When you hit your puts are you off line so many times?
You say to yourself “How did I do that? It was such a simple put
and dead straight, yet I managed to hit it to the left of the hole”
– or was it to the right?
Which ever way, you did something wrong. If you lifted your head as
you hit the ball, such an easy thing to do due to a slightly
anxious attitude, you will always hit your ball to the left of the
hole.
Last week, I tried putting with a very much shorter back swing
which meant that I had to hit the ball with authority to get it up
to the hole.
On the practice putting green before the game, it
worked amazingly well. So I took it out onto the course and only
had 31 puts during the round.
This meant an improvement of between
9 and 5 shots.
You can certainly wrack up a score by hitting more
puts during a round can’t you?
So, concentrating on your putting and reducing the number of puts
can lead to a win and a reduction in your handicap.
OK, here are some tips on how to hit a straight put.
Firstly, as already mentioned, take a shorter back stroke and hit
with authority.
Next, exaggerate your follow through.
This will of course make you
hit with authority and accelerate through the ball and keep your
putter head on line.
Another reason for hitting the ball to the left of the hole is
movement of the hands as you hit the ball.
What happens is that the
hands rotate a bit to the left.
To overcome this, try turning your right hand in an anticlockwise
direction so that the back of your hand faces the hole.
This can stop the rotation of your hands.
Next, if you hit the ball with an open or closed putter head, of
course the ball will travel accordingly.
Have a look at your blade
after it has hit the ball – say two inches past the ball – and see where it is pointing.
If you have closed it or opened it, it will be obvious here and you will be
able to make the necessary changes to your putting stroke.
You think you are watching the ball, but are you?
Think of a nail sticking out of the ball from the point where you
want to hit it.
Think about driving this nail into the ball.
This means that you will have to look at the dimple that you want to hit.
You have to hit this dimple with your putter’s sweet spot.
You really have to watch this part of the ball to hit it.
Then, don’t look up but wait to hear the ball falling into the hole.
Think about all these tips, and take one at a time.
Spend some time with each one and practice it on the practice putting green.
Practice until the particular tip has become a part of your normal
putting technique.
Otherwise, when you get out onto the course you
will become very confused.
You will not remember to do a certain
part of the put until you miss.
Then you will clearly know what you
didn’t do and kick yourself.
Not a good attitude during a round of
golf when you have to be so positive and confident.
I hope these tips help you and improve your game. They certainly
improved mine. I am terribly impressed by the results of the short
back swing.
I was told about this a couple of years ago, but never
really tried it until very recently. We h ear about so many tips
but dismiss most as not being relevant to our game don’t we?
Big mistake!
More Stories
PHP Web Development: A New Era of Web Development
Drupal CMS – Best Choice for Website Development?
Grooved Golf Swing Series: How To Control The Distances Of Your Puts