Putting is one of the most miss understood parts of golf. The perception is its all about technique, but it can’t be further than the truth. It’s all about creating the right mind set.
I can’t remember the last time I told someone to try and change the movement of their stroke, I have however made a big impact on their stroke by changing the mind set whilst putting!
Tension is the number 1 enemy of the putting stroke. Anything we can do to reduce tension will improve the mechanics of the stroke. Thinking less about the path the putter takes is the first thing I would advocate. But what should we think about then?
I would suggest you concentrate on your rhythm. Rhythm will heavily influence tension. There has been proven to be an optimum rhythm of 2:1 for putting.
What that basically means is if the back stroke took 2 seconds to complete the down stroke would take 1 second to make. Most of you by this point will be asking, that’s all well and good to know but how do I achieve it?
The answer is a simple one, gravity will accelerate a putter at this magic ratio. So what I’m basically saying is all you need to worry about is pulling the putter back far enough and letting it go!
Easy for me to say, not so easy for you to do! I can guarantee that at the moment you probably pull the putter back too short and accelerate too hard “hitting” at the putt. So when you change to allowing gravity to hit the putt you will more than likely leave putts short.
My advice would be to feel as though your putting stroke becomes longer, smoother, softer and more flowing like a pendulum. This is how you would probably describe some of the best strokes in the world I’m sure!
Here’s a great drill to work on your rhythm. Hold your putter at the bottom of the grip in your dominant hand and let it hang by your side. Now start swinging your arm backwards and forwards like a marching arm. Not with tension but with rhythm. Let the putter head, grip, hand, elbow and arm all move backwards and forwards at the same pace. If your doing this correctly you should be able to stand there not even thinking about it and maintaining the same rhythm. This is the most accurate way you can experience the feel of the optimum motion.
Now all you need to do is to recreate the feel of that rhythm with two hands in a putting stance and posture. My advice would be to make some flowing practice strokes again but with both hands on the putter to try and recreate that optimum rhythm.
My advice initially would be to put your mind in the putter head to focus on creating that optimum rhythmical motion.
So work on finding that optimum rhythm and watch those putts drop!
