Putting

Before we get into the mechanics/art/science of putting, let's talk about "reading greens". The greatest stroke in the world will be of no use whatsoever if we have not learned how to properly read greens. Simply stated, the ability to read greens is being able to visually ascertain the overall lay of the green itself - is it fairly flat? - does it slope hard/gently from back to front, front to back, left to right or right to left or none of the above/combination of the above? Not all greens will fall into a single category, so it is sometimes necessary to divide the green into sections/quadrants in our mind (i.e. the front portion of the green slopes pretty dramatically from right to left while the back portion of the green is relatively flat except for the back, left side of the green that slopes drastically left towards some very thick and ugly rough. Even though your ball is on a specific portion of the green, it helps to get a good feeling for the overall geometry of the green - especially if your ball is on one portion of the green and the pin on a totally different portion of the green.

I've putted on thousands of greens over the years and I will still occasionally get a putt that is unlike any I have ever seen. The trick is to not get too scientific here or to over analyze your situation. If you were able to walk up to the green with a fair sense of balance and you can learn to keep your eyes fairly "level", you should pretty quickly be able to detect "contours" or slopes or variances in levels between different spots on the green. It should be noted here, as well, that not all greens can be read the same. If you play on a course that is nestled among lots of hills or mountains in the background, reading the green just became more difficult - because we can not easily (without even realizing it) see the horizon in the distance. I have been totally fooled on such greens on occasion - to the point where I would have bet big money that the green sloped front to back when in fact, it was exactly the opposite (I have been using a little trick lately to help me on such greens - I will stand off to the side of the green and actually hold my putter right on it's balance point, thereby making it level to the ground - comparing the level putter with the green, you can pretty quickly detect a slight break that you might not have otherwise noticed).

It goes without saying that the closer you are to the hole, the easier it should be to read the green (notice, I didn't say that it might be an easier putt - if you are 4 feet above the hole on a green that severley slopes from back to front, you have a difficult putt - even if it is a "dead straight" putt... one degree of the putterface open or closed and you just might miss the putt - and leave yourself 25 feet coming back). In a case like this, it might be more desirable to have a 20 footer straight up the hill. The further we are from the hole, the more complicated our putt "may" be - if the green or greens are the type with lots of little contours, mounds, slopes etc... in such a situation, it is best to try and read the green "in sections" - what will it do for the first few feet, the next 5, 10 or 15 feet and the all-important last few feet as it approaches the hole and the momentum of the ball is greatly slowing down, leading to the most critical time in any putt's life - the last few feet as it approaches (hopefully) the hole.

I could go one forever about how we can improve our green reading skills but the best advice of all is simply to get out there and practice, practice, practice. There is just too much to cover regarding this subject (such as the "texture" of the green, the grain or lack of grain such as that found on most Bermuda grass greens - I could go on and on) so for simplicity's sake, let's just start by trying to see the overall layout of the particular green we are playing (it helps a lot to start "reading" the green as we approach it - you can notice a lot of it's subtleties more easily when viewing the green from a slight distance than when you are actually standing on it). Some people also find that it helps, when trying to read a difficult green, to try and figure out which way the water would drain if you were to empty a large bucket of water on the green. Once again, there is no better substitute than practice, practice, practice.

In no other area of the game of golf are we so able to express our individuality as on the putting green. It can be argued that there has never been just one correct way to putt (this is an ABSOLUTE). Similarly, we can not discount the "apparently" incorrect ways of putting - if they manage to get the ball in the hole with a better than average degree of regularity. I've seen successful putters who stand perfectly erect, some who bend over 90 degrees (or more)... some whose hands are spread apart a foot or more on the grip and some who use an extra thick grip so as to get their hands perfectly in line with each other (perhaps with all of their fingers interlocked or one hand totally overlapping the other, which, while possibly making a good "feel" more difficult, does at least help to get the shoulders level in relation to the ground - which some find most helpful).

Regarding all of the possibilities out there, I would turn once again to the area that is most likely to give us the most positive feedback - the Touring Pros. Other than the "broomstick" putters and "belly" putters, the oddest things you will usually see on any of the major tours are stances that are much wider or narrower than normal - and a whole host of experimental new ways of gripping the putter. Reverse overlap, the claw grip, one-handed grips, the pencil grip - and whatever else may come down the pike. If you are currently just a so-so putter and are willing to take the steps necessary to improve your putting, allow me to make a few suggestions. Watch and study the more successful pros on tour. I love to watch Steve Stricker, Lauren Roberts, Ben Crenshaw, Jiyai Shin from the LPGA Tour, Jay Haas and from the older days, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson (a slight insult to Tom considering he nearly, and should have won the Open Championship just 7 months ago) and last but not least, the late, great Bobby Locke*.

