"Good putting is the banishment of doubt.”

--- Ian Woosnam

We search for the right answer when it is the question that needs to improve. In other words, “What is it going to take to improve my putting?” has a very different energy and feel to it than does, “Wouldn’t it be nice if I started making a few more putts?” By simply changing the emotion underlying the question we change how the answer appears. It really is up to us to adjust the energy of our questions and answers if we want to see improvement in our games.

Hunt the Cup

Good putters can putt on any surface because they roll the ball. Good putters make putts on slow greens, fast greens, wet greens, dry greens, bumpy greens, aerified greens, dead greens or an asphalt road if they had too.

I’ve partnered with and played against two players, (one male, one female) that putt good ALL the time.
Both strokes have a hit-upwards look to them. They hit slightly above middle to top of the ball, create an over-spin roll to the ball. Seems like they always make a lot of putts.

From Horton Smith:

“When the ball is sent on its way with topspin or end-over-end roll, it holds its intended line better and actually seems to:.....Hunt the Cup.”

“When , for any number of reasons, the ball is struck off center, the result is a “wobble,” which can occur in either direction. That “wobble”will prevent the ball from rolling true on it’s intended line of direction, as well as maybe cause it to “spin out” when it hits the edge of the cup”.

Next time when you are on the practice putting green, picture the ball as a miniature Goodyear or Firestone Tire standing upright and your going to hit it with your putter to get it rolling forward.

What if it was to roll uphill, how much pressure then?

The Ball’s a Tire

Practice hitting the mid-section of ball through impact, then just think what speed you want the Ball / Tire to roll when you are on the golf course next time.

It could be “your” little secret.

"I like to grip the putter fairly tight in my left hand, probably a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10, but my right-hand grip is considerably lighter.
I'm a left-hand dominant putter, and the two grip pressures reinforce the feeling that my left side will be controlling the stroke.
I also don't want the feeling of the face twisting, even the slightest, when I strike the ball. I grip the putter in the palm of my left hand, not the fingers. It's resting on my lifeline. This gives me a feeling of unity between the putter's shaft and my left arm."

"You read that right. I actually "waggle" my putter by bouncing it against the turf a little before I make a stroke. As a kid, I used to forward press the shaft before hitting a putt to reduce tension. But because I want to keep the shaft in the same position from start to finish to improve my consistency, I've developed this bouncy move.

It's hard to go from a static position into a fluid stroke, so this is what I do to make it smoother. Also, my putter sits with the heel slightly off the ground, which results in a straighter back and through motion."

"Sometimes I practice rolling the ball with just my left arm. It's been my style from day one."

"At address my left wrist is cupped, and my goal is to maintain that angle throughout the stroke. Most people have the shaft leaning toward the target, but the cupped wrist sets the shaft in a more vertical position. I believe this helps me strike the ball consistently in the same place on the putter's face as well as put the best possible roll on the ball."

"As I said earlier, I'm a left-hand-dominant putter. I feel as if my pendulum stroke is moved by my left shoulder, arm and hand working together."

"I don't worry about speed. I just pick my line and then really concentrate on hitting the ball on that line."

.... Finding a Way To Make Putts

To putt well, one must see and feel the proper speed of the ball roll so that the path (line on ground) can be found as visualized. It’s of course invisible, clearly a mental aspect.

But, Before you can get aspects right mentally, you have to get right mechanically. Try and keep it simple (it's not difficult) and understand there is no One and Only Way to make putts.

In fact, if you consider yourself a really good putter, my advice would be to not try and fix something that “ain’t” broken. Just keep doing what you do. Improve/upgrade your reads and/or how you see the line.
For the rest of us that need help, adjustments can make a difference.

One of the biggest reasons for missing putts is fear, and fear is always present and will take over completely when there is something unknown. Fear might be a tad of a strong word to use here; after all we are just playing a game. But we all try really hard at times when playing a game, especially this one.

Fear of failure is going to happen when looking at that putt to win the match, all the money or beat the best score you have ever had. Fear of the unknown can lead to indecision and doubt, all killers of good putting.

Therefore, if fear makes us miss putts and fear stems from the unknown, let’s do away with any mechanical mystery by finding some simple mechanics.

Here is a description of "a" method that has been around a while. Again, not the only way, but a way.

If you will stick out your left hand with the thumb on top, you will find the hand will work only two ways from the wrist joint. It will bend from side to side and it will also work up and down, but it will not, rotate. Any rotation must come from the elbow joint or shoulder joint.

That is why you generally don’t see good putters with their hands downwards. They are arched upwards and on their more vertical “putter” swing plane. Senior Tour player Isao Aoki was an exception and a great putter.

Take your putter in your left hand (right for southpaws) and just swing it back and forth with this “target” hand as if your were putting with only your left hand (“target side”).
Notice that it swings back and forth easily, but if you want to twist it, you have to do that from movement of your elbow or shoulder. No, the club head is not swinging in a straight line, the SHAFT would be tracing a straight, invisible, mental ground line (blue line) towards the direction in which the ball should roll. I would say the wrists are arching vertically all the time.

