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Why you shouldn’t lag putt

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Frank Akey has been a teaching professional specializing in the short game since 1989, having taught students that ranged from raw beginners through mini-tour players, all ages, male and female. He served served as the Short Game Director for a major golf school for a brief time as well. His career prior to golf was in the weapons/tactics field, also as an instructor, so teaching accuracy seems to follow him.

I have some Core Beliefs and Absolutes when it comes to putting and the short game in general. This article is related to putting, so here are my “absolutes:”

  • Only two things can happen when you stroke a putt, no matter if it is a 1 footer or a 100 footer … you make it or you miss it, it is that simple.
  • Only two things you can have control of when you stroke a putt … you roll it on the line you intended and you roll it the speed you intended, also that simple.
  • You can make EVERY putt that you look at, no matter how long or how many breaks in the putt, BUT, not all putts will go in.
  • Imagination and feel is more important than having pure mechanics.
  • DO NOT LAG PUTT!!

Now, having said that, I can already hear the people yelling, “Blasphemy!” and “This guy is a flake/moron/idiot …” Or whatever description comes to mind, so let me expand a little on each of the above absolutes.

Let’s tackle the lag putt. This subject matter could take pages of discussion, but I will keep it short and sweet for the purpose of this article. My reasoning for teaching my students NOT to lag putt is more by definition of what most, including the majority of TV announcers, define as lag putting. When I hear someone say that the golfer is just trying to get the ball within a 5-foot circle, or that they would be happy if they kept the ball within X amount of feet, it drives me crazy! I am ALWAYS looking to MAKE the putt, no matter how many breaks, how far, degree of difficulty … I want the ball to stop within the magical 4.25” circle…the hole. There will always be a line and speed combination that will allow the ball to go in, and sometimes there is more than one combination that will work. Using the other definition, a lag putt is an intentionally missed putt that hopefully is close enough for an easy next putt. Using that logic, on a tough driving hole, do you lag drive hoping to keep the ball within 40 yards of the fairway? How about from the middle of the fairway 120 yards out, do you lag approach just trying to keep the ball within 40 yards of the green? Putting is all about confidence, and a lag putt is a lack of confidence in either your first putt or the ability to make the second putt from wherever the first putt stops.

That takes us to knowing you can make any putt that you look at, yet, not all putts will go in. That is the confidence that you build by practicing all kinds of putts, long and short, straight and breaking, uphill and downhill. Once you start seeing a lot of putts falling, your confidence starts to increase on those types of putts. Now when you have a 50 foot putt, you aren’t worried if you miss knowing you will make the next one, so you will start trying to make the longer putts. Believe it or not, they will occasionally go in … whodathunkit? It is a simple theory, but once you lose confidence in your putting, your chances of making anything dwindle dramatically. What some do not realize, is that a perfectly struck putt on a perfectly manicured green on a perfectly straight line will go in perfectly dead center … but not 100% of the time. The ball can have very slight imperfections that cause the ball to veer off line. The blades of grass are growing by the millisecond, and a small grain of sand may move ever-so-slightly and knock the ball off line. Something can make the ball take a small hop, which will change the roll and possibly alter the path. On the flip side, those same things can happen to a putt that is slightly OFF line and end up causing the ball to take the CORRECT line and go in … have you ever had that happen to you? It has happened to me.

My absolute that says only two things can happen is pretty much self-explanatory. After you strike a putt, the only results are a missed putt or a made putt. There isn’t really much than can be expanded on, so let’s look at this absolute’s cousin, only two things that you can control … speed and line. If after spending time reading the putt, you determine the line you think the ball must roll on, you can control whether or not you roll it on that intended line. Also, after determining what speed you think is necessary for the putt to go in, you can control the pace of your stroke to produce that speed. At the end of the putt, your ball rolling on your intended line on your intended speed will have done one of two things … you made it or you missed it.

The last of the absolutes is more of an opinion than a scientific fact. I believe that you will be more successful at putting if you have a good imagination in visualizing how the putt will roll, and able to use feel to duplicate that visualization. One cannot be taught either, but both can be developed. One of the methods I use in teaching imagination and visualization is to have you look at the green as if it were a hard, shiny solid sheet of granite. Seeing the undulations in the granite, if you were to roll the ball like a marble, how would the ball react to the various slopes and breaks? To help a student develop better feel, I have them stand on the green facing the hole, hold the golf ball in their dominate hand using only the thumb, index finger, and middle finger, and roll the golf ball to the hole, trying to get it to stop as it falls into the hole. After a few successful rolls, they then will take their putting stance and repeat the procedure. Some students are continually doing these things as drills when their putting goes sour.

Next time we will go into the hot topic of standard vs. belly vs. broom/long putters and how to determine which is best for you … if the USGA will let us. Until then.

Click here for more discussion in the “Instruction & Academy” forum.

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8 Comments

8 Comments

  1. md

    Jul 4, 2012 at 9:17 pm

    I think he’s just refering to putting here not your entire course management. And all he’s really saying is if you believe you can make every putt you will try to make every one. If you do that, the result will be that you will generally be within that 3 foot circle alot more often. Its just the principal of setting specific goals not general ones.

    • Leroy Potgieter

      Dec 15, 2017 at 12:17 pm

      The point of lag putting for me is more about speed control. One should always go for the hole, but with precise power management so that misses become tap ins

  2. nwri

    Jun 20, 2012 at 6:05 pm

    Lag Putting = Hitting Irons to the middle of the green imo. Some pins you just do not go for. Just like some putts you have to respect.

