Putting stroke tips

[daviesec]

Occassionally when putting I feel that my take away isn't staright and that the club head is all over, this results in the putter head not being square when I hit the ball. I've tried tucking my right arm against my body but I still don't think its coming through square. I'm a 5 Handicapper, my tee to green play is usually very good but 99% of the time I 2 putt. Any ideas how I can develop a better putting stroke?

[Ian Hancock]

Re: Putting stroke tips

Hi Daviesec,

Might be wrong mate but could be alignment, sounds too simple, try putting club along your toe line when you set up, to closed usually results in the putter wobbling away, because your trying to hold it in to your right side.

Great tip works for me every time, putt the club behind the ball and put your right hand on your right thigh, this squares your body great as long as the alignment is fine.

Hope this helps

Ian.

[GoNavy]

Re: Putting stroke tips

I am of the school of thought that all putting woes are the result of poorly fitted putter lengthwise and lie wise. You must be able to:

1) bend over enough to allow the putter shaft and you spine to be 90 degree to one another and have the ball directly under the eyes, if you can only do one or the other, the putter is NOT fitted to you correctly, and from that point on you will always be attempting to make adjustments in the stroke, hard to do consistantly. Once you have a correctly fitted putter, to place the hands correctly (grip it) you must find your natural grip, start by gripping left hand only in the correct posture as stated above with the eyes over the ball, now close your eyes and swing the putter back and forth several time (this keeps you from making adjustments visually, now return to center open the eyes, is the face still square, open, closed, make grip adjustment and repeat until you can do it and have the face square consistantly. Do the same for right hands to determine it's hand position, then with both hands.

After you achive all these, posture, eyes over ball, fitted putter and correct grip for you, you will have a consistant stroke, then the long task of learning to read putts will be the only obstacle...lol..good luck.

[MiniMoe]

Re: Putting stroke tips

When my putting goes on a little vacation, I go back to the basics and try to keep things very simple. If you think too much about mechanics it is easy to lose sight of the objective... putt the ball on the line you want to. Once the ball is gone, you can't control if it goes in or not.

I go to the putting green and pop a chalk line about 5 feet from a straight, uphill putt. The main reason I do this is to teach my eyes to know where the putter face is aiming. Most of us will aim the putter to the right or left of where you are actually looking to aim the putter. Once my eyes get adjusted aiming where I'm looking, I can focus on body alinment and making a stroke down the line, toward the hole. I am not big on keeping the putter face square the hole time, nor do I focus on making the putter face open then close. I know If I'm looking dead middle of the hole and focus on making the stroke to that point, most everytihing else should happen naturally.

The only thing that really matters is that the putter face is square to the intended line at the moment of impace and that the stroke is toward that intended target ( not an inside to outside stroke).

[bill reed]

Re: Putting stroke tips

hi
i think that gonavy is spot on when he talks about a fitted putter, think most golfer pick a putter by its brand and how it looks more than how it fits us and that's why we have to change the way we stand and bend to make us fit the putter instead of the putter fitting us.
bill

[golfndawg]

Re: Putting stroke tips

I have a buddy that when he gets "yippie" he does nothing but look at the hole.It pretty much gets you to focus on distance and let the stroke take care of itself.Putt a few like that and see what happens...........good luck

[ilang]

Re: Putting stroke tips

Well I always believe that a good putter will not have anything to pass on to you.Its a feel thing used in conjunction with some imagination.But the tip that helped me,was left arm acceleration.I was told to line up to a hole on the putting green as usual,then putt towards another hole two yards right of the one lined up to.This stopped my left arm from decelerating.I maintained that feeling putting normally.
Give it a go.

[arch11]

Re: Putting stroke tips

When my putting goes AWOL i spend an hour on the putting green doing Butch Harmons "kicking a field goal drill". If you dont know what it is, find a flat part of the green and place a marker 1 to 2 metres from the hole. Approximately at the half way distance between the marker and the hole place two tees allowing the enough room for the ball plus a bit so that the ball can run between the two tees. as you get better at it you can reduce the space between the two tees. This drill gives you excellent feedback on whether your putter head is closed (the ball will hit the tee on the left if you are right handed) at impact or open (the ball will hit the tee on the right). This drill also teaches you to pick a spot on the green between you and the hole and bulids your confidence when putting. Ther is no need to think about the hole because as long as you kick the field goal the putt will drop. I showed this drill to a friend who has averaged 33+ putts per round with instant success.

[jambalaya]

Re: Putting stroke tips

I don't know why, but could it be you are standing too close to the ball which is not allowing the clubhead to swing back freely. Just a thought.

[daviesec]

Re: Putting stroke tips

I don't know why, but could it be you are standing too close to the ball which is not allowing the clubhead to swing back freely. Just a thought.

I've always been told that my eyes should be over the top of the ball, so i'm not sure if that would work.

[jambalaya]

Re: Putting stroke tips

I've always been told that my eyes should be over the top of the ball, so i'm not sure if that would work.

If you are standing almost erect, then having your eyes over the ball would put your arms very close to your body. As you bend over at the hips, eyes still over the ball, that would move your arms away from your body. You must have your shoulders and arms free to move and swing the clubhead in a pendulum motion.

[daviesec]

Re: Putting stroke tips

If you are standing almost erect, then having your eyes over the ball would put your arms very close to your body. As you bend over at the hips, eyes still over the ball, that would move your arms away from your body. You must have your shoulders and arms free to move and swing the clubhead in a pendulum motion.

So still keep my eyes over the ball but move my feet further back and away from the ball?

[jambalaya]

Re: Putting stroke tips

So still keep my eyes over the ball but move my feet further back and away from the ball?

That's right. Experiment with the distance but you want to feel like your arms and shoulders, which should move together, are free to move back then forward and that you are comfortably balanced.

[daviesec]

Re: Putting stroke tips

thanks I'll give that a try in my house now.

[GoNavy]

Re: Putting stroke tips

So still keep my eyes over the ball but move my feet further back and away from the ball?

This why as I mentioned in my earlier post, you need to have the putter fit you. Your shoulders need to turn relative to the putter shaft angle, so bending over far enough to have the spine at a 90 degree angle to the shaft fullfills that requirement, otherwise the shoulder will move the stroke offline, once you get this 90 degree setup, your eyes should be over the ball, if not, you need to have the putter fitted.

To illustrate what I am talking about, stand straight up with your putter and hold it in front of you. Since your standing, the putter shaft will be parallel to the ground, now turn the shoulders, notice the shaft stays parallel to the ground and the face opens/closes very slightly if any. Now let the shaft and head drop toward the ground, or up, any thing but 90 degrees to the spine, turn the shoulders, notice not only does it come way inside and around but the face changes from open to closed alot.

What you need to achieve is a putter that will allow you to comfortably maintain this 90 degree angle to the spine and have your eyes over the ball when soled correctly.