PING Sigma 2 Wolverine H Putter
To promote consistency, the Ping Sigma 2 Wolverine H putter is built with a heavier 370-gram mallet head, which provides a very high moment of inertia for extreme forgiveness, especially on shorter putts. The mid-hang balance ensures better all-around performance for a wider range of golfers.
PING 2021 Anser 4 Putter
Designed for players who love the classic look and feel of the Anser-style putter and benefit from a strong-arc model. With heel-toe tungsten weighting for forgiveness and slight variations in its longer, narrower profile and sharper corners.
PING 2021 Oslo H Putter
A long, clean alignment line, thicker top rail, and soft ballasting focus the eye for easier alignment. The Anser-style plumber’s neck hosel fits a slight arc stroke, and the stainless steel body and aluminum sole plate increase the perimeter weighting to elevate forgiveness.
Scotty Cameron Special Select Newport 2 Putter
Evolving the curvy, compact setup of this classic blade design, the Special Select Newport is crafted from solid milled 303 stainless steel without an insert and with new performance balanced tungsten sole weighting for a larger sweet spot and increased stability. The revamped plumbing neck allows for better alignment and setup with freer visual access to the flatter, narrower topline, while a new, cascading concave second tier knocks down reflection and provides a “melt-into-the-ground” appearance at address.
Scotty Cameron Special Select Squareback 2 Putter
Preferred by players looking for the crisp, alignment-promoting setup of a Newport 2, but in a wider-bodied, more forgiving mid-mallet configuration, the Special Select Squareback 2 joins the line with a completely redesigned plumbing neck, a solid milled putter head and the racy, sleek lines of its Newport 2 cousin, including a thinner topline and slightly more compact face height.
Scotty Cameron Special Select Fastback 2 Putter
In 2018, Scotty Cameron released an updated version of the Fastback model, and after its introduction on the worldwide professional golf tours, players requested one option—a plumbing neck. The familiar, confidence-inspiring setup, which provides one shaft of offset, has been incorporated into this rounded mid-mallet. In addition to the new neck, subtle refinements have been made to the topline dimensions for a slightly thinner look, as well as a reduction of face height.
Odyssey White Hot OG One Wide S Putter
The Odyssey White Hot #1WS is a wide blade with a plumber’s neck, giving this putter toe hang best suited for strokes with face rotation and arc. This putter features our legendary White Hot insert, available in both stepless steel and our new red Stroke Lab shaft, each fitted with our gray DFX grip.
Best Mallet Putters For Left Hand Low
High MOI mallet putters also work well for left hand low, because they are so forgiving. With high MOI putters, you don’t have too worry to much about contact, which makes distance control significantly easier than blade style putters with a low MOI.
In other words, mallets work well for cross handed putting because they allow you to focus on alignment, safe in the knowledge that you should hit the ball the intended distance, provided you make reasonably good contact.
TaylorMade Spider X Putter HydroBlast Flowneck
The hottest putter model on the PGA TOUR just got even better. To celebrate the 10th year of Spider putters, we’ve built upon every technology and design to create Spider X – fully redesigned and optically engineered to provide more stability and a reimagined approach to alignment.
Odyssey 2 Ball Ten S Putter
The 2-Ball Ten S is a toe hang mallet best suited for golfers with strokes with moderate face rotation and arc. This putter combines our Tour proven 2-Ball and Ten shapes creating a super high MOI head design with our new Stroke Lab shaft and Microhinge Star insert.
Odyssey No 7 White Hot OG Double Bend
The White Hot OG #7 is a double bend face-balanced mallet, best suited for strokes with minimal arc and face rotation. It’s Callaway’s latest take on this iconic head shape, featuring their legendary White Hot insert, available in both stepless steel and a red Stroke Lab shaft, each fitted with a gray DRX grip.
Odyssey O-Works Marxman Putter
The Odyssey Works Black Marxman Putter is a progressive mallet design with perimeter-weighting, Marxman Hi-Def alignment, Microhinge Insert, and a black finish.
Titleist Scotty Cameron Phantom X 11.5 Putter
With its sleek profile and swept-back trimmed wings, the new Phantom X 11.5 has a clean topline and provides darker visual alignment cues from address with its misted back flange milling and single sight line in light gray. With customizable stainless steel sole weights, Phantom X 11.5 provides optimal weight distribution, balance and feel.
