Putting Part Two

Additional thoughts on "10" We, some students and I, have played the game with the modification. Along with an improvement in distance control the greatest benefit appears to be in the area of "focus" or the mental side of the game. In at least two cases the 17" safe zone was extended to 10' on either side. One would think that a target that size would be very easy to hit. Everyone myself included had difficulties in changing our focus from the 17" window to the much larger size. This suggests to me that the most difficult part of this game is mental. By that I mean the ability to focus in on what the real objective for a particular shot should be. In this instance the objective was to putt the ball from 15' away into a 10' diameter circle, 10 consecutive times. My almost scratch handicap student took 6 tries before he was successful. This was not because it was difficult but because he was unable to focus on the task at hand. Food for thought.

Now a shift in gears

I suppose that in the final analysis any method of hitting a putt that allows you to consistently hit the ball in the hole if fine with me. There has been and probably always will be lots of personal approaches to the putting stroke however the vast majority of putting strokes fall into one of the two following camps.

1. Straight back and straight through where the power is generated by the shoulders and

2. Inside to square and back to the inside where power comes from the right arm.

I putted for a number of years using number 1 until it finally occurred to me that this type of stroke requires me to use the small muscles of my hands to manipulate the putter face in order to keep it square to the target line. I don't believe that using the small muscles of the hands works for any golf stroke much less the putting stroke. The older we get the more true this becomes.

I started putting with method 2 for a number of reasons.

1st. I'm already standing to the side of the ball so a putter stroke that works around my body just as a full swing does makes sense to me.

2nd I'm most comfortable with me eyes inside the target line and behind the ball just as it is with the full swing.

3rd. Inside to square to inside allows me to use a right arm/right shoulder stoke as my power source in the same manner that I would use a pool que.

Detractors to this method point out, I think incorrectly, that it is harder to get the putter face square at the moment of impact. That concept has greater validity if and only if you do not keeps the putter shaft lined up with a particular spot on the body. I use and teach that the putter rotates just as if it were a belly putter. If this is done then contact with the ball when the face is square is automatic. Some may say "why not use a belly putter"? If all we were concerned with is line then maybe the question would be valid but our primary concern with the putter is distance. I've yet to see anyone with either a long or belly putter be able to control their distance the same way the top pros on the tour do.

I think the manner in which you place your hands on the putter is critical. The left hand barely resides on the club with the shaft placed in the life line of both hands so that someone looking at your putter set up from down the line would think that your putter shaft is running through the middle of your forearms.

The putter head must in my opinion but grounded behind the ball. If you are right handed and you have the toe of the putter raised then because of the loft of the putter you are actually aimed left of your target. If the heel is in the air you are aimed right of your target.