The grip trick and 20-minute practice routine Will Zalatoris uses for putting success

Will Zalatoris didn’t just win his first PGA TOUR title Sunday at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. He also proved that sticking to a simple blueprint can breed success.

Committing to the same practice routine for three years turned Zalatoris’ putting from a liability to an asset, as proven by the series of clutch putts he holed on the final holes of his victory at TPC Southwind.

The most important may have been the 10-footer for par on the 72nd hole, the one that led him to exclaim, “What are they going to say now!?” and that was ultimately necessary for him to get in a playoff with Sepp Straka. Zalatoris, a native of the San Francisco Bay Area and a big Warriors fan, said his Stephen Curry-inspired retort was directed at all who have criticized his putting over the years.

Zalatoris has been working with Josh Gregory, a Dallas-based performance and short-game coach, for a little more than three years. Gregory, the head coach at Augusta State when it won back-to-back NCAA men’s golf titles, develops drills and games that help his PGA TOUR clients improve around the greens. It was Gregory who devised the routine that helped Zalatoris turn his putting around.

“He was in a bad place with his putting,” Gregory said, recalling their early days together. “He was lost. But all he needed was simplicity in what he was working on, and a blueprint of how to get better.”

Gregory gave Zalatoris that blueprint, and together they’ve been following it ever since. The practice sessions aren’t complicated, Gregory said, and they only take between 20 minutes and one hour. Although short in duration, the sessions are efficient, focused, and maybe most importantly, consistent.

They begin with short, straight putts, using a putting mirror and string line to work on his setup and to ensure his putts are starting on the proper line. They look to identify any issues with his grip, foot pressure, alignment, and shoulder line.

Then they play an 18-hole putting round on the green, selecting putts of different distances and slopes, scoring the game using a Strokes Gained system. This helps to engage Zalatoris’ competitive side, while also working on crucial aspects of putting, such as speed control and green reading.

“That’s why he’s persevered through all the criticism and the bad times; he does the same thing all the time,” Gregory said of Zalatoris. “We do the same drills every day. Regardless of whether he shoots 75 or 65, we’re doing the same thing.”

During one of these practice sessions at the PGA Championship, Zalatoris and Gregory developed a grip trick, or checkpoint, to ensure he addresses his putts properly.

Zalatoris’ putter is built specifically to fit his unique putting style and grip. He uses a 42.5-inch Scotty Cameron Circle T Phantom X T-11 proto putter, which is equipped with a long SuperStroke Traxion Tour grip. Coincidentally, the “e” in the SuperStroke logo on the grip provides the perfect reference point for Zalatoris.

“(He adjusted) where his hand placement is at the PGA Championship at Southern Hills,” Gregory said. “We had done a ton of work before that and identified some areas with his setup and his tilt; we’re always trying to get him (leaning) more left because he tends to tilt back with his grip on the SuperStroke.

“When he’s putting really well, you can’t see any of the ‘e’ in ‘SuperStroke.’ He covers it up with his hand. So I want his bottom finger a quarter of an inch below the ‘e.’ When he gets in trouble, his right hand gets too high on the putter, so you can see the bottom of the ‘e.” Then when his hand gets too high, he can’t control the putter face as well, and he gets too inside. The lower he gets to the ground, he can feel the weight of the putter better and feel like he’s taking it straighter back. It’s just a checkpoint we go through every day.”

The PGA Championship is also where he made big strides because of the confidence-inspiring putts he made on the final two holes of regulation to get into a playoff with Justin Thomas. Zalatoris holed 8-footers on those final two holes, and even though Thomas won the playoff, those clutch makes were huge for Zalatoris.

“It’s like Southern Hills was the turning point,” Gregory said. “After he made those putts on 17 and 18, he called me that night, and he goes, ‘I finally believe I’m one of the best players in the world.’ Those two putts have probably changed his putting stroke more than anything that we do.”

Despite finally breaking through last week in Memphis, Zalatoris and Gregory were on the practice green Tuesday at the BMW Championship in Delaware, with a putting mirror and a string line setup at his practice station.

“He’s going to do the same thing every day,” Gregory said. “Even after winning, we did the exact same drills today. We’ll do the exact same drills tomorrow. Our putting routine before and after the rounds is almost down to a ball count. It’s that exact. He’s wired like I am. I’m a super structured guy when it comes to practice. He’s the same way, that’s why we hit it off.”

To be fair, the Tuesday practice session may have taken a few extra minutes than normal. Usually, Zalatoris doesn’t have fellow PGA TOUR players and caddies approaching him every few minutes for celebratory high fives and hugs after a victory.

They were welcome interruptions, which Zalatoris embraced with smiles, appreciation, and a wry jab here and there to keep it light. Yet, they were interruptions nonetheless to a blueprint that Gregory and Zalatoris developed years ago.