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I see the putters moving. Shoot, mine even moves up and down as it goes from right to left.
So we look. By holding on. By placing. With putters. All in the name of moving the fluid around the ball, hoping it travels smoothly into the cup.
Piers Ward has a thought here. The fix may lie in your placement method.
Coach with Me and My Golf the coaching staff was talking in a video recently posted to the team's Instagram page (which you can watch here), and Ward showed a bit of slack. He moved his putter repeatedly up and down the path, which, as you know, greatly reduces the chances of a square connection.
So what to fix?
Ward said the player should add “speed” to the stroke. The tip video is below, and below are more thoughts.
Here is Ward's full thought:
“So we're seeing this ingredient moving and moving all over the place and it's getting faster and faster with the beat,” Ward said in the video. “What you're trying to do is try to control the putter so it's smooth. However, the way we create control is that we give up control. Brad Faxon says this, and when he talks about placement, we should listen.
“So what we want is to speed it up, put a little pressure on it. You will see it will be much easier if we do this. [Here, Ward putted.] Watch the highlight and see how it stays in that stroke coach style. Nice roll-over-end. So let go of power so that you can take control.”
The Instagram post also includes this note:
“You gain control when you give up control.” – Brad Faxon. Instead of focusing hard on technique and controlling how the putter moves, let it flow and add speed to the stroke.
This BRISKNESS will actually loosen things up, help the putter swing better and help you control your feel and speed.
Good stuff. Adding “briskness” myself has reduced some of the volatility.
It just takes time. To me, since it had an accelerated feel, it had a tendency to put the ball hard. So you need to work on it. Having said that, I shared this video with a friend who struggles with tremors.
And in the Instagram post, there were answers to a few questions, and that helpful exchange is below, with the questions in italics.
“I am fighting this [wobbling]. I know my stroke is slow and unsteady, but if I try to move it faster, I feel like I'm losing control of the distance.”
“It takes balance and practice,” says the Me and My Golf team. “Maybe hit too hard the first few, then you can adjust the length of the stroke.”
“Do we want to depend so much on the steering wheel going forward? The neck actually has a naturally inclined cavity. [On the video, Ward was using forward shaft lean at about a 1 o’clock angle.]”
Want to cover more putts? Try using this unusual training aid
Zephyr Melton
“It depends on the loft,” replied the Me and My Golf team, “and how you move between the balls.”
“Dave Stockton compared the stroke to signing your name in his book 'Unconscious Putting'. You don't think about what your hand and arm movements are doing when you sign your name. Your putting stroke should be the same. Like you said, give up control so you can control.”
“Yes, I like the idea,” the Mina and My Golf team responded. “We've used this before.”
Editor's Note: To help further the discussion, below is an article written last year by GOLF Top 100 instructor Kellie Stenzel titled “10 putting drills that will build your confidence and lead to lower scores.” You can also read it by clicking here.
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The fastest way to lower your golf score is to become a better putter. To do this, it will take practice to find your stroke and gain some confidence. This is where understanding some of the drills can make an impact, which can help turn you into a shooter with a flatstick in your hand.
Since I'm always asked about my favorite workouts, I decided to include them below. You need to set up well, target your putter face well and be great at making your short putts – within 3-4 feet. The first three methods of practice are specific to this. Once you can make your short putts, you need to be great at controlling distance. Drills 4 through 10 below address that aspect.
1. Place near the alignment rod
This may be one of the easiest ways to practice, but it will pay big rewards.
Take your driver's club (or one of your clubs if you don't have one) and position it so that it points out of the hole, eventually touching the side of the cup. You will place next to this alignment aid, so make sure the ball is on the side of the vertical aid.
Practice making small strokes that do not touch the alignment rod. By doing this, you will be able to check to see if the ball rolls straight up the face of the putter and into the hole. This is really helpful for practicing straighter putts.
2. Chalk line
Without question, the chalk line is one of my favorite training aids – and one of the easiest ways to exercise.
Easily find a straight putt and cross the chalk line on the green – whether it's a short or long putt. Align both of your feet with the putter's clubface, making sure the ball rolls well down the chalk line.
Practice until you feel confident and start seeing more shots landing in the hole.
3. Alignment ball
One of my new training aids is alignment ball.
Not only does it help with the alignment of the putter's clubface, but it's also powerful enough to help other parts of your game as well. Also, it's portable, so it's easy to carry around each round.
4. 3-foot-increment drill
The fastest way to avoid three-putting is to learn to control your distance. Distance should be controlled by varying the length of your backstroke, with your stroke evenly spaced back and forth.
To practice this drill, set the balls up three feet (one big step) from the cup. Start with a short putt and go back. Your goal is to control the distance and make your ball end up close to the hole.
As you increase the distance, the size of your backstroke should also increase slightly. The ability to make small stroke changes is how you will gain more confidence and begin to control your speed on the green.
5. Two putts or better, seven times in a row
Pick two holes on your practice green that are 20 to 30 feet apart. Take one ball, and place it back and forth between the two cups.
Now, give yourself a goal of putt-putt or better. For example, make sure you make two putts or better seven times in a row.
As you get better at this practice, increase the difficulty of the putt or the number of times you need to make two or more putts. Eventually, you should be able to make two putts or better 18 times in a row.
6. 5-foot circle
This practice will help you learn to adjust your aim as you circle the hole, giving you the ability to read the green effectively.
To practice, place eight golf balls 5 feet in diameter around the cup. Insert each ball, and notice how the break changes as you go around the circle.
As you move to hit each ball, you must be very aware of the slope of the green at your feet. This is how you read the green and it should help you react as you plan each putt.
Your goal is to make each putt on the first try, completing a full circle.
Another great way to improve your ability to read the green is to use the Golflogix putt line, which provides a goal using tour-quality data.
7. Go back
Leaving your first putt close to the hole is important to improving your scorecard. This means that your second putt is usually between 2 to 3 feet – which is where you should be almost automatically to see the best score.
To help you achieve that, try practicing the draw-back drill.
If your first putt is within three feet of the cup, putt there. If it is not in that area of the hole, move the ball back the full length of the putter as a penalty.
Treat each hole as a par-2, and keep your score consistent, with the goal of improving over time.
8. Under sec
The most natural way to practice is to simply play 18 holes and keep your score relative. Treat each hole as a par-2 when you're on the putting green, with the goal of making par each time.
This allows you to work on putts from different areas of the green, challenging yourself from different distances.
9. Matching game
A fun (and natural) way to improve is simply to challenge a friend to a match.
Not only will this help you practice controlling distance and aiming for two putts or less, but the pressure will also add something extra.
Just treat each putt as one point, and whoever has the least score at the end of 18 holes is the winner.
10. Edge to edge
Learning to control speed should always be a priority in your warm-up. Rather than always putting to the cup, it can help to feel the full speed of the green by putting from one side of the green to the other – or from edge to edge.
Practice going back and forth to see how close you can get to the edge of the green with each shot. This will help you focus on controlling the distance, and not worry about the target or the cut off of the green.
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