He's just won the Alps Tour Order of Merit and yet he chips one-handed. Meet Jason Palmer!
He's just won the Alps Tour Order of Merit and yet he chips one-handed. Meet Jason Palmer!
Two facts about the Alps Tour:
1) The Order of Merit was captured by a Leicestershire golfer who racked up three wins.
2) There's a guy on that tour who plays his chip shots and bunker shots one-handed.
Amazingly, they're the same person - Jason Palmer.
With Challenge Tour status secured, in 2014 Jason will be just one step away from the full European Tour.
Down the years on the PGA and European Tours, we've seen a plethora of weird and wonderful putting styles used in a bid to cure demons on the green but chipping one-handed is unheard of.
In this fascinating interview, Jason tells us why he's chosen to go his own way and why he has no intention of giving it up.
Sky Sports: Firstly, congratulations on winning the Alps Tour Order of Merit. Was that a realistic goal at the start of the season or has it come as a surprise?
JP: Thankyou. The goal at the start of the season was to play every event and try to finish in the top 5 for a Challenge Tour ranking. I knew this was achievable after I came second on the Alps Tour in 2010 but to bounce back and win the Order of Merit after a difficult couple of seasons possibly surpassed my expectations a little.
Sky Sports: Let's get the exact details. Which shots do you hit one-handed?
JP: Any chip or pitch from 40 yards and in. I used to play all greenside bunker shots one-handed too but now I probably go one-handed for bunker shots of 10 yards or less and two-handed for the others, it totally depends on the shot.
Sky Sports: Looking at your last few seasons, you were second on the Alps Tour in 2010, 87th on the Challenge Tour in 2011, 24th on the Alps Tour in 2012 and obviously the winner this year. Was it the two difficult years in 2011 and 2012 that caused you to go one-handed?
JP: No, not at all. My short game began to deteriorate at the back end of my amateur days and it was really quite comical, although I still experienced some success in the weeks when my long game was solid or I somehow managed to control my short-game anxiety. It was early on in the 2010 season on the Alps Tour that I fully committed to going one-handed around the greens.
Sky Sports: Players often play one-handed as a practice drill so, after hitting some good shots on the range, did you just decide one day to take it to the course?
JP: That is pretty much how it happened, yes. I remember practising at a tournament with my friend and roommate Neil Chaudhuri and I was extremely low about the demise of my short game and the devastating effect that it was having on my scores. I showed him just how foolish the situation was as I clipped a few towards the pin nonchalantly with just one hand. Between us we came to the conclusion that it's a results-based game and that at the end of the day you have to do whatever gets the ball in the hole. So it was then that I decided I would use the one-handed method in tournament play and see what happened.
Sky Sports: Did it work immediately or did it take a while to play well one-handedly in tournament conditions?
JP: I have to say that the results were instant. After going one-handed I enjoyed the best spell of form in my life to that point. I went from being terrified of missing a