These wonderful putters all seem to have several things in common - they all seem to follow a consistent routine before hitting a putt, none of them appear to be "stressed" in any way, shape or form (extreme belief in themselves?), despite the situation or importance of a particular putt, the routine never changes and their body-language does not show the least hint of stress. Considering the chameleon that I've become over the last two decades regarding my game, I am in total, absolute and utter amazement at one Mr. Jack Nicklaus. Jack is now 70 years old and if you watch his routines - both in his full shots and in his putting - from the time he first became known as a teenage phenom until the present day, HE HASN'T CHANGED A THING. Now, I only say that as a humble onlooker who appreciates brilliance when he sees it. I'm sure Jack will tell you he has made several changes or modifications over the years but since he has been so right for so long and so dominant, only the most discerning or well-trained eye (or Jack himself) could ever point out those minor changes, slight nuances or almost undetectable changes in certain positions or pressure points - talk about committing to what works (I'd like to reiterate a point that Johnny Miller made on one of his golf telecast's - he could not believe that there wasn't a single young player out there emulating Jack's setup and putting method - especially mind-boggling considering that Jack has probably been the most consistently great putter in the world, especially when it really mattered, in the last 50 years)! I guess the message here is, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

We should stay as balanced and as still as possible (without being tense) while stroking the ball. It is my belief that what holds true for the golf swing itself also holds true for the putting stroke; the less moving parts, the better. Some of the very best putters over the years have been those who just move the "Y"... imagine your arms and your putter form the letter "Y" (your shoulders 'connect' the Y at the top. Now, this may not be a perferctly symetrical Y since you might choose to have your hands slightly forward which would make one side of the Y a little longer - the point is, many successful putters, for decades have only allowed this entire "one-piece Y" to move while everything else stays fixed - distance is controlled by how far back/forward we take the putter.

Other putters (i.e. Billy Casper) putted with their hands in nice and close to their bodies and basically stroked the ball by simply "breaking the wrists", back and forward, in order to create leverage while basically keeping their hands locked in place (this is sort of how Arnie, and a whole host of other earlier greats also putted). I think what naturally happens over time is that better players (touring pros) develop putting strokes dictated by the type of greens they most normally face day to day. Nowadays, with greens as smooth as pool tables and "fast" being the norm, a stroke has evolved that basically takes the hands out of the putt and hence, there is less of a feeling of an actual HIT or POP to the stroke... "stroking" the putt conjures up the correct image for me - a smooth stroke as opposed to a hit... get the ball rolling as smoothly and as quickly as possible. Regarding the above, I think Bobby Jones old "Calamity Jane" putter may have had as much as 8 degrees of loft. In Mr. Jones' heyday, the greens were not nearly as perfect and uniform as they are today (which make his accomplishment's even MORE amazing). The greens were "shaggier", slower, more prone to the affects of grain... this type of green required a putter that would actually, first get the ball a little "airborne" - depending on the length of the putt, the ball might actually be in the air for the first 2, or 3 or 4 feet and then would start it's roll toward the hole.

There are a lot of theories about how to make a good stroke and upping the odds in your favor of consistently holing putts. It is a wide held belief that in order to putt your best, your eyes should be directly over the line of the putt... I don't necessarily agree. If you are a straight back and through putter (not the most 'natural' way to putt in my mind), eyes over the line may work well for you - if you can absolutely take that putter back perfectly straight and not have it waver "even slighty" to the outside or inside (this type of putter - and there are many successful putters who use this method - should consider using a putter that is "face-balanced"** as opposed to a heel putter or blade type which is heavy in the toe area).

Like the full swing, I think the best putters stand fairly naturally (and effortlessly) to the ball... slight knee bend, butt out a little, slight bend at the waist - hands dangling tension-free from the shoulder sockets - body parts parallel to the intended "starting line" of the putt... ball slightly up in the stance so as to promote a square clubface to ball contact (almost like a drive, in miniature) - no downward strike - stance fairly wide as to create a very stable base from which to stroke the ball (I sometimes putt my best when I convince myself that my legs are two concrete pillars, buried in the ground and not even a hurricane could move me off-balance). Note here - if you have a tendency to "lift" the putter on the backstroke and subsequently hit down on the putt, which can only lead to inconsistency, use the aforementioned Jack Nicklaus method - or a slight variation of it.

