How To Hole More Putts
All About The Putt
written by the professionals at GWB
Putting is a separate game within the game of golf, because no other shot in golf has the same objective as a putt has, which is to….
Roll the ball along the best line
with the best speed, so the ball
rolls gently into the hole.
And if you want to become the best putter you can then you SHOULDN'T use a throttled down driver swing. Equally you won't want to use your putting technique to drive with. You see, to become a great putter you need a different technique than you do to become a great driver of the ball (or any other part of golf for that matter).
You simply need to know what to improve and then do it
I am going to explain what you need to do to improve your putting. Because I don't want you to waste anymore time on things which won't help you to improve, like I've done. So I’m going to give you a clear focus on the areas you need to work on to improve, and hole more putts.
Important Note: A planned, structured, step-by-step approach to improving your putting will always get better, more consistent results than any other approach.
Part 1. Attitude
You've probably heard a figure bandied around on how much the task of putting makes up a game of golf. If you haven't, studies have proven that putting makes up 43 percent of a game of golf (give or take a percent or two either side).
That's a HUGE chunk of the game, I'm sure you'll agree!
So it makes perfectly logical sense to learn how to hole more putts.
Because when you do you'll hole more putts which will lower your scores and this will allow you to get more enjoyment from playing golf.
For help in achieving this...click on....Putting Success
Part 2. Equipment
Let's talk about the putter...and more specifically -- what the two most important aspects of any putter you choose are. The two things I'm referring to are the putter length and putter lie.
And a lot of putter selection is personal preference . But these two things should NOT be personal preference if you want to putt your best -- consistently.
You see, if you're serious about holing more putts and lowering your scores you must get a putter fit for you and the putting style you're using (or about to use).
Because if the length or the lie of a putter is not fitted for you and the type of stroke you're trying to produce, then you'll basically be forced to make compensations in your stroke to make the putt roll where you want it to. And compensations are NOT good in a putting stroke!
Now there's two main ways a putter is fit for a golfer. To learn more... click on ...Fit and Style
Let's talk about putting setup and putter face alignment. And to start this off let's take a look at the grip
Now there are a lot of different ways to grip a putter, and there is no one "right" way. I do however have a theory on how most golfers should grip the putter. But no matter how you grip the putter you must be able to repeat that grip consistently.
Because if you can grip the putter the same way every time then obviously you'll be a more consistent putter.
So you need to work out references for your putting grip so you can repeat the same putting grip every time you hold your putter. Then once you've done this, you then need a procedure so you can form your grip the same way consistently.
This procedure doesn't need to be difficult or complicated. But for now just be aware that you must have a way of repeating your putting grip consistently.
OK, let's now look at the other components of the putting setup starting with ball position.
If you were to putt with a putter face that is opening and closing a lot during the putting stroke then ball position is critical. Because for a putting stroke like this, the ball needs to be positioned at a place in your stance EXACTLY where the putter face will be square at impact. If it's not then naturally the ball will start on a line that you did not intend.
But in the putting stroke I teach the putter face remains pretty square to the starting line of the putt at all times during the stroke (more on this in the future). That way, it's not critical that the ball is positioned perfectly every putt.
Having said that, there is a place in your stance that will help you to putt better but it doesn't have anything to do with the squareness or lack thereof of the putter face. What I'm talking about is the launch angle of your putts.
Yes, your ball does launch when it is hit with the putter!
Where you position the ball at setup largely determines the launch angle on your putts. And what you want to happen when you putt is that your putter face should contact the ball so it is launched slightly upwards at impact. The reason you want to do this is so the ball rolls on top of the grass from the beginning of the putt instead of down and through the grass.
If the ball is hit down even slightly into the ground at impact it will create inconsistent results in your putting, because the ball will be more affected by the imperfections of the green than it will if the ball is hit slightly upwards at impact.
So to launch your putts slightly upwards you need to position the ball in your stance just in front of the lowest point of your putting stroke.
