A few more putting thoughts

In my opinion most good putters and all great ones have a specific rhythm for each and every putt. Here is what I mean by "rhythm". From address through impact each putt takes the same amount of time. In my case it's 1001 at address 1002 at the top of my putter backswing and 1003 at impact. I use this same count whether my putt is 6" or 60'.

I like to make practice swings until I have a feel for the distance I want to hit the putt. When I have a practice swing that feels correct and that I have applied my rhythm count to it I attempt to duplicate my last practice swing with my actual one. All I do with my actual is take my address position and then count, sometime out loud, 1001, 1002, 1003. I suggest to all my students that they find their own rhythm. I have one student that doesn't get to the top of his swing until the 1003 count and then is back at impact by 1004. However no good/great putter has a downswing that is slower than his backswing.

One of the major keys to successful putting is "feeling" how hard to hit the putt. Using the count makes that happen for me. The absolute last thing I want to do when standing over a putt is to adjust my speed or break. If I don't have those locked in before I take my address position then I'm in real trouble. If I get distracted or if I lose my focus i.e. the 14 to 17" safe zone then I step back and start again. I can't stress enough how important it is to keep focused on the rhythm and feel of the practice swing in the actual stroke. Thinking about break, score, the importance of the putt are all ways I snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

How often am I successful in hitting the putt into the safe zone? Depending upon the length of the putt roughly 50 to 90% of the time however the number of putts I now make has increased substantially. Remember as Yogi Berra once said, " 90% of the putts that are short don't go in" :-)