Many of us haven’t done a lot of putting over the winter unless you were fortunate enough to go South or West. (They do golf 12 months of the year in Victoria)
- Keep your grip pressure light and constant. Stroke three balls: one with a super light grip pressure…one with a medium grip pressure…one with a strong grip pressure. You’ll notice you have better feel with the light pressure.
- Develop the right pace or tempo for your swing. You want a pendulum action that allows the putter to swing back far enough so you can accelerate through the ball without FORCING the action of the stroke.
Most players three-putt because they don’t have any sense of pace, the length, speed and rhythm of the stroke needed to get the ball to the hole. They either accelerate too fast through the ball and strike too hard, or they decelerate on the forward swing come up short.
- Practicing with eyes closed can help develop feel and distance control on the greens. Tom Kite was putting so bad in a PGA tournament that he started putting with his eyes closed to get the feel back. Try this:
- On the practice green, place three balls 10 feet from the cup, three more 20 feet out, three more at 30 feet, 40 feet and 50 feet from the hole.
- From 10 feet, putt the first ball as normal, with your eyes open
- Line up the second putt as normal with your eyes open, and then close your eyes just before you make your stroke. Focus on the feel of the putter head during the stroke and try to guess where the ball will end up when it stops rolling
- Putt the third ball from 10 feet just as you did in step three, closing your eyes just before making the stroke.
- Repeat this procedure at each three-ball station out to 50 feet.
