Feb 10
26
Putting – A Pair of Tips to Pare Your Putts
While much about successful golf is proper mechanics there is also a significant “feel” aspect to executing the perfect golf swing. The perfect putting stroke is no different. Feel may in fact be an even larger factor for the putting stroke than any other stroke type.
Lately my putting has been just awful by my standards. Multiple scoring opportunities have been squandered over the past month or more due to an putting game that has been “off the mark”. Putts sliding by the hole and others stopping just shy of the hole. Continually missing by an inch one way or the other is frustrating to me, wouldn’t you agree?
This past week I found a golf putting tip that worked well for me that I wanted to share with the group here. The internet is full of golf putting tips that are less than helpful, even confusing. I hope you find this putting tip clear, concise and easy to understand.
Once I applied these two changes or corrections I began to putt better than I have in months. Putts of every length were rattling in the bottom of the cup. Pressure putts like par saving putts and even two birdie putts dropped as easy as you please. Talk about putting confidence, I had it!
So here are the two golf putting tips I used to improve my putting and make so many of those putts, even two birdie putts on the back nine.
First, I had developed a bad habit where my forward wrist was breaking down in the forward swing. This breaking of the wrist allows the putter head to pass the hands changing the arc of the swing and creating poor putts. This fault is often referred to as the “putting yips”. Yuck! It is an ugly fault.
I used the following drill to help me get the proper feeling in my wrist during the stroke.
When I practiced putting I placed a credit card under my watch so that it was placed on the back of the wrist and hand. Making the putting stroke with the wrist immobilized helped me to regain the correct feel and mechanics of the putting stroke. Try using this drill yourself to help your putting. It makes a big difference.
Second, I made a slight change in my hand position. I had moved my hands further back at address little by little over the past few months to correct a problem where my putts would frequently become airborne shortly after impact. Moving the hands back would help me make move level contact eliminating the early hop. I had taken it too far.
Now, based on the design of my putter, I place my hands even with the ball instead of just behind it. Once I made that change the ball began to roll smoothly along my intended line. It was a beautiful thing to see. The sound of putts falling and rattling around the bottom of the hole is a rewarding sound, I must admit.
Putting is a very importa
nt part of a golf improvement plan. My goal of a single digit handicap can not be achieved without an improved putting game. I learned a lot about proper putting from Scott Myers. His ebook, Breakthrough Putting Secrets Revealed, is well thought of by many in the golf instruction industry and receives rave reviews by his readers.
Here is just one example:
Hi Scott,
To use (distance control method) as a reference for the length of the backswing was actually working out brilliantly. I figured out that keeping the same rhythm and for sure that is mandatory to it, I could roll those little white balls around 6 meters on the carpet and about 5 meters on the putting green, but what was the most amazing thing and the key to your concept I guess was that all 5 attempts had a lie of about 20 cm difference to each other, not only once but everytime I practiced your secret.
So on the course the only difficulty is now to estimate the distance the ball lies away from the hole then stick to the new routine and adjust the backswing (keeping the rhythm of course) and then there are only two possibilities: either the ball disappears or I will be left with an easy tap in.
Best of regards and thank you!
Dirk Freilinger
Im Trutz Frankfurt 55
