There is little doubt about the level of Michelle Wie’s ball-striking talent.
She hits it good, really good.
She can drive for show and put on a really, really good show.
But when it comes to that “putt for dough” segment of the game, Michelle Wie was pretty much woeful in 2016. She played in 25 events and missed a dozen cuts. That’s correct, a DOZEN cuts. Thirteen in, a dozen out.
You watch her swing and you watch her hit balls and it can be only one thing that’s ruining this player — her putting.
The best way to describe Wie’s putting setup the past two seasons was “painful.” She was bent over at the waist, ninety degrees, her face looking flat at the ground. Try practicing in that position for a couple of hours. Most would end up in traction the next day and yes, Wie had back problems at times.
She started her 2017 season in the Bahamas with the rest of the LPGA players and promptly missed the cut there.
When you have 36 putts in a round, that will happen.
Finally, enough was enough.
With the two-week break between the Bahamas event and this week’s Aussie Open in Adelaide, Wie decided that drastic times require drastic measures.
So what did she do?
Went right online and googled up “the claw” putting grip.
She checked out the different versions of “the claw” and saw that Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia looked most comfortable with their versions of the grip. “I like Phil’s claw, Sergio’s claw. I tried everything,” she said of the claw universe.
So Wie straightened herself up, practiced for a couple of weeks with the Michelson/Garcia “claw” and put it in her game in Adelaide.
Lo and behold, and this is not a mis-print — Michelle Wie had just 27 putts the first round on her way to a three-under par round of 70.
Nice.
“It’s fun to make some putts,” Wie said after her first competitive round with “the claw.”
“She looks really good,” is how her swing coach David Leadbetter described her.
Hopefully this is a decision that will be a game-changer for Wie. She’s been so bad over the past two seasons that she’s fallen to No. 186 in the world rankings.
First things first. Her 27 putts in the first round got her on her way to making a cut, which is a good thing. Baby steps, or should we say, baby claw steps.
On day two, Wie’s success continued, a two-under par 71 got her to five-under par at the halfway mark, not only making the cut but getting her in contention going into the weekend.
So count Wie as the newest member of The Order Of The Claw.
The season is young, so once she really gets used to her new grip, her confidence on the greens could return and that’s something she hasn’t had for a long time.
It’s a long drop to No. 186 but the long climb back to the top 20 has begun.
American women’s golf needs her.