The putter head is not swinging in a straight line and it won’t as long as you are not twisting your left arm and don’t start trying to make it swing in a line straight through a imagined dotted line to the hole. All the twisting and turning is why one day you can putt and the next you can’t hole it in a lake.

In other words, the fewer false motions we have the more consistent we will become.

If you see your line by standing closer to the ball, your stroke will not have as much an arc "look" to it. Further away from the ball, the stroke will have a "look" of more arc. Whatever it takes to roll the ball on a path that YOU SEE is the key.

The putter face (right) is not opening or closing, but is merely swinging back and forth in a natural arc which will hit the ball with good pressure every time. And once you get to hitting that ball with the same solid “pressure” every time, you are on your way toward becoming one of those players that can putt, and look so easy doing so.

The Club’s head may appear like it is opening and closing because you are standing to side of the Target Line on whatever your putter’s plane(angle) is. When the SHAFT traces a straight Line, it is On-Plane. Not over the Line,..tracing the Line.

Ok, so we have some control of the clubface via the Left wrist-target arm direction/motion as described above. Now we have to understand/determine a power source, and I use that word “power” very loosely. I could use “energy point” or “trigger”, for today we will use the words “power source”.

Remember we are talking about basic mechanics regardless of the terminology.

Where is the trigger of your stroke? We all know where that trigger is on a rifle-gun is and how use it. When putting, understanding the power source/style you use can often determine how you start and finish the stroke.

Here are some of the more common ways, or styles. Doesn’t mean they are the only ways, just three of the BEST.

Hand(s) Stroke

A real “wristy” style. Could use either or both hands as P-source.
Bobby Locke looks like a “hands” putter and he used a lot of body motion as well.
He was/is considered one of the best putters ever. He was from an era where the greens were not perfect all the time, thus they needed to do a lot more adjusting to different greens conditions.

Arm(s) Stroke

Both Byron Nelson and Babe Zaharias look like “Arm” putters, which mean they use more arms than shoulders.

A true arm putter will keep the shoulders very passive-quiet during their strokes. Could use mostly Left arm or Right arm. Could use forearm(s) either left or right. The hands-wrist are kind of frozen in place as arms do the work. Hands telling arms what to do, but not moving by themselves.

This is a very natural way of making a putting stroke. Also good for all green conditions.

Shoulder Stroke

David Toms is clearly a shoulder style. Popular on today’s Tour because the greens are almost always in perfect condition. Just a true Pendulum stroke with Shoulders moving arms and hands within the triangle that forms the arms and shoulders.

There are “Tour” players that would probably say they use a combination of styles, which is their own individual way and feel, which work for them. They are NOT on Tour unless that happens.

I might suggest however, that most of us would be much better off finding A style and taking ownership of it. Understanding your power source, goes along with finding (or understanding) your style. Once those elements are fairly ingrained, you can go from mechanics to concentrating on just achieving the correct SPEEDS and LINES, which is the real trick (feel) to making more putts.

Byron Nelson rated Smith the finest putter and chipper of his era, and long after he won his final tournament in 1941, Smith was much sought after by other players for putting advice.
Many players of TODAY are using the fundamentals developed by Horton Smith.

--Ben Hogan and Horton Smith

Ground Game Principles

T o me the real story of the 91st PGA Championship, played at Hazeltine National Golf Club, was witnessing the greatest player of our time, probably of all time; get as frustrated as you could possibly imagine Tiger Woods looking.

How many times have we seen a picture like this one below?

Not too?

Yes, Y.E.Yang, (ranked 110 in the world) played very well that last day to steal the much coveted major championship from Tiger. But what this day did expose, in my opinion, is what this game often really boils down to; the art of Putting, creating the correct ball speed, reading the lines, making putts, always rolling the ball near the hole.

“There is no similarity between golf and putting; they are two different games one played in the air, and the other on the ground.”
--- Ben Hogan

Along with that rather blunt “Hoganist” quote, I’ve often heard the old golf saying “the game of golf is 90% mental.” Well, if that were really the case, when swinging, a right-handed golfer should be able to pick up a left-handed golf club and hit it, or vise visa. So I would tend to disagree with that old golf adage.

When Putting on the other hand, those percentages might be fairly accurate; I might even add a few percentage points to the 90% benchmark.

Tiger said afterwards that he felt he was hitting the ball “real good”. Said his swing felt really good that day. Yet he professed that he made “NO PUTTS”.

Oh we saw him make some putts, but what kept him from winning his third consecutive regular PGA Tour event in a row, plus his 15th major tournament, was his lack of making putts he usually almost always makes.

Jack Nicklaus would seem to always do it. Tiger has always been a great putter, by some, the best on the Tour at that time. (before his mis-hap period)

The lesson that should be learned here is;

(1) of course, nobody makes putts all the time.

(2) you can spend a lot of effort and time learning skills that hit a great 7 iron, or 3 wood on the green, but if you blast or baby the putt to nowhere, you walk away with no reward for all the effort you used hitting the shot.