  3. cwang

    Mar 10, 2012 at 6:16 am

    But isn’t there a big difference between leaving yourself 3 feet uphiller breaking toward you and a 3 foot downhiller breaking away from you? There’s a reason pros like to leave it below the hole on long putts…

  4. Techvan4Life

    Mar 9, 2012 at 12:51 am

    I don’t know if I would agree with much of this article. The author asks if you would “lag” on a tough driving hole or “lag” from 120 yards out. Yes I do both, I’m not afraid to grab a 3 wood on a tough driving hole, or aiming away from a sucker pin to the center of the green. Shot placement from anywhere on the golf course is the equivalent to lag putting, I am intentionally not hitting the ball directly at the pin. Lag putting is an important part of the game that every player should know how to do successfully. It doesn’t have to be a complete putting philosophy but if you remove it from your game you better be ready for some three putts, and the skill has saved my ass in a couple pressure situations. Since the author hates lag putting and calls the shot an intentional miss I can only assume he never plays a shot that could be considered an intentional miss. He goes for it in two on every par 5, never pitches out of trouble, hits low percentage shots all day long, and never lays up to a position, angle, or yardage that he might like. He aims directly at the pin, hits it and hopes that it goes in, like he said he is hoping the ball lands in the magical 4.25″ circle.

  5. teddyt

    Mar 7, 2012 at 1:10 pm

    I think you may have a career in sports psychology … in teaching putting, the jury is still out.

  6. David Fayard

    Mar 6, 2012 at 1:09 pm

    LOVE the article… I hope people keep believing to “get it close/LAG it” so I can keep beating them….

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Instruction

Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!

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Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?

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How a towel can fix your golf swing

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This is a classic drill that has been used for decades. However, the world of marketed training aids has grown so much during that time that this simple practice has been virtually forgotten. Because why teach people how to play golf using everyday items when you can create and sell a product that reinforces the same thing? Nevertheless, I am here to give you helpful advice without running to the nearest Edwin Watts or adding something to your Amazon cart.

For the “scoring clubs,” having a solid connection between the arms and body during the swing, especially through impact, is paramount to creating long-lasting consistency. And keeping that connection throughout the swing helps rotate the shoulders more to generate more power to help you hit it farther. So, how does this drill work, and what will your game benefit from it? Well, let’s get into it.

Setup

You can use this for basic chip shots up to complete swings. I use this with every club in my bag, up to a 9 or 8-iron. It’s natural to create incrementally more separation between the arms and body as you progress up the set. So doing this with a high iron or a wood is not recommended.

While you set up to hit a ball, simply tuck the towel underneath both armpits. The length of the towel will determine how tight it will be across your chest but don’t make it so loose that it gets in the way of your vision. After both sides are tucked, make some focused swings, keeping both arms firmly connected to the body during the backswing and follow through. (Note: It’s normal to lose connection on your lead arm during your finishing pose.) When you’re ready, put a ball in the way of those swings and get to work.

Get a Better Shoulder Turn

Many of us struggle to have proper shoulder rotation in our golf swing, especially during long layoffs. Making a swing that is all arms and no shoulders is a surefire way to have less control with wedges and less distance with full swings. Notice how I can get in a similar-looking position in both 60° wedge photos. However, one is weak and uncontrollable, while the other is strong and connected. One allows me to use my larger muscles to create my swing, and one doesn’t. The follow-through is another critical point where having a good connection, as well as solid shoulder rotation, is a must. This drill is great for those who tend to have a “chicken wing” form in their lead arm, which happens when it becomes separated from the body through impact.

In full swings, getting your shoulders to rotate in your golf swing is a great way to reinforce proper weight distribution. If your swing is all arms, it’s much harder to get your weight to naturally shift to the inside part of your trail foot in the backswing. Sure, you could make the mistake of “sliding” to get weight on your back foot, but that doesn’t fix the issue. You must turn into your trial leg to generate power. Additionally, look at the difference in separation between my hands and my head in the 8-iron examples. The green picture has more separation and has my hands lower. This will help me lessen my angle of attack and make it easier to hit the inside part of the golf ball, rather than the over-the-top move that the other picture produces.

Stay Better Connected in the Backswing

When you don’t keep everything in your upper body working as one, getting to a good spot at the top of your swing is very hard to do. It would take impeccable timing along with great hand-eye coordination to hit quality shots with any sort of regularity if the arms are working separately from the body.

Notice in the red pictures of both my 60-degree wedge and 8-iron how high my hands are and the fact you can clearly see my shoulder through the gap in my arms. That has happened because the right arm, just above my elbow, has become totally disconnected from my body. That separation causes me to lift my hands as well as lose some of the extension in my left arm. This has been corrected in the green pictures by using this drill to reinforce that connection. It will also make you focus on keeping the lead arm close to your body as well. Because the moment either one loses that relationship, the towel falls.

Conclusion

I have been diligent this year in finding a few drills that target some of the issues that plague my golf game; either by simply forgetting fundamental things or by coming to terms with the faults that have bitten me my whole career. I have found that having a few drills to fall back on to reinforce certain feelings helps me find my game a little easier, and the “towel drill” is most definitely one of them.

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Instruction

Clement: Why your practice swing never sucks

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You hear that one all the time; I wish I could put my practice swing on the ball! We explain the huge importance of what to focus on to allow the ball to be perfectly in the way of your practice swing. Enjoy!

 

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