Lesson - 8 - Putting. --(Changed -22/06/2008)

The most accurate putting action is based on a simple pendulum movement which moves the putter back and forth on the straight to the target line whilst the putter face is held square to the target line.

Therefore in theory the process of putting the golf ball on a well prepared piece of grass should be the easiest part of the game of golf.

Unfortunately golfers as a general rule have never been able to discover a consistent putting style, consequently we all adopt a different style of putting stroke which we use until it develops a few flaws, we then create a "new" putting stroke which works for a while and on and on it goes, therefore we are forever tinkering with the putting method.

However like the other parts of the golf swing, it only requires an understanding of the basic movement of the putting stoke to be able to eliminate a lot of the mistakes that are made.

Set Up

The stance you should adopt for putting is almost identical to the stance requires for the full golf swing, the only difference the body is arched over the ball so that the eyes look directly down on the target line, but with the head positioned behind the ball so that as you look at the golf ball, the target line/hole remains within your vision.

The feet should be slightly closer together and the weight of the body should be equally balanced over each throughout the putting movement, but importantly the arms should be held as straight as possible so that the putter is gripped close to the bottom of the rubber grip .

The shoulders, the arms and the putter should be firmly held together as a one piece unit in the same way when chipping the ball.

Therefore keep both upper arms against the side of the upper chest body at all times, form the muscles of the arms into a firm condition and finally, the hands should remain in a firm but passive condition thus causing the whole unit to becomes bonded as one, so that any movement of the shoulders will cause the putter head to move.

The ball position should be adjacent to the left toe, but with the left eye directly over the centre of the stance but well behind the ball position.

This means that at the set up position, the head is directly over the target line but well behind the ball position, thus allowing the golfer to keep the target line/hole within the periphery vision. Therefore as you address the ball you can also see the line that the ball needs to follow, but importantly, once this position is set, it is vital that the position of the head is held until well after the ball has been struck.

Therefore it is important that do not allow the body or the head to sway towards the target area as you rotate the shoulders back and forth.

Simply rotate the shoulder/arms/putter back and forth, whilst keeping the putter face square to the target line, but focus your eyes on the back of the ball so that you literally see the putter face make contact with the ball.

This first video shows how most golfers putt, and although the shoulders are controlling the movement of the arms, there is a slight lack of control of the arms as the putter head moves through the contact area, thus allowing the club face to change its alignment at the precise moment contact is made with the ball -- result - unpredictable.

Now in the second video the shoulders and the arms and the putter is held very firmly together as a compact unit whilst the putting stroke is performed with both upper arms firmly held against the side of the body at all times, which is done by keeping the chest and the upper body and the arms muscles in a taut condition, and finally, the hands remain in a totally passive condition so that the putter follows the movement of the shoulders.

Therefore the key to accurate putting is to hold the unit firmly together until well after the ball has been struck, but importantly, keeping the hands in a totally passive condition and keep the head positioned so that the left eye remains over the centre of the stance, but well behind the ball, with "pin point accuracy" and simply use the rotational movement of the shoulders to perform the putting action.

Whilst carrying out the putting stoke, the upper body must be arched over the ball, with the head held directly over the "Parallel to the Target Line" but with the left eye directly over the centre of the stance but well behind the ball position.

(It is absolutely vital that the head is held directly over line of the ball, so that you are looking straight down on the target line -- poor putters believe that their head is held directly over the ball, but if they dropped a plumb bob from the eyes to the ball, it would point to a position about two inches inside the target line.)

This arching of the body position forces you to grip the putter way down the rubber grip and when the upper arms are held close to the body it gives the unit a considerable amount of stability.

The firmness of the chest muscles, the shoulder muscles and the upper arm muscles will keep the upper arms held tightly against the body whilst you rotate the shoulders, but you must also keep the muscles of the forearms in a firm condition in order to keep the club face square to the target line at all times. Both actions will ensure that the arms instantly respond to the rotational movement of the shoulders.

( I cannot stress too strongly how firmly the shoulders, the arms and the putter are held together, but the hands remain in a totally passive condition.)

The rotational movement of the shoulders moves the putter, therefore simply use the back muscles to rotate the compact upper body unit back and forth whilst keeping the putter face square to the target line.

The muscles of the arms are held in a firm condition but remain totally passive to the movements of the shoulders and therefore do not have any input of energy into the putting stroke.

