Many of those new to golf understandably want to know how to putt a golf ball the correct way. Which sadly, is not up there in the big list of priorities for most of the more experienced golfers. Our training mainly consists of getting out into the driving range or using the home driving training net to power drive the balls further and further. Even when armed with the knowledge that games are mostly won with better putting skills.
In our training schedules what we should be learning and in this order, is our putting, chip and run shots, pitch shots around the green, longer irons and fairway woods and then finally the diver. Why this particular order you may be asking? Well when you have mastered the short game, these are the skills that will keep your scores down and have you making par more often.
These are the shots that will pull you out of the troubles that you may have created for yourself further back up the fairway. If say your longer irons and the fairway woods have not been as true as you might have planned, a well-played chip and run or a well targeted pitch shot could end up saving par for you.
At the end of the day, holing out with a good long putt will probably give you more enjoyment and congratulations from fellow golfing partners than a good long straight drive. So let’s look at some of the putting drills that will see us making many more successful putts.
Putting Drills for Success on the Greens
Putting drills must surely begin with how to hold the club and that’s where we’ll start. Following on with alignment, ball position and the actual putting stroke.
Grip
For a right handed player, hold the putter handle along the palm of the left hand. Now place the right hand on the club with the thumb pad on top of the left hand thumb to almost cover it. The backs of the hands should be parallel to each other at this stage which we call a neutral position.
The position of the back of the hands should interlock in the following position. When sliding up the right hand fingers, lift up the index finger of the left hand and rest it on the knuckles of the right hand. The little finger of the right hand should move down and rest on the knuckles of the left hand. This last move is an improvement to the more conventional putting grip but well worth trying out.
Next stage is the pressure and feel of the putter. Holding onto the putter to tight will create tension in the arms and shoulders and cause loss of feel for the putt. Think about 10 being as tight as you can hold a club and 1 is as light as you can hold it then 2 or 3 should be about right.
Ball Position
The ball position we refer to here is the position where the ball is placed between the feet with the putter lined up behind it. The preferred position is having the head slightly behind the ball because this gives the player a better chance to line up the ball with the hole. This line of course includes the center of the putter, which more often than not has a line denoting the center being in line with the center and at 90 degrees to the ball.
Think about this. With the ball further back in the stance the tendency would be to lean back to try and line up with the hole. The hands would also need to be further back which would cause hitting down on the ball and make a smooth stroke almost impossible.
Alignment
Alignment is basically where a player lines up his feet, typically when you are hitting a golf shot this is where you are going to be aiming. In putting, it’s not quite as important to have your feet aimed on the line that you are actually hitting, sometimes it would be better to have your stance open and that also helps the player line up the body.
We don’t really have to have our feet aimed directly on the line that we are actually using. Again this is because we are not making a full golf swing but we are also not having to shift weight and generate a lot of speed. So what we are going to do is open the stance a little which will help to see the hole as well as the ball. Using peripheral vision helps with this ball to hole set up, as mentioned earlier about ball position being a little bit further forward from the center.
Stroke
There are 3 main drills to the actual putting stroke. These are keeping it smooth, the lead wrist and eye behavior. Firstly, the putting stroke needs to have the correct pace for each length of putt, it needs to be a smooth even pendulum like stroke with a straight follow through.
The second point to concentrate on is the lead wrist when putting. A good putting stroke is not going to let that lead wrist break down. If it breaks down here you stand a good chance of misdirecting the putt towards the hole. So work on keeping the lead wrist firm and flat through the putting stroke.
Next area to concentrate on is the eyes. Many people will get over the ball ready to make their stroke, do everything okay but make the mistake of allowing the eyes to follow either the putter head or the ball to the hole. When your eyes move your whole body moves. You want to keep your head steady over the ball looking at the spot where the ball was after the stroke.