Sport Putting your problems behind you on the greens
In the latest in a series of golf lessons from Boothferry Golf Club at Spaldington, professional Simon Appleton explains the art of putting
Putting is one of the most talked about elements within the game of golf. Talk of missed 2 foot putts and regular 3 putting are commonplace at golf clubs up and down the land and yet despite this it is also one of the least practised skills.
It is worth remembering that a two-foot putt counts just the same as a 300-yard drive when it comes to adding up your scorecard at the end of the round.
Putting is also one skill where most amateurs have a much better chance of emulating top professionals because it doesn't require power and hitting the golf ball out of sight. It requires touch and feel, which we all possess.
When you look back at your best-ever round you probably had some poor tee shots and some missed greens, though not many putts, which is the key to lowering your scores!
There are no perfect ways to putt, as it is such an individual thing, however, with good basic fundamentals combined with distance control (feeling the pace of the greens) we can all improve.
Your stance should be comfortable, with your feet shoulder-width apart and your arms hanging freely down under your chin. (see photo Side On View)
The ball should be positioned just forward of centre in the stance to allow an accelerating upswing towards the ball, which will help to create topspin and roll and therefore make it easier to control the length of your putts. (see photo Front On)
You should stand no further than 10 inches away from the ball so that when you tilt forwards from the hips your eyes are directly over the ball.
When gripping the putter your hands should be palms facing towards each other with your thumbs extended down the front of the grip.
Your head, body and legs should be kept firm and still through the stroke, allowing your shoulders to rock or tilt gently in a pendulum-style motion.
It is important that a constant swing speed is used for all putts so that you don't hit at the ball but swing through the ball. Therefore, short putts should have a short swing and long putts should have a long swing. This helps to alleviate having too long a swing and then decelerating towards the ball, which is a common fault in a lot of putting strokes. (see photo Backswing)
I am a firm believer that you should try to hole every putt you are faced with, no matter how far away you are from the hole, rather than just merely trying to get the ball close. That way you are putting more positively and so you should always try to get the ball to go past the hole. There is nothing more frustrating than hitting a putt on line and seeing it stop short of the hole by an inch.
Most putts are missed by just trying to putt to the hole, rather than past it. As a result, too many putts are then left 3, 4 and 5 feet short of the hole, leaving you a putt of that 'awkward' length that you know you should hole but can easily miss.
Confidence plays a big part in putting, so with a sound basic technique and a more positive attitude in rolling your putts past the hole, I am confident you will start to hole more putts and lower your scores.
Remember, more than two putts on average per green is poor putting, so should you be taking more than 36 putts a round, then you are definitely leaving too many shots out thereon the course.
Most top professionals are taking only 25 and 26 putts per round, so get practising your putting.
It is the most important skill in golf.
Published on 1st May 2008 in Sport.
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