Golf Reviews

Many golfers struggle with their putting for extended periods without knowing what to do to improve. There are a couple of quick self tests that can help a golfer identify the source(s) of their putting problem(s).

Most putting problems can be broken down into two basic areas: poor accuracy and poor distance control.

ACCURACY

The first test is an accuracy drill. Stick a tee in the practice putting green in a relatively flat area and then take four “giant” steps away from the tee (about twelve feet). Putt at the tee using about ten golf balls. For each ball go through your normal pre-shot routine just as if you were on the course. When you have finished putting all ten balls, note the pattern. How many were left and how many were right of the tee? How far to the side were the worst ones and how close were the best ones?

Most golfers will end up with a grouping more to one side than evenly distributed. This reveals an alignment issue that can be easily fixed with a little practice. Just by being aware that you have a tendency to be mostly right or mostly left you are on the way to being able to improve.

Repeat the drill and have someone stand behind you checking where your putter face is aligned just before you make your stroke. This will tell you whether you have a “right or left eye” dominance alignment issue. Many golfers are really surprised to find that on a 10-12 foot putt their putter face is not truly aimed at the hole like they think it is. Once aware that they have a visual alignment issue the golfer can begin to fix it by using a small compensating correction in the proper direction before making their stroke. There are some very good laser aiming/training devices on the market that make it easy to visualize the true alignment versus the “golfer” alignment. We will offer more about them in a future post.

If a golfer with an unven right/left pattern is aligning their putter correctly to start the stroke, then the problem is a stroke mechanics issue,ie, they are consistently pushing or pulling their putter face across the intended line. For putts inside 15 feet the most reliable stroke is one that goes straight back and straight through on the intended target line. If a golfer is pushing or pulling their putts their shoulders may be misaligned. If that is the case, the golfer can practice their putting stroke inside with the putter toe up against a wall. Or, just use a small straight board as a guide. And again, the golfer can have some one place a golf club across their upper chest/upper arm area to check alignment versus the intended target line.

If the shoulder alignment is good then the next area to check is head stability. On putts inside 15 feet it is essential that the head not move until the ball has been struck and is well on its way to the hole. In fact some of the best putters will concentrate on keeping their head still until they hear the ball drop in the cup. Again, you need someone to observe you while you putt.

The last area to check is hand/wrist stability. On putts inside 15 feet, you want the hands to remain passive virtually eliminating all wrist movement. Using only the shoulders and arms to move the putter back and forth will give a much more repeatable pendulum like stroke.

DISTANCE CONTROL

Good distance control is essential for good putting. Since very few putts are perfectly straight it is necessary to play some amount of “break” on nearly all putts. The amount of break the golfer allows for is directly dependent on how hard he/she plans to putt the ball. If the putt is stroked softly it will break more than if it is stroked firmly.

Most golfers would actually improve their overall putting if they spent most of their putting practice time on distance control rather than trying to sink putts.

A good distance control drill is to set up two tees about a foot apart like a small gate. Then from 10 and 20 feet hit multiple putts towards the opening . The object is trying to stop the ball as close to the imaginary line between the two tees as possible.

A similar drill is to putt towards the fringe of the green trying to stop the ball as close to the fringe as possible without actually going off of the green.

Distance control is controlled by length of putting stroke and tempo. The above practice drills will help the golfer improve both in becoming more “distance” aware.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 11:59 PM and is filed under Putting Improvement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.