The Long and Short of Putting

I find practice putting to be much more basic than people think it is. In college, I was taught to practice extremely long putts and very short putts. The PGA Tour average from 3 feet is nearly 100%, about 70% from 6 feet, and close or under 50% from 10 feet! Assuming that the average player is not as good as a PGA Tour Pro, I would bet that the averages are more like 90% from 3 feet, 45% from 6 feet, and 20% from 10 feet. I ask my students why they would practice putts they can not make routinely?

Practicing putts from inside 3 feet will help you in many ways.

1. It will improve your stroke

2. Help your alignment

3. Build your confidence

The routine I would like to see players use would be to start with one or two balls and hit putts from very long distance. The goal of these putts is to simply learn the speed of the greens. After you have learned the speed of the greens, go to inside 3 feet and make anywhere from 25-100 putts. Learn to love watching the ball go into the hole and the solid feeling you get when you hit a perfect putt right in the center of the hole.

Remember: Practice really long putts to get the speed of the greens followed by very short putts to build confidence in your stroke.

Head Still - Tiger

If you were watching the PGA Championship this week you may have noticed Tiger's caddie Steve Williams do this drill seen above over and over again. Steve would hold a club up against Tiger's head and he would try to keep his head as still as possible to maintain his swing center. Tiger picked this tip up from his rumoured new swing coach Sean Foley. Tiger has had a problem over the past couple of years of his head moving back on the takeaway and downward on the downswing. That assists Tiger in getting "stuck" and hitting large blocks to the right or he flips his hands and hits it left of his target.

This is a great drill for any golfer to work on. Have someone hold a golf club just beside your head as you hit a golf shot. Your goal will be to not have any pressure on the club helping you keep a still head and a consistent swing center. It will be very easy to tell if your golf swing has too much head movement.

Try this drill to maintain your swing center and help you create more consistency in your golf swing.

Pancakes and Sand Wedges???

One thought I like to give players when they are in the sand is to imagine the the club head is a pancake. I want the player to slap the sand wedge into the sand 1 1/2 inches behind the ball just as if he was slapping a pancake on his breakfast plate. When a sand wedge enters the sand flat like a pancake it will bounce off the sand and produce a high spinning shot that lands softly next to the hole.

Remember: Slap the pancake (your sandwedge) into the sand 1 1/2 inches behind the ball

"You came out of it"

A lot of my students have a hard time understanding what I mean when I say "you came out of it." When a player "comes out of it" he loses his posture and will hit shots high, short, and right of the intended target. One tip to help a player that comes out of his shots is to focus on keeping the club head very low through the impact zone. This can help your release and also improve your contact with the golf ball.

Remember: to help you stay in the shot, keep the club head driving low through impact.