IVINS, UT – Desperate times call for desperate measures.
In the case of Tony Finau, it means trying an unorthodox putting grip on a traditional putter.
“No secret I'm using a hockey stick to putt with. If you saw me putt a couple weeks ago in North Carolina, I was trying out a kind of a hockey-stick-style putter, and I really liked it. So I'm going to stick with it,” he said on Wednesday during a press conference ahead of the Bank of Utah Championship.
Finau first put the “hockey stick” grip, which runs nearly down to the putter head, from Caliber Golf, a Wisconsin-based putter grip company, in his bag about a month ago.
“I really liked the basic math of it, or basically what it teaches is everything is pointing to target, everything is lined up
with the face,” he explained. “It's not a round grip. It's literally perfectly flat, but everything, the way you put your hands on it, it all faces the exact same angle as the putter face. I thought that was a really cool thing, and I just think it's easier to aim.
“I've always been really good from 20, 25-plus feet throughout the history of my PGA Tour career, and then as I got closer to the hole, not as good. Aiming to me is the most important thing. The closer you get to the hole, the better you have to aim. You don't have time to manipulate the face on a short putt. So it seems to help me aim better, and that's why I put it in the bag.”
Finau is suffering through his fourth straight season of losing strokes to the field with his short stick. It’s become a more alarming concern in recent years as his superlative ball striking has diminished. Finau is stuck in a slump, recording just one top-30 in his last 15 starts and four top-25s in all. He didn’t qualify for any of the four majors this season. He entered the week at No. 100 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings and has dipped to No. 151 in the world. The good news is he’s already fully exempt next season thanks to multi-win seasons in 2022 and 2023.
“I've been working hard on my game, working hard on my body. I feel good about the direction that it's pointing. I'm sure the results will follow,” he said.
On Tuesday, he stopped while playing a practice round to sign an autograph for a young fan who wandered inside the ropes to get his attention. Finau smiled and obliged. He was that kid once, attending a Korn Ferry Tour event in Salt Lake City.
“I have really nice memories there, but never had a PGA Tour event. To have a PGA Tour event in Utah and now to be participating in it on this stage for a home crowd, I'm really excited about it,” said Finau of the Tour's third year in the Beehive State.
Finau, 37, was joined by BYU All-American Kihei Akina and Arizona State University teammates Boston Bracken and Bowen Mauss. He’s known all three since they were kids and now the latter two Sun Devils are making their first starts on the PGA Tour.
“It's pretty humbling,” Finau said. “They all asked me if I wanted to play with them and do a practice round the night before. They texted me and said, ‘Hey, we'd love to get out and play with you.’ I said, ‘Of course, it would be awesome.’ ”
It was equally beneficial for Finau, who is trying to recapture his youthful love of the game and play carefree.
Finau is making his event debut this week, a spot he's historically handled well: he's made the cut in 76.92 percent of his career Tour debuts, including earning a win at the 2016 Puerto Rico Open, and 23.08 percent top-10s and 53.85 percent top-25s.
Oddly enough, that round with the college kids happened to be his first time playing at Black Desert Resort, the 73rd and final course designed by Tom Weiskopf (with partner Phil Smith) in a remote corner of southern Utah.
“Most people are surprised by that. Actually, I've never even been on property until yesterday,” Finau said. “Unbelievable property, like the resort is really cool. The golf course is really cool, really different than anything I've ever seen on Tour. Obviously the black lava stands out. The views are unbelievable. If you dropped me here, I would think I might be on a different planet. It's incredibly cool.”
While some players are kicking back and enjoying the fruits of their labor during the fall season, Finau is looking to jumpstart his season before it is over. All it takes is one week to save his season, and he senses his game is coming together.
“I didn't have the PGA Tour season that I wanted throughout the '26 season, but the great thing about this game with the experience that I have is any time you're playing well, it's a good time to play well. It doesn't matter if it's in the fall, in the spring, in the summer,” he said. “We have golf all year round on Tour. Any time is a good time to play well. Sports is all about winning, and I feel like on my resume six doesn't sound like nearly enough. Why not number seven this week?”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Putting with 'a hockey stick,' Tony Finau tries to get a grip on his game
