Scottie Scheffler breaks out claw putting grip at Hero World Challenge

Scottie Scheffler is tinkering with his putting once again.

The world No. 1 debuted a new putting grip on Thursday at the Hero World Challenge, hitting short putts at Albany Golf Club with a claw grip. Scheffler swapped back to his traditional standard putting grip, mostly on longer putts, throughout his first round.

It’s a new change for Scheffler, who tweaked his equipment several times in 2024 as he sought better results with his putter. Prior to the 2023 Ryder Cup, Scheffler teamed up with putting coach Phil Kenyon and worked on lowering his hands on the putter grip but never altered the type of grip. Scheffler said he and Kenyon discussed the possibility of changing his grip multiple times but decided to table it until the end of last season. That's when Scheffler began testing and quickly developed comfort.

"I'm always looking for ways to improve and I felt like this was something that we had looked at last year when Phil and I first started working together, but it was really our first time working together and it's something that's different than what I've done in the past," Scheffler said. "Took a look at it this offseason and figured this is a good week to try stuff just because you can practice and practice and do all the stuff at home, but there's just something different about being in competition. I really enjoyed the way it felt, I felt like I'm seeing some improvements in my stroke."

It was at the Hero World Challenge last year that Scheffler revealed a custom Logan Olson putter which yielded immediate results with a three-shot victory in the Bahamas. Scheffler kept the bespoke putter in his bag through The Genesis Invitational, before swapping to a mallet-style TaylorMade Spider Tour X L-Neck putter that remained in his bag the rest of the season and sparked a remarkable run.

Scheffler dramatically improved his putting statistics year over year, improving from 161st in Strokes Gained: Putting in 2023 to 76th in 2024. Scheffler rode the confidence in the new flatstick to a historic season, winning seven times on the PGA TOUR as well as an Olympic gold medal. He won his first FedExCup title earlier this fall and helped guide the Americans to a President Cup victory, all while keeping the putter the same.

But Scheffler is still looking to improve. While he was particularly effective on putts outside of 10 feet, ranking 40th on TOUR on putts between 10 and 15 feet and third on putts between 15 and 20 feet, his effectiveness plummeted inside of 10 feet. He ranked 139th on those putts.

"Typically the further I am away from the hole I'd say the more likely I am to use the conventional grip because, like I said, I feel like my speed has always been extremely good, especially from long range. I think I've always been a really, really good lag putter," Scheffler said. "That's an area where I don't think I would see much improvement with the grip. The closer I get to the hole, kind of that inside 15-foot range, I think that's where I'm seeing a lot of the benefits of it."

Scheffler used the claw style during the first round. He made a short birdie putt on the opening hole while he missed a 7-foot birdie on the par-5 third and added a birdie on the par-5 sixth.