Lesson #4

Putting Drill

 Getting the right speed is hard if you are always worried about the line. Too often you get into the "pro" mode of wanting to sink every put. You think, " I want to sink this 20 footer. I have to hit it exactly to the right of that brown patch 6 feet in front of me. So If I can hit the left center of this old ball mark just in front of my ball, that should do it". Then you smash it 6 feet past and are so upset that you 3 putt coming back.

The line is a very difficult thing to get exactly right. Even on perfect greens, if you guess it right there is a always a chance something will kick it off line. Foot prints, twigs, longer grasses growing later in the day. It's a futile task to kill yourself over missing putts. You have a better chance of misreading a putt and having the putt go off line into the right line and in the hole.

The answer is speed. My advice is to concentrate on speed all the time. Be upset if you mess that up. You have a lot of control of that part. Generally the most consistent thing about the greens is their speed. If they are slow that day, or fast, all the greens will be the same.

If you miss the line by 10% and get the speed right, on a 20 foot putt, (assuming you have a max +/- 2 feet margin for line being very generous - the better line reader you are the smaller the margin) then you have about a 6 inch putt back. If you hit the line but miss it 10% short or long, you have 2 feet back. This grows big time as the putts get longer. A 40 footer is now 1 foot (good speed/bad line) vs. 4 feet (good line/bad speed).

Practice Green Lesson:
1. Get 4 tees.

2. Get 10 Balls (all the same type - can you believe that a Balata will putt 10% less then a hard cover ball! A 20 foot stroke made with Balata will go 18 feet vs. the 20 foot hard cover).

3. Put one tee on a flat part of the green 8 feet from the hole and one tee 16 feet from the hole.

 4. Standing at the 8 foot mark: Make a normal 8 foot putt. You want the ball to go 1 foot past the hole. Once you get a couple good ones. Have a partner or you try to see where you took the putter head back. Put a tee there. Keep your stance width and ball-position the same. Repeat with the remaining balls and have that tee in your field of vision. You should take the head back so it stops right at that mark. Be sure that you are making a pendulum-like swing. Not pushing the putter through or slowing it down. It should be a swing with the shoulders and this motion is swinging the arms only. There is no wrist action at all. Now look at the position of the tee. Where is it in respect to your right (trailing) foot? Men should have it around the right toe - or just inside the heal (depending on you height - taller folks will have a shorter distance to take it back). Ladies will have it in the middle of the right foot, or even on the outer part of the foot. This will be your 8 foot putt. This also depends on the speed of the greens. Most greens are around a 8 or 9 on the Spemp. Faster greens will have a 8-foot putt closer to the middle of the stance.

5. Now go to the 16-foot mark. Repeat step 4. Your putter head should now be about 2 -4 inches further back. Men will be around the outside of the right foot, and ladies will have about 2 ball widths outside the right foot.

Not all putts will be 8 and 16 feet. So, how about a 32-foot putt? You will take it back another 2-4 inches. What about a 4 footer? 2-4 inches inside the 8-foot mark. How about a 12 footer? Between the 8 and 16 footer.

These putter positions will not change based on the length of the putt! You now have a gauge for you're putting stroke on those greens for that day. Do this before every round.

Walk off the putts on the greens. Know how many feet you have. Adjust for up and down hills. Play with the numbers in your head. "I have a 24 footer down hill for 3 feet. Then it flattens out. That will make it about a 20 footer. That’s just outside my 16-foot mark. OK. Make 3 practice strokes to the point. And hit it. You will never 3 putt again!