Putting
Control is key when it comes to perfect putting. From setup positions to the latest and greatest equipment, improve your game with the putting instruction articles below.
Monday, March 5, 2007 Press For Success Take a look at 99 percent of the putters designed today and you’ll notice that if you hold the face up to a flat edge, the shaft actually leans away from the target. Manufacturers use this design to ensure that you press your hands forward at address, preserving the loft of the club and promoting more consistent impact. The key to understanding and using this fact to your advantage is to make sure you’re setting up in the correct fashion at address. To accomplish this, press your hands forward to the belt loop of your pants, just to the target side of your belt buckle. |
Friday, March 2, 2007 A Gripping Adjustment The keys to great putting are really pretty simple. You must hit the ball squarely with the putterface, keep the putterhead moving level to the ground and square to your target line, and swing the putter at the proper speed to roll the ball the desired distance. To accomplish this more consistently, I recommend a grip that’s a bit revolutionary, but extremely effective. |
Friday, March 2, 2007 Imagine A Second Hole Even though we all do it from time to time, there’s really no excuse for missing a relatively straight four- to six-foot putt. Here’s a visualization trick I use with my students to help take the anxiety out of these putts. |
Friday, March 2, 2007 Eye Position The proper putting setup is an important ingredient in a golfer’s success. Setting the eyes in the correct position is one of the critical factors that’s often overlooked. On that subject, there are two schools of thought. |
Thursday, March 1, 2007 Accelerate The Putter Acceleration is the increasing speed at which the clubhead moves through the ball and is important not only for hitting shots of substantial distance, but also for short putts. In fact, if you find that you’re missing too many short putts, the cause may be failure to accelerate the putterhead. Here’s a drill that will help. |
Sunday, February 18, 2007 Good Breaks To be a great putter, you have to have sound fundamentals. This requires a steady putting stroke that regularly sends the ball rolling in the desired direction. You also ought to have a clear idea of what direction you should roll the ball—not only in the first few feet, but also during the entire distance of the putt. To do this effectively, you need to know how the green breaks by looking at two components of the putt: speed and direction. Some instructors argue that speed is the most important factor in putting because it dictates direction—that is, more speed equals less break, less speed equals more break. |
Friday, February 16, 2007 Match Posture With Path The secret to consistently putting well is to match your posture to
your stroke type. However, the conventional wisdom applied by most
recreational golfers is that while putting, anything goes (witness the
claw grip, the left-hand low technique and the belly-anchored stroke).
And while many a Tour victory has been fueled by an unorthodox method,
one fundamental shouldn’t be ignored: How you stand to the ball
conditions how you stroke it. |
Friday, February 16, 2007 No-Frills Putting DrillsNine easy ways to lower your score A quiet body, a ball at rest, a short back-and-forth motion—how could
something so simple cause so many headaches? It’s a question that
occupies the minds of touring professionals and weekend warriors alike.
Wouldn’t it be great if putting was as simple as it sounds, where every
round was as automatic as the clinic Aaron Baddeley put on at Harbour
Town this year (97 putts over 72 holes)? Jeff Ritter, director of
instruction at the ASU Karsten Golf Academy in Tempe, Ariz., believes
putting isn’t complicated. And to help solve your putting woes, he has
put together his No-Frills Putting Drills—nine straightforward,
no-nonsense exercises intended to be practiced on your own, without the
aid of an instructor. Practice these drills and, before you know it,
you’ll actually look forward to working with the flatstick. |
Monday, November 1, 2004 Three Speeds For Less Three-Putts Most recreational golfers don’t spend as much time on the practice putting green as they should, and when they do make the effort to roll a few balls for improvement’s sake, it’s usually done without purpose. Practice is most effective when you have a specific focus or goal and it’s the only method to truly improve your putting technique—and to easily drop a few strokes per round. The following Three-Speed Drill is a purposeful method for doing just that by involving four key areas of successful putting: green reading, concentration, speed control and accuracy. |
Sunday, February 1, 2004 Fine-Tune Your Stroke The ability to control putterhead speed translates into the ability to control the speed of the ball and, ultimately, your ability to make more than your fair share of putts. If your control has become shaky, here’s a two-part drill to help you get the ball rolling at the speed you desire. |
Friday, August 1, 2003 One Hour To Better PuttingA tried-and-true method for becoming a lights-out putter For most golfers, finding time to practice putting is difficult. In fact, it’s no easy task to find time to improve in any area of the game. Therefore, it’s essential that players not only create practice opportunities whenever they can, but also budget practice time to maximize effectiveness and create better habits. |