It happens more times than not while playing golf. But, the better the player you are, the less often it happens. Sometimes hard to swallow, but low scores for anymore usually always means fewer putts, and especially those key putts made at certain times during a good round.

On the lesson tee, a request from many students is: “I need more distance to my shots.” I do understand the desire and needs, but the importance is over-rated.

The short strokes are the great equalizer in golf, especially for those of you that may feel like you don’t make the ball fly far enough. I’ve seen women and juniors make that equalizer work well for them, really well.

Having your short swing fundamentals working will often actually create distance because there becomes less of a desire to try and over-power swings, the killer of circular force in swing motions.

Now, here is the really good news about the Art of Putting. After some basic fundamentals are learned and understood, and a certain personal skill level achieved, many aspects of putting are much more of a “personal feel” or “your way” of doing it.

“There’s no point in discussing putting styles. You grope around, shuffle, bend, re-shuffle, twist and writhe until you find a putting stance that feels comfortable – to you.”
--- Toney Lema

You can develop your own personal way of achieving success on the putting greens in your own golf kingdom. Just remember, it will boil down to between 90 to 95 percent mental. Seeing that mental invisible line while picturing the right speed of the roll.

Success in playing golf usually boils down to how you putt the ball. So give it the attention, and time, it deserves.

According to Earl Woods, that’s how Tiger started to learn how to play.

Keeping your head steady/still is a very important fundamental golf, and especially in putting. Some will say it is your eyes that need to be still, not following the ball at impact during that “split” second period when the ball is contacted by the club head. Common sense tells us that in order to keep the eyes still we have to keep the head still, don’t we?

Well not exactly, the head could be very still and the eyes could be very “jumpy”, which is definitely NOT GOOD. There are great putters who appear to move their heads at impact, but the eyes are very “still” during that split second.

The eyes in putting should be like laser beams looking right through the ball. The putter head should be nothing but a BLUR. If you see that putter head open or close, go up or down, “your eyes ain’t looking through the ball, partner”. You must train yourself to keep those eyes looking through the ball when putting until you do it by habit, all the time. By habit means you don’t consciously think about doing, you just do it with the sub-conscious. You train yourself through practice/drills.

Here is an excellent drill for training those laser beam eyes to stay still during your putting stroke.

1. Get two golf tees, one short, one longer. Preferably white in color.

2. Get a Sharpie pen, fine point or at least a new sharp pointed end. If the tees are white, get a black Sharpie.

3. Using the Sharpie pen, put a dot on one of the tees, right smack in the middle where a ball would sit.

4. Now go to a practice putting green. Start with a putt about 2 feet long without too much slope/break to it. Put the tee with the dot on it (2 feet from the cup) into the ground until it is level, flat to the ground. Step on it so that it does not lay above the green’s grass.

6. OK, ready? Make a stroke looking “through” the ball so that your mind is getting ready to look first at the tee then at the dot. The idea here is to have a sub-conscious attempt for your mind to look at tee then dot, THEN THE BALL rolling towards the hole. It must be in that order/sequence for this “drill” to do any good. After practice and repetition, this is what you want to happen as you "visualize" the ball rolling on each and every putt, or…..at least try to each and every time.

This what you should be looking at....and then:

THIS, .........and then:

THIS

Additional comments on TeeDot drill:

• The 2 foot range is a suggested length to start the drill from. You can do it at any length, just don’t get longer until you start to make a lot of 2 footers.


• You should start to “feel” when the stroke is correct or not the minute you strike the ball. The feel is all about the right pressure that is put on ball.


• This drill is a lot about “trusting” your stroke. Hit putts without looking at all where ball is going and if you don’t hear the ball drop in cup, take a guess as to where the ball stopped. Short, long, left or right. Then look and see how good you are becoming, or how much more practice you need. That little addition to this drill can really produce another great drill out of this one.
  
  
• If you are a pretty good putter and you have just gotten into a “funk” where nothing seems to be falling, just missing here and there. This would be a surprising effective drill for you. You might just be moving your eyes a tad, enough to alter your intended line.

Dave Stockton is regarded by many as one of the greatest putters alive, both as a player and a coach. Phil Mickelson, among many others, was one of his students. So, as he spoke to the media ahead of the 2021 PGA Championship, Golf.com seized the opportunity to ask for some putting advice.

The answer that followed was fascinating and actually quite simple.

1) STOP TRYING SO HARD

Stockton explained that at the heart of the problem is golfers simply trying too hard.

2) JUST STEP UP AND ROLL IT

It’s really that simple. Stockton then compared putting to a game like darts.

3) TAKE FEWER PRACTICE STROKES

As part of Stockton’s simplify-everything advice, he tells golfers to take a cue (pun intended) from another game similar to putting: billiards.

4) PICK A SPOT AN INCH IN FRONT OF THE BALL

And finally, if you’re looking for one lasting thought, pick a spot an inch in front of the golf ball — literally one inch — and feel like you’re pushing the ball through that spot.