‘Common Sense Putting’
The practise green is a place where golfers ‘assemble’ because they either enjoy being there or because they are about to play in a competition but do we see them practising to hole putts or do we see them practising how to miss?
As you all know, golf is often won and lost on the greens, so you must feel relaxed and confident when it is your time to putt and you must practise before you play using a sound common sense method that will give you the surety of mind required to do the job.
It is important to hit putts which go into the hole and this can be achieved by starting with four or five balls at a distance of no more than two feet but when you are confident at this distance you should move further away – 6 inches at a time – until regular misses occur, then you must move back closer to the hole.
Finish the practise session with a few long putts to help feel the ’pace’.
Fear is the emotion, which makes putting very difficult when the ’pressure’ is on and there is a simple method to help the golfer overcome these knee ‘trembling’ situations.
You must hold the putter very lightly, breathe out fully and then hit the ball without hesitation because you all know through bitter experience that at these times it is not easy to think straight, so the simpler the method the better chance of success.
There are some ‘interesting’ tests that you can do to improve your understanding of putting.
You are all aware that if you hit the ball too hard it will hit the hole and jump over the back, sometimes it will fall back in – but not when you need It, however find out how hard you can hit the ball without it going over because you may be able to forget about borrow on some short putts.
Another thing you can try is to putt with the toe or heel of the putter because putts come up short if hit this way, which can be very useful on fast downhill putts.
Spending your time practise putting has to be taken seriously and don’t be there to pass the time but be there to remind yourself that you can make the short ones because the long ones will then be so much easier to play.