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GOLF
ARTICLES - APRIL '07
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Put
The Feel Back In Your Putting
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Putting is many things. It
is speed. It is touch. It is concentration. It is reading the line. But most of
all, it is confidence. You can't putt consistently well without having an innate
trust in your ability and method. So how do we build that inner confidence?
First, you need a sound technique. You must adhere to certain fundamentals in
order to build a repeating golf putting stroke. Once you have a good golf putting stroke, you can work out
the finer details. Never become so mechanical that you become more like a
putting robot. Instead, good feel of both pace and line are more important.
Stand so you can see the
line
Some people advocate a closed or open stance when addressing the golf ball, but a
square stance offers the best view of the line on any putt. When changing your
stance, be careful - any alteration can set off a chain reaction. If your feet
change position, your head and, more importantly, your eyes will also move in
relation to the ball. Your whole perception of the line is changed. Whatever
stance you prefer, always make sure that your eyes are directly over the golf ball.
You must be able to turn your head and looking at the hole, make a stroke with
the golf putter straight down your intended line to
the hole.
Apply the same pressure
with both hands
A good thought would be to
think of your hands working as a single unit during the golf putting stroke. That is
much easier to achieve if the pressure exerted by each hand is the same. If you
are gripping with one hand more firmly than the other, the putter will tend to
drift off line as your arms work separately rather then together. An excessively
tight grip causes tension to creep up your arms into your shoulders preventing a
smooth, flowing golf stroke.
Takeaway - Free the
wrists
Many golf professionals teach that the wrists should
play no part in the golf putting stroke. It's true that too
much wrist break can be a real problem, but some
relaxation in the wrists can be helpful, especially on
longer putts. With overly stiff wrists, you start to
putt more with your forearms, thereby eliminating any
feel for pace. This becomes very mechanical and with no
feedback from your hands, you can't "feel" how the
golf ball
will react off the face of the golf putter. And you
start guessing how far the golf ball will roll. Certainly the
wrists should not be floppy through impact, only that
they should return to square. In other words, allow
yourself a little wrist break on the way back, then
return to your address position, and no farther, at
impact. If the left wrist does break past square at
impact, consistency is practically impossible.
Let your posture dictate the shape of your stroke
If
you have a very upright stance when you address the
ball, your golf stroke will follow more of a straight line
back and through. The farther away from the golf ball you
stand, the greater will be your tendency to swing
inside, back to square, then inside again.
Keep body still; let length of swing dictate tempo
Too
short a backswing means you have to rush the club
through impact, while too long a swing means you will
have to decelerate. Both are disastrous to good putting.
You must have a smooth acceleration through the golf ball to
be consistently successful. If you can make your
backswing and follow-through the same length, you will
develop the smoothness you need. Once you have that
smooth picture in mind, you know the line and the speed
of the putt, good putting is all about working through
your normal preshot routine. Whatever that routine may
be, do the same thing every time - without fail. Decide
on the line and go for it. More putts are missed through
indecision than bad green reading. One more thought you
should have - too many moving parts are disastrous to a
good putting stoke. When you move your head, shoulders
or any other body part not part of the swing, you change
the angle at which the golf putter will strike the ball
and hitting the ball on-line is improbable.
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