Advantages of Putting Left Hand Low
It Keeps Your Shoulders Level & Square
When you setup with a normal putting grip (ie right hand low), it is extremely common for your right shoulder to drop well below your left shoulder. This is especially true with amateur players, that might be totally unaware of how much shoulder tilt they have built into their setup and stroke.
Putting left-hand low is the simplest way to level out your shoulders when you address the ball. It is literally the perfect antidote for excessive shoulder tilt when putting. In addition, putting cross-handed often makes it easier to keep your shoulders square to the target.
Both of these attributes can serve as powerful allies when trying to drain both short and long putts.
Reduces Wrist Break, Making The Stroke Feel 'Solid'
One of the most popular recommendations of putting coaches around the world is to prevent your wrists from breaking down through impact. Put another way, your ability to maintain the angle between your hands and your wrists has a big impact on how stable and solid your stroke will feel, especially under pressure.
When you go left hand low, you solidify the triangle established between your arms, your wrists and your hands. Instead of your left wrist feeling flimsy and loose, you should find that it feels secure and stable. This is a major benefit of cross handed putting.
Can Reduce Putter Face Rotation
During any putting stroke, the face of the putter will open during the backswing and close during the follow-through.
However, the amount of opening and closing that takes place depends on the putter that you use and the style of putting that you employ. More specifically:
- Face balanced putters rotate less than toe hang putters
- When holding a putter cross-handed, the face tends to rotate less than a traditional putting grip
A Reliable Option If You Struggle With Putting
Unfortunately confidence in your putting game can deteriorate very quickly if you start missing short putts consistently. In all honesty, it only takes a few rounds missing multiple putts inside 4 feet before it becomes clear that something needs to change.
In this scenario, there are a number of things that you can try to fix the problem, including:
- Changing the physical grip of your putter
- Changing the putter that you use
- Changing the grip that you use to hold the putter
The best part of changing the grip you use to hold the putter is that it doesn’t cost you anything, and it could be the exact change-up you need to restore your putting confidence.
Thankfully, changing to cross-handed putting is drastic enough to give you a completely fresh start mentally. It gives you the opportunity to wipe the slate clean, erasing all your putting mistakes of the past. Also, if it works for you, you might not need to change your putting method for the rest of your life.
Disadvantages of Putting Left Hand Low
Your Left Hand Plays A More Dominant Role In The Stroke
One of the potential drawbacks of cross-handed putting is that your left hand becomes more dominant than your right hand. This can be problematic for right-handed golfers, who might lose a sense of feel and coordination when making the switch.
Overtime, your touch around the greens should develop naturally. However, during the first few months of the transition, it could feel a bit awkward and you may struggle with distance control.
Makes It Harder To Hit Up On The ball
According to a study by Top 100 Teacher Marius Filmalter, the best putters in the world hit slightly up on the ball, adding at least 1.7 degrees of loft to their stroke at impact.
This stat doesn’t bode well for left hand low putting, primarily because you are less likely to hit ‘up’ on the ball when putting cross handed. The underlying reason goes back to shoulder tilt. By levelling out your shoulders (a natural consequence of putting left hand low), you are more likely to hit the ball with a neutral or even descending blow.
Most Putters Have Too Little Loft For Left Hand Low
If you review the specs of any putter made in the last 10 years, you should find that the loft ranges from 2.5 to 4 degrees, with the 3 degrees of loft being the most common default putter loft.
This is an issue, mainly because 3 degrees of loft might actually be too little for cross-handed putting. If anything, 4 or even 5 degrees would be ideal, and most equipment manufacturers simply don’t produce putters with this much loft. As a result, you may have to customize your putter at a professional club fitter in order to find the ideal loft settings for this particular style of putting.
Do Any Pros Putt Cross Handed?
There are plenty of pros who putt cross handed. While right hand low (ie traditional grip) is still the most common putting method, left hand low putting is very common across all professional circuits. It’s about as common as the claw grip, if not more so.
This is a list of professional players that putt left hand low:
- Paul Casey
- Garrick Higgo
- Jordan Spieth
- Wilco Nienaber
- Billy Horschel
- Xander Schaffeule
- Erik van Rooyen
- Min Woo Lee
- Rob Oppenheim
- Kevin Chappell
- Pat Perez
- Rick Shiels
- Luke List
- Lydia Ko
- Old School Jim Furyk
