(Ed. Note: I played two rounds last weekend and hit the ball decently, but I couldn’t putt for – well, you know what. So I dug this old article out of the archives to re-read and hopefully apply to my putting game. I hope it helps. I need it.)
Will miracles never cease? You’re on the green in regulation with a five-foot putt left to win the hole and take the match. There’s a lot riding on this putt. It’s for a beer. But five feet! If it were longer, no one would expect you to make it. If it were much shorter, it would be a gimme. This putt is one of the most difficult of all for average golfers, and to make it worse, it looks like a little left to right break. Now speed and direction come into play.
But whether it’s five feet or fifty-five feet, there are several ways to increase your odds when it comes to putting, according to Eric McGraw, PGA Golf Professional at the Keswick Club.
“Like every shot in golf, the set-up must be correct,” Eric explained. “For starters, how far do you set up from the ball?”
Eric says that if you drop a coin in front of you and reach down to pick it up, note how far your toes are from the coin. If they were a couple feet away, you’d really have to stretch to reach it, but if your toes were practically touching the coin, you’d have to bend like a ballerina to get it. Try it and see. Chances are your feet are about two of your putter’s clubface lengths from the coin. That’s the distance you want your feet from the ball.
The next part of the set-up is head position.
“I don’t want my students peering down their cheek bones at the ball. I want their faces looking directly down,” he advised. “Your head should be down to the point where someone could almost balance a glass of Coke on the back of your neck and it wouldn’t tip over.”
Okay, feet are right, head is down, now for the stroke.
“Put the ball slightly forward in your stance,” Eric continued. “This causes you to strike the putt hitting up slightly – this puts a better roll on the ball. It skips less this way and putts truer.”
Eric also teaches students to keep the shoulders parallel to the target.
“Make sure you don’t turn your shoulder to the left,” he warns.
The swing of the putt, however, is never exactly straight back and forward. Rather, the putt follows a slight arc going back, then forward. Because of this, it helps if you aim slightly to the right since the putter will travel through a slight arc, bearing slightly left. The great majority of the misses from the average golfer are to the left, so compensate.
In the stroke itself, Eric notes there is no arm, shoulder or wrist movement. It is all arms and hands.
Lots of high handicap golfers poke at the ball when they putt. To correct this, Eric says to close your eyes and not try to hit anything. Just make your putting stroke and get the feel of it. Next, open your eyes, step up to the ball and make the same stroke.
For longer putts, the average golfer will generally add extra wrist action and smack at the ball. Eric says the best way to make a longer putt is to simply lengthen your back swing.
“You should have the same stroke and tempo whether it’s three feet or thirty,” he advised. “Just take the putter back further. Avoid accelerating or decelerating with your stroke.”
As for reading putts, Eric suggests this exercise.
Approach the hole and try to determine which is the straight, uphill putt, with no break at all. Put your practice ball there,” he suggests. “Then go to the opposite side and find the straight, downhill putt.”
Eric noted that the putts to each side would break in opposite directions toward the hole, but this gives the golfer a point of reference and makes it easier to read the break.
If your ball is on the green, use the same approach in reading the green. Find the straight uphill and the straight downhill and than make a mental judgment about the break of your putt.
“Imagine the ball traveling through an arc as it rolls to the hole,” Eric concluded. “Once you mentally aim the ball and estimate the speed required with your back stroke, trust it, Make the putt and chances are it will be a good one.”
Finally, Eric pointed out that you shouldn’t expect to make every putt, particularly longer putts. Odds are you won’t. Rather, focus on getting your putt close enough to the hole that your next putt will be a tap-in.
Okay, ladies and gentlemen, time to practice!