Instruction
The Six Must Knows of Putting
There are many theories and systems when it comes to putting, and just like in the full-swing, those mechanics and theories are not correct for everyone.
As a golf coach, I really enjoy the current technology era that we live in. Due to the evolution of this technology there are many golf instructors/coaches out there, including myself, that are constantly trying to find factual data to help our students improve.
Below you will find my six “must knows” of putting based on that data. These six keys should help you strengthen this ultra-important area of the game.
Correct Loft
Having the correct loft on the putter to fit your stroke is crucial when it comes to producing the proper roll. To eliminate hopping and skipping, it’s important to have the right loft. I’m a big advocate of getting fit for a putter instead of buying one off the rack because of a few reasons.
- Listed loft: The loft that is listed is typically not accurate when measured (prior to stroke).
- Shaft angle: How you deliver the handle at impact effects loft. Too much shaft lean decreases loft and too much lean away from the target increases loft.
- Effective loft: The difference between the listed loft and shaft angle at impact will produce the putter’s effective loft, or actual loft.
Face Angle
Having the correct face orientation at impact is one of the main keys to starting your ball on the intended line. Some experts in the field are now saying it could be close to 93 percent responsible for a golf ball’s starting direction. Many would advocate that without the correct face alignment at address, it gets that much more difficult to deliver the face orientation correctly at impact.
I slightly disagree with this based on what I’ve seen and read. It’s very difficult to aim the putter head exactly where you would like at address due to a few things:
- Eye dominance
- Ball position
- Grip type
- Shoulder alignment
The better putters on Tour tend to align the face within about 2 degrees of their starting line. There are also great putters that get outside of that number, but still have a repeatable face orientation at impact.
Impact Location
The consistency of where the ball is struck on the face is very important when it comes to both the start line and speed control. That doesn’t mean the ball necessarily needs to strike the center of the face, but it does need to strike the point in which the putter sweet spot is. Finding your putter’s sweet spot is key!
Based on the type of putter you have (and many will be improperly weighted), the sweet spot is not necessarily in the center of the face. A high-end fitter will be able to help you out in this regard.
Where the ball is struck in relation to that sweet spot plays a large roll on the consistency of your distance control. One of the reasons most Tour players have great distance control is because they’re able to consistently hit the same area on the putter face over and over again. As putts gets longer, this concept becomes a bigger factor, and one of the big reasons why so many of the average golfers three- and four-putt. They aren’t able to consistently hit the same location on the face.
Rise
When the ball is resting on the green, it sits in a slight depression on the ground. Although this may not be visible to the eye, the ball is indeed sitting down, and grass length will play a role in just how deep it sits.
It’s very important that the ball is slightly lifted out of the crevice so that it can begin rolling end-over-end as soon as possible. This means that the putter head needs to be delivered into the golf ball a particular way, and that way should be on a very slight upward rise angle. A slight rise angle paired with the correct putter loft will limit skid and give the ball a better chance of holding the line chosen by the player.
True Velocity
This is more of an education than anything, because I would not necessarily want to prescribe what I’m about to say to most, if any golfers, but it should be noted!
I often hear the excuse “I decelerated” on the greens as the reason why a golfer missed a putt. Based on research, however, the best players in the world actually lose velocity just prior to impact, and then into impact. Tour players create the most velocity very early in the beginning of the downswing and then lose that velocity just prior to impact. As the ball is struck it loses more, which should actually make sense when you think about it.
What has been found from gathering data from average golfers is that their peak velocity is actually right after impact, meaning they are doing the complete opposite as the best players in the world. As I stated earlier, I would not prescribe this thought process of actually attempting to feel like one is slowing down through impact, but what I would prescribe is for golfers to work on their tempo. This will help take the “hit” out of the stroke, and allow players to slow everything down a touch. I like to use a metronome with many of my players to help them get the correct feel for this.
Understanding Path
I personally believe that the path in which the putter head travels is overrated, and technology would back me up on that. Nine years ago I probably would never have said that! I also thought that a straight back and through stroke was the only way to be a consistently great putter. It turns out I was wrong.
The path the putter head moves along has a very small effect on where the golf ball initially starts. As I stated earlier, many experts in the field are now saying the putter face can be responsible for up to 93 percent of initial start line. Once you move through impact location, which does affect the start line, the path is responsible for a very small percentage of directional control.
If you watch the players on both the PGA and LPGA tours, you will see many different paths — square-to-square, in-to-in, out-to-in, in-to-out, etc. They make a lot of money with those different path directions.
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Instruction
Clement: Laid-off or perfect fade? Across-the-line or perfect draw?
