Play Better GOLF Improve Your Putting in Sixty Minutes

8/3/2019 Play Better GOLF Improve Your Putting in Sixty Minutes

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36 G O L F T I P S

photography by Sam Greenwoodby Steve Mitchell

For most golfers, finding time to practice putting is difficult. Infact, it’s no easy task to find time to improve in any area of thegame. Therefore, it’s essential that players not only create practiceopportunities whenever they can, but also budget practice time tomaximize effectiveness and create better habits.

For putting practice, I recommend the following routine, whichplaces an emphasis on the most important aspects of becoming agood putter. This practice schedule is simple to follow and doesn’trequire a lot of time (an hour to be exact). So the next time youface difficult, lightning-fast greens, such as those featured here on

Kiawah Island, you’ll be prepared to hole more putts and post your best scores ever.

A U G U S T / S E P T E M B E R 2

A tried-

and-truemethodfor

becominga lights-

out putter



(5minutes)

(25minutes)

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green readingIn order to get aligned correctly, a playermust know where he or she is trying toaim, then get the putterface and body inthe proper positions. Start each practicesession by practicing green reading. Hereare some keys to learning to read greens.í Survey the lay of the land and the

general terrain before you reach the

green. Look for high and low areas

and sense the basic slope of the sur-

rounding area.í The lower you can get on the

putting surface to view these characteris-

tics, the better.

í In choosing your line, first determine

the speed, then choose an aiming line.

When in doubt, choose a minimum

speed with a maximum amount of break.

After judging the contours of the greenand hitting the putt, compare your read tothe way the ball actually behaved. For a badly misread putt, stop and take a moment and see what was missed in assessing the slope.

A good habit to get into is to align the logo of the ball (or a straight-line marking) along theintended aiming line. This will take the guesswork

out of alignment and make it easier to diagnose any mechanics problems.

putting mechanicsThe goal of a good putting stroke is to consistently strike the ball solidly in the direction the putter isaligned with the proper pace. This is the essence of putting and, accordingly, this will be the biggest partof your putting hour. Concentrate on fi ve main areas.

1) Setup AndAlignment:

With the logo on your golf ballaligned at the proper aimingpoint, it should be easy toset the putterface to thisline. Often, it’s helpful tohave a putter with linesor marks to help visual-

ize the alignment. Makesure your arms are hang-ing freely, that your eyes areover or slightly inside the ball/target line and, most im-portantly, that your shoulders are squareto the target. I use a small mirror to check my align-ment and eye position.



4) Arm Swing: In a good putting stroke, the armsshould move freely from the shoulders and swing sothat there’s no wrist activity. A good tool to check your arm swing is to place a golf tee in the end of your grip. With a good motion, the golf tee, your armsand the putterhead will move together to the target.Trouble occurs if the putterhead moves forward asthe golf tee moves away from the target.

5) Rhythm: A successful, consistent putting strokemust have rhythm, one that takes into account yourinherent sense of tempo and the need to create equa lbackstroke and forwardstroke lengths. The best way to practice rhythm is to use a metronome. Set it be-tween 54 and 64 beats-per-minute. Experiment until you feel a beat that’s attuned to your personal body rhythm. Next, try to make some practice strokes with the end of the backswing occurring on oneclick and the end of the forward motion on the nextclick. Keep swinging and let the rhythm ingrainitself into your system. With practice, the tempo willgrow to become a natural part of your swing.

40 G O L F T I P S

(25minutes)

(20minutes)

3) Body Stability:

During the puttingmotion, it’s impera-tive that the bodyremain very still.Any motion willcause your putterpath to be inconsis-tent, which makessolid contact almostimpossible. Myfavorite thought isto imagine a smallcoin under the ballat address. After mystroke, I don’t look up until I can iden-tify the denomina-tion—usually, thistakes a count of one.Keeping your eyesfocused on the im-pact area will greatlylimit any tendencyto move the body.

touch and feelThe problem with most players is that they focus too much on mechanicsand contact and not enough on how much energy is needed to produce the

correct distance. That’s putting touch. If yours is a little off, add the fol-lowing three drills to your putting practice regimen.

1) Eyes Have It Drill: Attempt three long putts, a minimum of 50 feet.If you follow the norm, most of your attempts will come up short. Try thesame putt, but this time look at your target during the entire motion. Oddsare you’ll hit these putts past the hole. The reason is that your eyes have anuncanny way of communicating feel to your body. This is a great drill thatleads to a good pre-stroke routine in which you look at the target during your practice motions until you’re confident of your stroke’s power.

2) Stroke Length: Place a piece of tape on a yard-stick at the 18-inch mark (center). Then, place tapeevery four inches from this center mark. Address thecenter mark and make strokes to the first piece of tape on the backstroke and the corresponding pieceof tape on the forwardstroke. Incorporate this length with the good rhythm from the metronome drill (see#5). Next, place a ball adjacent to the center mark andmake your four-inch backstroke and four-inch through-stroke with good rhythm. Hit several putts, then av-

erage the distance they travel. Repeat at different lengthstrokes and soon you’ll have a good understanding of how long a stroke is required in any situation.



2) Safety Zone Drill: On the green, make a semi-circle around the back edge of the hole using the lengthof your putter as a guide and mark the perimeter witha few tees. From different lengths, practice until youcan get 10 putts in a row to come to rest either in thehole or inside this semicircular “safety zone.”

3) Closest-To-The-

Hole Contest: With your

golf partner, play a puttingmatch in which you getpoints for being the closestto the hole. Award fi ve pointsfor making a putt and twopoints for lagging inside thelength of your putter. A bonus point is awarded tothe ball that’s closest to thehole. For any putt outsidethe“safety zone,”deduct onepoint. Play to an agreed-upon total for your beverageof choice (save the champagne for the winning putt atthe Club Championship)!

(10minutes)confidenceThe best putters in the world have the ability to readgreens and judge distance correctly. They also havesolid alignment routines and fundamentally soundputting mechanics. Their rhythm is flawless and con-sistent. But these things wouldn’t make them great put-ters unless they got used to making putts and gettingthe sensory feedback of seeing and hearing the balldive into the hole. There’s only one way to get this con-fidence: Make more putts.

Finish your hour by making as many short putts as you can in a row. My personal best is 56, but set your-self a goal of, say, 10 or 15. Makethem short, two or three feet.Place them on different anglesto the hole and treat each puttas if it was for a big tournament

win. Use your imagination andenvision yourself sinking a three-footer to beat Tiger in a sudden-death playoff. Dream a little and build a better mental outlook on your putting.

s PGA professional Steve Mitchell is the Director of Instruction for Kiawah Resorts on Kiawah Island, S.C.

Spend an hour a week practicing yourputting stroke and your scores willdrop rapidly.

For more putting tips, visit

the putting archives at

www.golftipsmag.com.

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Play Better GOLF Improve Your Putting in Sixty Minutes