To take a look...click on.........Alignment
Part 4. Mental and Physical Pre-Shot Routine
I'm going to go over creating a physical pre-shot routine. Also, I'm going to discuss creating a mental pre-shot routine that will give you the most chance of holing more putts -
That's where a physical pre-shot putting routine comes in! And to learn more... click on...Pre-shot
Next up will be putter face path, putter face angle and your putting power source. These are the main parts that control your putting stroke. You should find it interesting
Part 5. Power, Path and Face Angle
I'm going to discuss what you should do to power your putts along with the putter path and putter face angle you should be using when you're putting to ensure you hole more putts.
First of all, let's look at the way you power your putts.
Now as I like to keep everything as simple as possible I'm going to go through each part of your body and explain what it should be doing (or not doing) as you stroke your putts... click on.....Putt Path
Part 6 Acceleration, Rhythm and Ball Contact
Now, you're going to learn about....
§ Putter acceleration/stability
§ Putter rhythm/tempo
§ Ball Contact
These aspects of your putting stroke have a huge influence on your distance control. And as you've just discovered....distance control is critical for putting success.
So to take a look at three very important aspects of the putting stroke.... click on...Stroke
Part 7. Feel/Touch and Green Reading
I'm going to talk about putting feel/touch and green reading. First of all we'll look at putting feel/touch.Now there's only one way to improve your putting feel/touch...and that's to practice!
But you just can't go out to the practice putting green and knock balls around from hole to hole. Because if you do that you'll be wasting your time and you will probably get worse.
Instead you've got to use well thought out practice drills that give you consistent feedback on how you're performing. And the best feel/touch drills allow you to compete against either yourself or an opponent so you're always interested and motivated to improve so you will hole more putts.
That's very important.
Using drills and exercises to learn how to control the distance of your putts is so important to not only reducing any 3 putts, but also helping you to hole more putts that are long.
Now the most important element of putting touch/feel is distance control.
And there are two elements to hitting putts the correct distance. To learn more... click on ....Distance
All right, let's now look at green reading. Now there are many rules I could give you for reading greens like….
§ The faster the greens the more break there will be on longer putts.
§ Downhill putts break more than uphill putts.
§ If you're putting with the grain your ball will travel further and break less than normal.
§ Firm greens are faster than soft greens.
§ Down hill putts are quicker than uphill putt.
§ etc., etc.
But the best way of starting to learn how to read a green is to putt and then learn from your result. It sounds simple but it's the truth.
And the best way of learning from every putt is to ask yourself intelligent questions after each putt. For example, if you had a 20 foot putt that you thought had a 2 foot right to left break in it.....and you hit the putt perfectly along the line you thought but the ball missed 3 feet below the hole you have to quickly figure out why you miscalculated. Because if you don't, you'll keep repeating the same mistake over and over again...and that's not good.
So you see, if you want to become a truly great putter and hole more putts, you need to learn something from every putt. And there are four common reasons why a ball misses your target, (i.e. the hole), to find out...click on.. Miss Target
OK, to finish off "How to Hole More Putts-- All About the Putt" article, I want to quickly discuss what you should do on the practice putting green, because it's very important.
When you go to practice your putting at the golf course you should be trying to improve one of these 3 things....
1. Putting touch/feel.
2. Green reading abilities.
3. Mental toughness/attitude e.g. confidence, belief etc., etc.
You should never try to work on improving the mechanics of your putting stroke on a real putting green.
Because the greens aren't perfect.
You see, you could stroke putts badly on the green and the balls may still go in the hole due to the imperfections in the greens. And if that happens you're more than likely to start grooving a bad putting stroke than a good one.
Of course, the reverse is also true. If you putt balls with a near perfect putting stroke and the ball misses due to the imperfect greens you'll probably think something is wrong with your stroke and start trying to fix it.
So the place to work on your putting mechanics is at home, inside with feedback devices. And that's exactly what I teach my students.
OK, that's the end of it's "How to hole more putts --All about the putt" article. And I've shared with you the putting fundamentals you need to work on to hole more putts. Now the matter turns to doing it.
And if you tried to do this by yourself you'd probably be very confused as to how you should become a great, consistent putter. So I've taken that problem away for you, because I have created a complete step-by-step practice plan that outlines exactly what you need to practice to become a great putter. By that I mean (Of course!!) Hole More Putts!!
Stay tuned for more .....