Some call the image on the left laid off, but if you are hitting a fade, this could be a perfect backswing for it! Same for across the line for a draw! Stop racking your brain with perceived mistakes and simply match backswing to shot shape!
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Instruction
The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic
My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.
As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.
The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.
Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply. Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:
Mis-aligned hands
By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.
The position of the grip in the upper/left hand
I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean. Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.
To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.
Too much lower (right) hand on the club
It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.
Gripping too tightly
Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.
So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.
More from the Wedge Guy
- The Wedge Guy: Golf mastery begins with your wedge game
- The Wedge Guy: Why golf is 20 times harder than brain surgery
- The Wedge Guy: Musings on the golf ball rollback
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Instruction
Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!
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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Pingback: The Six Must Knows of Putting | GolfClick.net | Blog
Frank McChrystal
Feb 16, 2015 at 2:48 pm
What about the rotifer?
Lee Sullivan PGA Golf Professional U.K.
Feb 15, 2015 at 4:35 pm
I enjoyed reading this article Bill, well done. One thing I would just question, is the accuracy of measuring the parameter for effective loft using the SAMPuttLa
Lee Sullivan PGA Golf Prfessional U.K.
Feb 15, 2015 at 4:34 pm
I enjoyed reading this article Bill, well done. One thing I would just question, is the accuracy of measuring the parameter for launch for effective loft using the SAMPuttLab?
Andy W
Feb 15, 2015 at 9:24 am
Great article. What are your thoughts on putters that promote a quick roll, or what I like to say, have a “topspin” hit like when playing Ping-Pong? I think Teardrop started this concept way back with a TV infomercial hitting putts with dew on the green, and how quickly the Teardrop putter started the ball rolling where with other putters, the ball would skip in the first few feet, putting dots on the dew in the putt path.
Out of Context
Feb 14, 2015 at 5:37 pm
Love using my unit too
Especially the last few seconds
Steve Wozeniak
Feb 14, 2015 at 1:45 pm
When it come to rise……this is why the best put the ball more towards the left foot at address…….good stuff Bill……
Steve Wozeniak PGA
http://www.stevewozeniak.com
Bill Schmedes III
Feb 14, 2015 at 9:59 pm
Thanks Steve!
http://www.BS3Golf.com
other paul
Feb 13, 2015 at 10:25 pm
I would love to see an article about alignment. I line up the putt and when I move over the ball it seems that I perceive the hole being somewhere else. I miss putts to the left 90% of the time (I am a lefty) Drives me crazy.
Bill Schmedes III
Feb 14, 2015 at 11:15 am
That’s a pretty common problem many have. Sounds like a great idea for another article. Thanks!
Beacher50
Feb 15, 2015 at 1:06 pm
Don’t forget to add a part about eye dominance, left or right. As a former competive skeet shooter, i first hand learned how being right handed, and left eye dominance, or vice versa can cause alingment issues.
Isaac
Feb 19, 2015 at 5:16 am
Some of the best putters in the world are right handed and left eye dominant. Congratulations 🙂
Stretch
Feb 20, 2015 at 11:17 am
other paul your problem is exactly what has plagued Phil Mickelson for a long time. Simply put you are missing left because your eyes are looking left of the intended line. Right handed golfers do the same to the right. Work on steep down hill left to right putts and with speed to not exceed going 15″ past. Eventually you will have to adjust your aim farther right in order to hit a solid controlled putt on the line needed to hole out. Good luck!
Roosterredneck
Feb 13, 2015 at 5:38 pm
I have the problem sometimes of making the figure 8 in the back and forward swing to the ball.
and inside to outside loop. What about this type swing? Help!
Bill Schmedes III
Feb 14, 2015 at 11:14 am
Could be influenced by a number of things. If your a good putter I wouldn’t be terribly concerned. If your not find a local professional that is able to measure your stroke.
SB
Feb 17, 2015 at 11:50 am
Shaft could be too long, putter overall weight can be too light….Just to name a few reasons
Tom Stickney
Feb 13, 2015 at 5:19 pm
Good article based on the facts from the sam…love using the unit with my students.
Bill Schmedes III
Feb 14, 2015 at 11:09 am
Thanks Tom. Hope your well!
SB
Feb 17, 2015 at 11:53 am
Bill,
What is your take on overall putter weight? I have found in my experience giving lessons and over 200 putter fittings using SAM, that MOST players benefit from having a heavier overall weighted putter. Whether it be weight down the shaft or in the hands (or both), most improved pretty quickly.
Thanks for your time.