Monday 24 June 2019
Yip, Yip, Hooray: You don’t have to suffer in silence any more If an attack of the shanks doesn’t get you, the yips just might. In 2016, Ernie Els considered quitting the game when he six-putted the opening hole at Augusta. “I couldn’t get the putter back,” he said. “I can’t explain it.” Not many people can, which is why it largely goes...
Monday 24 June 2019
The X-Factor: These five players had it, and are considered among the best putters of all-time Brad Faxon The man who recently advised Rory on his stroke once had the best putting season ever, averaging 1.704 putts per GIR in 2000. When Faxon putts there are no technical thoughts; he creates a picture in his mind and uses that image to tell his...
Monday 24 June 2019
Warm Up: Arriving early will give you a head start on the greens Sorry to disappoint you but dropping a few balls down five minutes before your tee time isn’t a warm-up. You might as well keep munching on that bacon butty instead, because you’re never going to learn anything about the pace of the greens without a little bit of application...
Monday 24 June 2019
Why visualising can help with your success on the greens When you give your brain a clear picture of what it is you are trying to achieve, it can get to work on creating the appropriate movements to deliver success. This is why visualising is such a potent weapon on the greens. Here are two ways you can improve your own ability...
Monday 24 June 2019
Understanding your stroke will help you putt better Watch the best golfers in the world and you will quickly see that some favour a straighter stroke, in which the putter tracks up and down the ball- target line, while others prefer more of an arcing motion. Both can be effective, and it is one of those areas of putting that comes down...
Monday 24 June 2019
Tempo: Why it matters, and how to groove yours Tempo has been defined as the total time your stroke takes from start to finish. It often gets confused with rhythm, but as this definition shows, tempo is more about the speed you swing the putter – slower, or faster. That said, tempo has a direct impact on rhythm. Good tempo evens out back/through...
Monday 24 June 2019
Why include the Spider X within an A-Z of putting? Well because it, and its predecessor the Spider Tour, are he putters convincing tour pros in their droves to switch from blades to mallets. Ten years ago when TaylorMade launched the first Spider putter, 75 per cent of tour pros used blade putters. A decade later, 60 per cent now use...
Monday 24 June 2019
The importance of green reading: You will never hole putts unless you know how to assess greens properly One of the biggest mistakes club golfers make is under-playing break and missing on the low side (the amateur side). Do that and gravity dictates that the ball never has a chance of catching the edge of the hole and going in. Instead, you...
Monday 24 June 2019
A stimpmeter is used to measure how quick the speed of the green is The speed of greens is a talking point from Tour events to weekend medals. Speeds are measured with a device known as a Stimpmeter, an aluminium bar which is raised to an angle of about 20 degrees so a ball can run down its length and along...
Monday 24 June 2019
Personalisation with MySpider: It’s never been easier to get a bespoke putter made just for you More and more Tour players are tweaking their clubs so they’re unique to them – and now you can, too. Whether that’s adding alignment lines or taking them off, changing the colour or changing the grip, there are hardly any “standard” putters on Tour anymore. Now...
Monday 24 June 2019
Mind coach Karl Morris on how to get over nerves when you’re standing over your putts Think back to the last putt you got really nervous on. If you pull the situation apart, you can begin to see how those nerves were based on a prediction of failure. Effectively, you were anticipating just how unpleasant or problematic a miss would be.
Monday 24 June 2019
Use this quick drill to fix your face angle on short putts Holing short putts is all about face aim, and ensuring the blade is square to your target line at impact. To train this, narrow your target. Set up three balls, each on a high tee peg. From a distance of no more than two feet, try to knock each one...
Monday 24 June 2019
Five key messages from the Lost Art of Putting TG Top 50 teachers Gary Nicol and Karl Morris Gary and Karl have years of experience coaching everyone from beginners to Major winners. Karl’s company, The Mind Factor, works closely with TPEGS Ultimate Golf Experiences, run by Gary and Andrew Coltart at Archerfield Links. Written by two TG Top 50 coaches, this 2018...
Monday 24 June 2019
The key to holing putts is a pure roll: Here are two drills will help you achieve that Putters are built with two or three degrees of loft to help get the ball up and out of the little depression it creates through its weight. It does though mean that even the purest putt has an initial period of skid before...
Monday 24 June 2019
Jason Day: The PGA Tour’s star putter last year reveals his set-up secrets Jason Day might have lost some of the form which took him to world No.1 in 2016, but hasn’t lost his touch on the greens. On the PGA Tour last year he finished second in Strokes Gained: Putting, and made over 90% of putts from inside 10 feet using...
Written by Simon Daddow on Monday 24 June 2019
Understanding the importance of impact and how it affects your putt There is no one perfect way to hit a putt – just like drivers and irons, every golfer has their own unique way of presenting the putter face to the ball at impact. Impact though takes a fraction of a second and because 75% of where the ball rolls to...
Monday 24 June 2019
Hosels: Find out how that shaft-head join affects performance There’s almost as many different hosel designs nowadays as there are putters. Each offers not only a rent look, but alters toe hang and gives varying amounts of off set. Here, we use TaylorMade’s comprehensive line-up of flatsticks to showcase the most common hosel set-ups you’ll find on a putter rack, and...
Monday 24 June 2019
Looking for a new golf grip? Consider one of these… FLAT CAT – £29.95 www.flatcatgolf.com Favoured by Justin Rose, Flat Cat comes in five sizes. The brand say the wide, at surfaces of the grip (which can be positioned either square or at 90o to the face) puts the putter face in the palm of your hand. They say it gives a...
Monday 24 June 2019
Putter Fitting: Why finding the right length of putter for you is so important This tip comes from Chris Trott, Director of Global Tours, Taylormade Putter fitting has come a very long way in the last few years. Much of the progress can be attributed to the latest crop of high-tech launch monitors and software which enable engineers, scientists and club fitters to...
Monday 24 June 2019
Become a better lag putter to give yourself easy two-putts more often This Tip comes from top 50 Teacher gareth Johnston Calcot Park, Berkshire PGA Professional and Director of Golf at Calcot Park The ability to lag putts dead from distance is far more about learning to trust your senses of sight and feel than gaining any specific technical skill. The drill...