The article below was written by Jack Backhouse of National Club Golfer.
To some players, it feels like putting is a gift that you either have or you don’t, but like any skill it has to be trained to be improved. In the below video, PGA Professional Jack Backhouse explains some fundamental ideas and concepts that will show you how to putt better out on the golf course.
A consistently good set up
Unlike in driving or other full swing shots, the putting stroke is very short and whilst seemingly quite difficult to get wrong, because of the short duration of the swing there isn’t enough time to make compensations to overcome a poor address position.
As a general starting point, I like golfers to set up with their stance around 2 putter heads wide, and with their feet approximately 3 putter head widths away from the ball. This might vary slightly from person to person depending on their height and arm length, but this is generally a great place to start from.
It is also worth noting that head and neck position is very important in putting. A golfer should tilt their head down so that they are looking at the golf ball through the middle of their eye, not peering down on the ball with their head up. This makes it much easier to align the putter to the hole and start the golf ball on line.
A poor set up will generally lead to problems down the line, so it is important to practice getting it right.
Strike is king
The 3 skills a golfer needs to be an excellent putter are:
- Start line control
- Speed control
- Reading the green
One factor that influences both start line and speed control is strike on the putter face. A toe/heel strike will often lead to putts going too far left or right, and any off centre hits will lead to poor distance control and a lot of 3 putts.
Whilst we know that this is very important, golfers neglect practicing their strike as it slips under the radar underneath stroke mechanics, or just blaming the greens for poor lag putting.
A great way to work on strike is through that classic Tiger Woods pre round drill where he creates a tee gate to swing his putter through. Doing this guarantees a centred contact with the golf ball, and subsequently allows him to develop his touch and feel on the greens very quickly.
Stroke length
A common mistake that golfers make due to nothing other than an old golf wives tale, is that we want to be accelerating the putter through the contact, so that we don’t leave putts short. Not only is this not the case, but we also dont want to force putts past the hole either, but that’s a separate issue!
What golfers do want is a stroke where the putter head continues at a constant speed through the strike, and a shorter follow through than backswing, yes you read that correctly.
If you look back at how Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus putted in their prime, the stroke was almost poppy, with the putter not finishing much past the lead foot, regardless of how long the putt was. Having a stroke like this forces you to get the energy out of the putter into the golf ball early and stops the over acceleration that causes the yips.
A great drill for this is to set up to a short putt and create a tee gate inline with your left foot that is wide enough to putt through but tall enough to stop the putter head when it reaches it. (Explained and demonstrated in the video). Doing this makes you create a positive stroke using speed and momentum from the backswing length and an ideal finish position.
If you want to watch some more of Jack’s putting tips instruction videos, you can get to his YouTube Technique Tips playlist by clicking here.
