The Art of Putting
I am not a great putter but really feel I am pretty decent. My biggest issue is reading greens which I was really excited to cover this week with Jon…but as I quickly find out, putting isn’t just a few lessons, it is a process with lots to learn.
The two of us wonder over to the putting green and just spend some time hitting balls on our own. I don’t sink many but come close a few times. Jon has a little more success then I do. We then get down to the lesson. “How often do you practice putting?” I am asked. Damn, that is one hell of a question because I really only putt right before a round to get a feel for the greens. That is the extent of it. Jon says I should be practicing putting about 30% of the time! Seems like a lot to me but who am I to argue. Most strokes we make are on the green so this is money territory!
We first review grip. We don’t spend a lot of time on this because everyone has a different grip but the one thing which stuck with me was the use of our key fingers, our thumb, index and middle finger (more commonly known as the F-U finger). Jon uses the analogy of reaching into a pocket full of change and looking for a nickel. When feeling around for it, we use these 3 fingers because we have the best feel with them. This is why we should always have these 3 fingers on each hand on the shaft as much as possible…for best feel!
The next key is our wrists, much like chipping, we need to maintain strong wrists with no breaking and we really want to keep our head down and follow through for a good clean stroke so we are able to square the face of the putter at impact.
Next we bust out the training aids. The first is the Putting Arc. This is a basic wodden tool which a lot of pros actually use and I found very interesting because it dispels a very common myth – during a putt the club moves from 6 – 12 in a straight line. That is not true at all, in fact the club moves in an arc like fashion almost going from 7-11. Check out their web site to see more. It is a nice little tool which if used enough, will help you train yourself to putt on his line all the time.
The second was just a little strip of metal. Reminded me of the old plastic race car strips I used to piece together for my Hot Wheels cars. The metal strip is about 4 feet ling and is someone convex in shape. Jon places the ball on the metal strip and points it at the hole. The goal is to hit a put that runs along the strip and into the hole. Anything slightly off line will cause the ball to drop off the sloped metal strip. The goal of this is to practice making square contact with the ball. Anything off square will give you a negative result. Without telling me the purpose of this tool, Jon placed a ball on the strip, pointed it at the hole and told me to putt. Guess what? I drained the damn thing. Jon gave me a weird look and said in all his years teaching, no one had ever done that on their first try. Looks like I am a phenom baby!! Turns out the record on that is around 11 in a row…pros even struggle with it.
That is it for the lesson. Some good fundamentals but lots left to learn.
Practice advice of the week. Jon said I should only practice with 1 ball. Play each shot like it is a game, trying to sink it in as few strokes as possible. This is the same training technique used by the Swedish team which I wrote about a few weeks back.
The two of us wonder over to the putting green and just spend some time hitting balls on our own. I don’t sink many but come close a few times. Jon has a little more success then I do. We then get down to the lesson. “How often do you practice putting?” I am asked. Damn, that is one hell of a question because I really only putt right before a round to get a feel for the greens. That is the extent of it. Jon says I should be practicing putting about 30% of the time! Seems like a lot to me but who am I to argue. Most strokes we make are on the green so this is money territory!
We first review grip. We don’t spend a lot of time on this because everyone has a different grip but the one thing which stuck with me was the use of our key fingers, our thumb, index and middle finger (more commonly known as the F-U finger). Jon uses the analogy of reaching into a pocket full of change and looking for a nickel. When feeling around for it, we use these 3 fingers because we have the best feel with them. This is why we should always have these 3 fingers on each hand on the shaft as much as possible…for best feel!
The next key is our wrists, much like chipping, we need to maintain strong wrists with no breaking and we really want to keep our head down and follow through for a good clean stroke so we are able to square the face of the putter at impact.
Next we bust out the training aids. The first is the Putting Arc. This is a basic wodden tool which a lot of pros actually use and I found very interesting because it dispels a very common myth – during a putt the club moves from 6 – 12 in a straight line. That is not true at all, in fact the club moves in an arc like fashion almost going from 7-11. Check out their web site to see more. It is a nice little tool which if used enough, will help you train yourself to putt on his line all the time.
The second was just a little strip of metal. Reminded me of the old plastic race car strips I used to piece together for my Hot Wheels cars. The metal strip is about 4 feet ling and is someone convex in shape. Jon places the ball on the metal strip and points it at the hole. The goal is to hit a put that runs along the strip and into the hole. Anything slightly off line will cause the ball to drop off the sloped metal strip. The goal of this is to practice making square contact with the ball. Anything off square will give you a negative result. Without telling me the purpose of this tool, Jon placed a ball on the strip, pointed it at the hole and told me to putt. Guess what? I drained the damn thing. Jon gave me a weird look and said in all his years teaching, no one had ever done that on their first try. Looks like I am a phenom baby!! Turns out the record on that is around 11 in a row…pros even struggle with it.
That is it for the lesson. Some good fundamentals but lots left to learn.
Practice advice of the week. Jon said I should only practice with 1 ball. Play each shot like it is a game, trying to sink it in as few strokes as possible. This is the same training technique used by the Swedish team which I wrote about a few weeks back.
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