Therefore the basic putting stroke requires the shoulders, the arms and the putter to work together so that the upper body unit rotates back and forth, using your head as the pivotal point of the rotational movement of the shoulders..

However you must keep the putter face square to the target line - and the hands must not move ahead of the ball at any point in the putting action .

THE PUTTING STROKE.

First of all I concentrate on setting up my stance so that I am looking directly down to the ball.

I then focus intensively on the face of the putter to ensure it is square to the target line. When I am happy with the alignment of the club face I firm up the upper body unit and also pull the upper arms close to the side of the body so that when the shoulders rotate into the back swing movement it immediately will cause the arms, the hands and the putter move away from the ball as a compact one piece unit.

As I perform the putting stroke, I keep an even tempo of the putting stroke from the beginning of the back swing movement, right through to after the ball has been stuck, but importantly I continue to focus on the ball to such an extent that first of all I actually see the putter make contact with the ball, but I also keep the eyes focused on the spot where the ball was resting so that I can see the ball moving away from this spot.

These are the keys to being able to putt very well:-

1) Focusing on the face of the putter to ensure that it is square to the target line before forming the upper body into a compact one piece unit.

2) Keeping the head positioned so that the left eye is directly over the straight to the target line, but positioned well behind the ball so that you can also see the target line/hole as you concentrate your focus on the golf ball.

3) Keeping the upper arms firmly against the side of the body, the elbows held close to the body and the muscles of the arms in a firm condition as the putter moves smoothly away from the ball and back into the contact area.

4) Keeping the hands totally passive as the putter moves into and through the contact area

Therefore it is vital the head is firmly positioned so that the left eye is directly over the centre of the stance with "pin point accuracy" but well behind the ball position.

Remember, the shoulders, the arms, the hands and the putter must be firmly held together as a compact one piece unit throughout the complete putting stroke which is reinforced by keeping the both arms held with the elbows held as close together as is physically possible and the muscles of the arms held in a firm condition.

Imagine the whole unit welded together and hold it like this throughout the back swing movement and as the putter moves into and through the contact area.

An important aspect of the putting stroke, is that once you have decided the line of the ball, you must rely on the mechanical movement of the putting stroke and perform the complete putting stroke whilst the head is directly over the target line, the eyes remain fixed on the ball position and the head firmly positioned well behind the ball so that you can see the intended line of the putt in the periphery of your vision.

This means that once you have fixed your focus on the ball position, despite the fact that the ball will move away from this position as the putter makes contact with the ball, your eyes must not follow the movement of the ball, the eyes must remain fixed on the original ball position so that you see the ball move away from this position.

It is difficult to programme yourself to simply maintain a smooth swinging movement of the putter as it moves into and through the contact area and also not to allow the eyes to follow the ball after it has been struck, but master these two techniques and you will reap the rewards.

The other important aspect of the putting stroke is to ensure that it is the rotational movement of the shoulders and the arms held firmly together as a very compact unit that moves the putter back and forth and not simply the movement of the arms, I can assure you that there is a difference.

Gripping the Putter.

The grip that I use is a conventional grip where the back of the left hand is facing the target.

The position of the hands is also conventional, for example, overlap grip with the right hand lower than the left hand.

Both hands grip the putter very lightly whilst the muscles of the chest, the upper arms and the forearms held in a taut condition but with the right elbow held firmly against the side of the body. The wrists and the forearms are held in a taut condition and therefore whilst holding the arms in this condition, the putter is seen as an extension of the arms.

The main reason why the putter face either "closes" or "opens" at the moment of impact is because the hands tighten up and cause the club face to open or close, therefore whilst carrying out the putting stroke it is very important that although the shoulders, the arms and the hands remain totally fused together throughout the movement and the right upper arm remain firmly against the side of the body, the hands must remain in a totally passive condition.

Control the length of the putt by simply controlling the length of the back swing movement and then using the pendulum action of the shoulders to swing the putter into the contact area, whilst keeping the putter face square to the target line.

This is where the practice strokes are important, they mentally prepare yourself for the actual process of putting.

Most golfers allow the clubface of the putter to open whilst making the back swing movement, so that at the end of the back swing movement the clubface can be as much as five degrees "open" to the Square to the Target Line -- This "opening" of the club face is a natural movement that is created as the upper body rotates into the back swing.

Therefore so that the clubface can be brought back to the "Square to the Target line" during the forward stroke movement, this movement of the clubface needs to be reversed.

After the ball has been struck, the movement of the upper body then causes the clubface to begin to close in relation to the Straight to the Target Line.

