Jay Wilson
This month, I want to continue working with your putter. As I noted in November, most of putting is mental, and you need to believe that you’re a good putter and have a positive outlook on putting. Let’s recap the basics. When setting up, keep your feet and shoulders parallel to the target line and your eyes directly over the ball. The ball should be just slightly in front of center to ensure an ever-so-slightly upward motion at impact. Make sure that the putter face remains square to the intended line of the shot. The putting stroke should be a pendulum-like stroke in which your arms and shoulders move in unison, creating a smooth, repeatable action. Probably the biggest fact in poor putting is using the wrist to swing the putter. When making a putting stroke there should not be any wrist action.
Another issue I see a lot is that students make too big of a back swing, then they have to slow the putter on the forward stroke in order to not hit the ball too far. As a result of trying to correct the length of putter stroke, the golfer becomes very inconsistent. Try to shorten your backswing and lengthen you follow-thru for smoother, more consistent putts.
Next month, I’ll start on the short game arena, bringing you information on chipping and pitching.