Alistair Docherty's Wedge-Grip Putter Mod Sparked His First Win

Alistair Docherty opened his 2026 Korn Ferry Tour season with a tie for second in the Bahamas, then missed two straight cuts. Searching for answers, he traced the slump to his putter grip.

What went wrong with his putting?

Working with a putting coach, Docherty couldn't get his hands to settle on the putter and kept hitting the tees on his takeaway. He told the coach he putted better with a wedge in hand, which led to a simple question: what did a wedge feel like that the putter didn't?

Docherty said a wedge grip has no flat side to hold onto, so he simply wraps his hands around it and rolls the club through the stroke, looking at his target the entire time. That observation sent him home to experiment with his equipment rather than his mechanics.

How did the new putter come together?

Docherty took a putter he already liked, fitted it with a standard wedge grip, and cut the shaft down to just short of the length of his 60-degree wedge. He tested it on the course and played one of the best rounds of his year. He liked it enough to carry it into his next start, the Argentina Open, and won.

He still uses that putter, and the grip now ties his whole bag together.

"I have 14 of the exact same grips on my clubs," Docherty said.

The Argentina Open title was more than a trophy. It supplied points that eventually pushed Docherty over the line for a PGA Tour card, making him a rookie on the game's top circuit in 2027 after several near-misses in prior seasons.

Docherty has said putting and his short game remain the parts of his game that need the most work, but when the putter feels right, the rest tends to follow.