However even this small amount of "opening" and the "closing" of the putter can be totally eliminated by learning how to rotate the forearms during the putting stroke.

If you observe the putting technique of the Professional Golfers you will notice that more and more golfers are using the square to square putting method which requires the rotating of the forearms as described, but importantly the golfer maintains the head exactly in the original address position throughout the putting stroke

Learn this method and your putting will improve dramatically.

Rotation of the forearms.

By using my method of slightly rotating the forearms in an anti clockwise motion during the back swing movement and then slightly rotating the forearms in a clockwise motion during the down swing movement, it is possible to keep the club face "square to the target line" whilst the putter follows the target line as depicted by the chalk mark.

You may think that this is impossible, however by maintaining your eyes directly over the target line and slightly rotating the forearms, this is easily achieved.

You will also notice in the photographs how the both upper arm are firmly held against the side of the body.

Head Position.

To check whether the head position is correct at the address position, if you drop an imaginary plumb line from your left eye down to the ground, two thing will indicate the correct position:-

1) The centre of the plumb line weight should be hovering directly over the target line.

2) The plumb line weight should hover over a position about three inches behind the ball position.

Because the weight of the body is maintained over the centre of the body throughout the whole putting movement, the lower body movement is to be seen as a gentle pivoting of the hips that operates whilst the hips are held central to your stance and therefore works in unison with the shoulder movement.

Finally, whatever type of grip that you favour, the important things to remember is that you must hold the shoulder, the arms and the putter firmly held together as a compact one piece unit, and reinforce the stability of the unit by keeping the upper arms firmly against the side of the body, the elbows held close together and the muscles of the arms in a firm condition, so that it is the rotational movement of the Shoulder/Arms-unit that causes the arms and the putter to move back and forth, but importantly it is essential that you watch the ball whilst the putting stroke is performed and maintain the head about three inches behind the ball with "pin point accuracy" to the completion of the putting stroke.

Practice strokes.

Adopt a habit of practising the putting stroke, but importantly with the upper arms held against the side of the body, and the elbows held close together, but importantly focus intensively on the face of the putter and hold the upper body unit firmly held together, but keep the hands in a passive condition.

This practice routine does two things for your putting action, first of all it programs your body with the correct movement, but importantly it allows you to concentrate solely on watching the ball whilst you practice the action of maintaining a smooth shoulder movement throughout the putting stroke.

Most golfers allow the eyes to follow the movement of the ball as it rolls towards towards the target point.

However if you wish to dramatically improve your putting technique, it is absolutely vital that you totally concentrate focus on the back of the ball as you perform the putting stroke.

This means that despite the fact that the ball will move as soon as the putter makes contact with the ball, you must continue to concentrate on looking at the original ball position so that you actually see the ball move from this position, do not allow the eyes to follow the movement of the ball.

As you make your practice strokes, keep your head in the original address position and in the Fixed Frontal condition and totally focus on the ball.

Make about four or five practice movements prior to attempting to strike the ball.

Further, if you are keeping the eyes directly over the target line and rotating the forearms correctly, you will also notice that the swing path is perfectly straight, and the putter face remains square to the target line, therefore to move the ball on the line you intend, you have to visualise the putter being swung along the target line.

Once you have decided on the path that your ball will need to take, you must then concentrate all your efforts on using the rotational movement of the shoulders to make a smooth swing of the putter, keep your head well behind the ball position and in the Fixed Frontal condition, keep the eyes totally focused on the ball and rely on the mechanical movement of the putting stroke and trust your judgement on the line of the putt.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to keep your eyes totally focused on the ball position as the putting stroke is performed and to continue to keep your eyes focused on the original ball position whilst the putter moves through the contact area so that you actually see the ball move from this position -- do not allow the eyes to follow the movement of the ball.

The value of a single putt is equal to the value of the longest drive.

If you can get on the green in regulation figures, it is essential that the first putt ends up either in, or very close to the hole.

In order to keep the putt on the line that you choose, it is vital that once you have aligned the putter face with the target line, fully focus your eyes on the ball whilst the putter moves into the contact area, but importantly you must continue to maintain this focus on the ball position as the putter moves along the target line, whilst keeping the putter face square to the target line -- The eyes must not be allowed to follow the movement of the ball.

Discipline yourself to focus at the spot that the ball is positioned and hold this focus so that you actually see the ball move from this position and your putting will improve dramatically.

Please Note.

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