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PUTTING
Putting has often been called the game within a
game, acknowledging that to be a complete golfer one must poses the
skills to play golf from tee to green but also to be skillful on
the green. Many of the talents required to be a good putter are
removed from those required for the rest of the game. There have
been many great golfers in history but you'd be hard pressed to
find one who was not a good putter. In fact, studies have shown
that in the game of golf, putting accounts for 43% of the game
among better players.
Armed with this knowledge, it makes good sense for golfers pressed
for time to invest some of their's into improvement of the putting
game. The vast majority of the lessons students ask for involve
almost anything but putting, and I am usually coaxing students to
improve this part of the game if they're serious about lowering
their scores. Following are some simple suggestions to
consider.
PUTTING
FUNDAMENTALS
Proper fundamentals in putting
leave plenty of room for personal preferences. However, there are a
few that I havefound to be common among most good putters.
GRIP
The hands should
work as a unit and not be spread too far apart. The further apart
the hands are the more tendency there is to get the wrists involved
in the stroke, which is not desired. A normal (proper) golf grip is
fine or you can experiment with cross hand, reverse overlap, or a 3
and 3 grip (3 fingers of each hand on the club and the others just
along for the ride Grippressure should be relatively light (5 on a
scale of 1-10) in order to promote feel.
AIM
Find a target and
imagine a straight line coming through your putter. Don't get too
caught up in the line of your feet but make sure the putter face is
"square" to the target. This line is also the line your stroke
should follow. When aiming in golf, especially in putting, keep the
head level. Tilting it one way or the other distorts the
perspective.
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