Improve Your Putting

BY David Williams

The saying “Drive For Show and Putt For Dough” is so true. There’s no use hitting it 280m off the tee if you can’t hole a 5 foot putt. They both ultimately mean the same thing in golf, one stroke. It just becomes a little more frustrating missing shots, the closer you get to the hole when you know you could make them. Putting is nothing more than being able to hit the ball on the line you need for the hole to get in the way of the balls path. There are a couple of areas we will look at to ensure you are hitting the ball exactly where you are required to make a putt.

Alignment

Being correctly aligned to your target will help you hit the putt where you want it to go. A poorly aligned putter at address will put you behind the eight ball before even taking a stroke.

Here’s a simple exercise to check your alignment at set up with a 30cm ruler.

Address a putt of about 20 feet to a hole. Make sure you feel like you are aiming straight at the hole. Have a friend place the end of the ruler against the face of the putter on the ground. Now remove the putter and walk behind and check to see for yourself where the ruler is aiming. Repeat this a few times from different angles and record the results. You may see a pattern start to appear.

Most of the time, poor alignment can be attributed to an optical illusion created when our eyes are over the ball and when we tilt our head to look at the hole. To combat this illusion, mechanical means can be employed to assist our efforts in lining.

Firstly, there are gadgets on the market which I swear by. The little plastic device that fits over the circumference of the ball with a slit in it is the perfect answer. This device allows you to draw a perfectly straight line around the equator of half the golf ball. We can now make sure this line is aiming at our intended target from behind the ball and not on top when we are addressing the ball. You can also take a step or two back and check that it is aligned correctly before addressing the ball.

Next it is important to have your body aligned parallel to your target line to ensure a square pendulum stroke. The following points are good reference points for alignment: Feet, knees, hips, forearms and shoulders and eyes.

Next it is essential to have a line on your putter, the longer the line the easier it is to align correctly. There is a multitude of putters on the market with alignment aids already incorporated into the putter’s design. Once you have aligned the line on your ball up to your intended target and you know it is correct, you can then simply align the mark on your putter to the line on the ball. Regardless of the optical illusion where you think you are aiming, there can be no question as to your actual alignment if you follow these steps. It can take a little convincing at first if you used to have poor alignment but if you are all square and make a square stroke, then you will reduce the amount of off-line putts you hit.

Technique

The easiest way to deliver the putter back square to the golf ball is to ensure there is no manipulations in the hands and no movement in the body during the stroke.

Pendulum Technique

Think of a perfect pendulum. The top of the pendulum is attached to a stationary support and weight at the bottom swings under its own momentum. The radial distance always remains the same and the pendulum swings with a consistant tempo. Applied to a putting stroke, the head is the stationary support which must remain precisely still. The weight at the bottom is the putter head and the arm combined with putter shaft is the constant radial distance.

In a golfers putting stroke, unlike a pendulum there is an extra pivot point at the wrists. This is where the golfers putting stroke can encounter inconsistencies. If the wrists remain firm from the set up and do not change angles, the putter should be delivered back to the ball square. If the angle of the wrists is changed on the backswing the golfer will have to judge getting the wrists back to square precisely at impact.

Piston Technique

The left arm in the golf swing controls our radius. If this remains constant then the clubhead will be delivered back to the ball consistently as long as the golfer doesn’t move the anchor point for this radius (The Head). In the Piston Technique the left arm and the putter hangs directly under the centre of our swing (Left armpit for RH golfers.) The right forearm is used as a piston to draw back the putter and push the putter through the ball.

Posture Drill

Posture is very important in putting as the arms need to work independently from the body and the head needs to remain still.

• Stand up straight and place a club down the back with the grip touching the back of the head and the clubhead against the base of your spine.
• Keeping these two points on the club, bend forward from the waist and then unlock the knees.
• Now bring the club to in front of you and let your arms hang. They should naturally hang away from your body now.
• Take your grip where your hands are hanging making sure your eyes are directly over the ball. This will also help determine your optimal length of putter you should use.

From this position you will be able to keep your head stationary and swing your shoulders back and through without moving your body.

Swing Arc

Because your shoulders are set back from vertical over the ball your pendulum should work on a very small arc. So as the putter swings back it should swing slightly inside the target line and as the putter swings through it should swing slightly on the inside of the target line. Without manipulation of the hands the putter face will stay square to the arc. This will mean the putter face will open and close slightly compared to the target.