Jack bends well over, left elbow pointing towards the target, left shoulder higher than right, right arm bent pretty substantially at the elbow and head pretty far "behind" the ball. With this method, you can not help but take the putter back low to the ground and set yourself up for a nice level (and low-to-the-ground) stroke... Jack also stated that he felt that this type of setup gave him the best overall view of the line to the hole. I guess all of what I am suggesting here is that if you are a "high-handicap" putter (and there is no physical reason why you can't be one of the best putters in the world), then you have nothing to lose and can totally rethink/rebuild your putting method. Pick someone on the tour who is above average on the greens - preferably built somewhat like you and try to study him or her intently. One area in which the pros are head and shoulders above most amateurs is in the number of 3-putts they have (or DON'T have). Many tour pros have gone an entire 72 hole tournament without a single 3-putt, while most of my golfing buddies (some of whom are above average golfers) are ready to break out the champagne when they go 9 holes without a 3-putt. And don't use the crutch I often hear that says "yea, well if I played on the perfect greens the tour pros play on, I'd never 3-putt either"... truth is, you'd 3-putt even more because you are weak in "probably" the most important area of successful putting - SPEED CONTROL... that weakness will only be magnified when you get on super-fast greens (like Augusta National, where several players have gone all 72 holes without a single 3-putt).

I won't declare it an ABSOLUTE (although I am tempted to) that many more 3 or even 4 & 5-putts are due to inadequate speed control and not mis-reading the break. So this is where your efforts should be focused - LEARNING SPEED CONTROL... and there are a number of ways to do it. It all begins with the notion that the length of our stroke (all other things being equal) directly affects the distance the ball will travel. I personally use the mental image of a yardstick lying on the ground behind my ball and taking the putter back to certain "inch" increments depending on the distance of the putt (accounting, also, for uphill, downhill and sidehill affect).

There are thousands of drills one can use to help with speed control and it is not my intention to list them all here but a few simple things to do are as follows. Find a green where you can spend some uninterrupted time and stand at one end of the green. Place tees in the ground at 5 foot intervals and hit a bunch of putts to the various tees trying to get as close as possible with each attempt. Don't just do them in even 5-foot increments either. Hit some putts to the 10 foot tee, then some to the 40 foot tee and then a few to the 5 foot tee - mix it up. Stand to one side of the green and try putting towards the opposite side fringe on an angle so each putt will be of different lenght - try to get the ball to stop just as it bumps up against the fringe. Aditionally, you want to spend a LOT of time in a 3, 4 or 5 foot circle around the hole - you can not hit too many putts from this range. Speed should not be as critical as direction on these shorter (BUT OH SO IMPORTANT) putts. If you have determined that the putt is dead-straight, find a little piece of grass or something easily noticeable just an inch or so in front of your ball THAT IS DIRECTLY IN LINE WITH THE HOLE... surely, you can hit a target one inch away and should make 99.99% of these putts.

As time goes on and you start to get a feel for length of stroke/length of putt, you will quickly learn that a 10 inch backstroke on a level super-fast green might send the ball 50 feet, while that same 10 inch stroke on a slow green might only send the ball 10 feet... LESSON - PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. As far as non-standard putters go (broomstick, belly), I am a traditionalist and I consider them anomalies - last resorts for some. If you happen to have a bad back though , the extra long putter can be a Godsend. Believe me, I have several of every type of putter in my basement but would never resort to anything too odd unless all other areas have been exhausted. If you experience a long period of lousy putting, it is time to readdress your setup, ball-position, weight distribution, eye position, grip, mental attitude, routine etc... the answer is there - you just need to dust it off and shine it up.

*Bobby Locke - I read somewhere that Bobby Locke once went an entire tournament "SEASON" without a single 3-putt... just think about that for a second - especially considering that in the 40's and 50's, the greens were nowhere near as consistent as they are now. Bobby is in the Hall Of Fame and was good enough to win 4 British Opens plus a bunch of other tournaments. He was/is known as one of the VERY greatest putters of all time but I don't know about trying to emulate his method. He played all of his putts from a closed stance, addressed the ball off the toe of the putter, took the putter way back inside and "hooked" all his putts (he apparently hooked all of his full shots as well which makes sense). I think it just serves to prove the point that individuality in golf (definitely, in putting) is not something that should be taken lightly. If you discover a method that works for you, even though it goes against anything or everything mentioned here, then by all means, stick with it... maybe you have stumbled upon a great new discovery.

OpenMindedGolf