Monday 24 June 2019
Zen Green Stage: The first computer controlled putting green If you’re serious about your putting, you need to get yourself on one of these. Unlike those lightning-quick putting mats in American Golf or the miniature versions from Argos, Zen Green Stage can recreate real-world putts at just the touch of a button. In a matter of seconds, you can tilt the stage...
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Drills for Pure Putting: Five go-to exercises that have stood the test of time If you want some simple but effective drills to help you with your stroke, alignment and accuracy, then look no further. These five drills all help with a different part of your putting, and are aimed to help you cut down the number of putts per round. 1. Belly...
Written by Jamie Donaldson on Monday 24 June 2019
AimApoint: The system that takes the mystery out of green-reading (Jump to drill: Four steps to a better read with Aimpoint) A couple of things we already know. Putts break towards water or the sea or into a valley. They break more at the than they do at the beginning and no matter how experienced you might be, there is always an...
Monday 17 June 2019
Pete Cowen, the coach of U.S Open champion Gary Woodland and PGA Champ Brooks Koepka, has built a career out of turning golfers into serial winners. Now it’s your turn… Pete Cowen has had plenty to celebrate this year: Being the short-game coach of Brooks Koepka will do that, having picked up his fourth major and posting two runner-ups at the...
Written by Andy Sullivan, European Tour winner on Tuesday 4 June 2019
We all know golf is about 90% mental, so it amazes me how many amateurs walk into a bunker looking absolutely terrified and wonder why they can’t get out. A lot of bunker success comes down to confidence and going in there with a positive, rather than defeatist, attitude. Follow my advice and you’ll soon start to think like a...
Written by Michael Catling on Thursday 10 January 2019
Jordan Spieth: “To make more birdies you need to do a lot of things right. Here I’ll take you through some tips, from the tee to the green” How good does it feel to make a birdie? It means you’ve played a hole perfectly – a tee shot into the fairway, an accurate approach and a solid putt. My birdie stats...