I could have gone in the direction of talking about what a fabulous job The European Tour had been doing to maintain safety for everybody whilst allowing us to watch some golf during this lockdown.
With the concept of using your time as productively as possible I thought I would introduce a really useful putting drill, which you can do at home and eliminate, over the next couple of weeks, the two major faults that I regularly see in a putting stroke.
Have a look at the picture, you will see one of Phil Kenyon’s putting aids, a perfect aid for anybody who wants to improve their putting stroke. However not wanting to get into the Brexit customs duty import situation that we now find ourselves in, I believe setting yourself up this way will help your putting stroke no end.
The two major faults that I see when working with my players, around the putting stroke, are firstly the player not understanding exactly what a pure straight line looks like, or as the putting coaches now call it, your starting line, the line that you aim along. The second major putting fault I see regularly is the player coming out of posture, or looking for the ball and changing their whole posture position. This generally makes the putter come through much more on the inside track after impact because as the head looks for the ball the shoulders move around to the left (if you’re right handed). This drill solves both these problems in one go.
What you need to do is find a wall without a skirting board, preferably with some carpet or a rug, and put the ball on the ground just away from the wall where there is enough space for the centre of the ball to hit the centre of the putter but only just enough space between the toe and the wall for that to happen.
Make sure the ball is just ahead of the centre of your stance, a shade closer to your lead foot. I would advise that you try and do this without a ball at the start, so that you can get a feel for the movement. Now you need to get the top of your forehead as close to the wall as you can. You will get a really good idea as to how much movement there is in your body, legs and feet during your putting stroke. The trick or the art of this drill is to make a fluid putting stroke by just rotating your shoulders, not hitting the wall with your head or the putter. Remember to try and following a similar track that you see in the picture.
What will probably feel the most awkward, is that you’ve got to maintain your posture position through the follow through, and then look along the imaginary start line with your head remaining at the same angle. To look at where the ball has gone you have to just rotate your chin towards the hole with nothing else moving.
Trust me it sounds a lot easier reading it than actually doing it, but by doing hundreds of repetitions during this lockdown you will train yourself into a much better putting stroke without actually having to put the clubs in the car. If you were to watch any of the top players in the world hit a putt, you will see that the body only moves when the putter has stopped moving.
You want the putter to follow the same arc that you see in the picture, and the body to remain still and relaxed.
That should keep you going for a few weeks. We hope you are staying safe and well.
Understanding putting requires concepts of golf. I say Putting is Art for there is many ways to shape your feet and hands to putt whereas Club Swing mechanics basically physically look the same.
I have study how physically club Mechanics work and golf is the most physically complicated game individualizing sport. Putting is an Art to the game for each person has to develop their own physical shape of body as a sensations to putt. NO two pro putt the same way. Changing physical body shape at times to move the putter head you can watch by Pros shows it art.
Think of putting is what you do with the putter head and use of small muscles. Here is differences. With clubs you use the big muscles as supporting force but putting is about developing the small muscle in shaping the body for a putt.
Finding your physical setup art to putt is the challenge if you want to be good and it will change with aging. What is the first clue to putting is build from ground up and your feet shape affect upper body and hands range and senator's to direct the putter head. You have 3 feet stands, 1, Box where feet are same. 2 open stances where back foot is forward to front one. 3 Close stances where back foot is behind the front foot.
Each stances of feet affect the putter shift movement. Open stances will give you a pendulum shift movement. The other two feet form will given your round shift action. this all lower body development. Then comes upper body and hands for grip development to move the putter head affects movement and your own sensations to direct your putter base on feed/back sensations. I have study the different ways person can develop their own sensation then comes judgement. There is NO one way for
By Scott M. Bartley from USA on 23 Feb 2021, 16:21