I’m typically a counterbalanced putter guy, so a traditional 35-inch putter is a little outside of my comfort zone. That being said, every now and then, I like to go back to a more traditional-length setup. Recently, I installed the Golf Pride Zero Taper Putter Grip on my Tour Edge Wingman 801 Slant Putter, and after spending time with it, I can say that I’m impressed.
What caught my attention right away was the feel. The Zero Taper has a nice tackiness to it without feeling too, too sticky. As a former football player, the feel of the Golf Pride Zero Taper slightly reminded me of old-school Cutters Gloves, which, in my view, were the greatest football gloves of all time. The Zero Taper sits in the hands very naturally (unlike the Reverse Taper) and gives you enough texture to feel extremely connected to your putting stroke.
More importantly, it makes the entire putting stroke feel incredibly stable. Ridiculously stable, actually. The reason I putt with a counterbalanced putter is because it feels a lot more stable than a traditional length putter. With the Zero Taper grip, I had substantially better feel and stability than ever before.
That’s the part I keep coming back to. With some putter grips, especially oversized or oddly shaped models, you might gain some level of comfort but lose feedback. That wasn’t the case here. The Zero Taper gave me a very stable feeling through the stroke while still allowing me to feel the putter head.
I mentioned it before, but I also like this grip way better than Golf Pride’s Reverse Taper grip. The Reverse Taper gave me very little feel and, for my stroke, seemed to reduce stability rather than improve it. Simply put, I think that the Reverse Taper is a bad putter grip. With that being said, The Zero Taper is a substantially better offering from Golf Pride, and is a seriously good putter grip.
The closest comparison for me is the SuperStroke Zenergy Tour 2.0, which used to be my gamer grip on traditional-length putters. But honestly, I think I like the Zero Taper better. It essentially has the same feel but gives me more confidence through the stroke. I putt left-hand low claw, so my grip style is already a little unorthodox. The Zero Taper catered to my grip style very well. It felt natural, stable and comfortable from the start.
Golf Pride may not be the first name most golfers think of for putter grips, but the Zero Taper is one of the best putter grips on the market right now. SuperStroke has serious competition here.
