Written by Dan Frost on Thursday 18 June 2009
Hands up if you’ve ever taken a golf lesson to improve your swing? Now hands up if you’ve ever taken a putting lesson… …the chances are the majority of you have not tried the latter. Yet the putter is the one club we can save the most shots with. We use it three times as much during a round of golf...
Written by Dan Frost on Friday 8 May 2009
The yips occur when the right hand takes over and releases the putter uncontrollably. It’s like electric in your hands. If this horror scenario sounds familiar, then listen up. There is a simple putting drill you can use to cure your affliction. It involves changing your grip. TG Top 12 Teacher Dan Frost demonstrates how using a paddle-style grip can have a massive impact on...
Written by Dan Frost on Thursday 18 June 2009
If you’re a player who finds it very difficult to keep your head still during the putting stroke then this is a great putting drill for you. Simply address the putt and rest the flagstick against your head. Then try to make your putting stroke back and through without the flag dropping to the green. TG Top 12 Teacher Dan Frost demonstrates...
Written by Adrian Fryer on Friday 22 May 2009
Do you struggle to visualise the line of your putts? A great little tool you can use to help decide the line is the one I call a ‘Putting Spider’. Just draw some spider’s legs on a compact disc and position the head at the point where you think the ball will break into the hole. Then practice making putts aiming for...
Written by Dan Frost on Thursday 18 June 2009
When it comes to putting, we’re all looking for great new ideas to knock a few putts off our round of golf. This drill is one of the simplest, but also one of the most effective. All you need to do is set out an alignment grid using some clubs pointing at the hole on an area of flat putting green.
Written by Johan Edfors on Tuesday 5 May 2009
I had a tendency to get open in the shoulders which would lead to me pulling putts. I tried cross-handed for a while and that squared them up nicely, but it never felt comfortable. My coach suggested the grip that you see here. It’s one that he had used for some time and I find it much more comfortable than the...
Written by Graeme Storm on Tuesday 28 April 2009
I had a patch last season when I found that I was losing my feel for the distance putts. I struggled to get the pace right and kept leaving myself tricky ones coming back. A tip my manager, Chubby Chandler, gave me was to try and visualise the ball ‘just dropping into the hole’. That thought helps you to imagine a...
Written by Rory McIlroy on Tuesday 8 September 2009
I spent some time with putting coach Paul Hurrion recently and that has been very useful. We broke my stroke down to the basics and then just tightened everything up, working on my core stability. I like to set my palms square to the target line before gripping the club, so that my forearms are parallel. You don’t want one forearm...
Written by David Leadbetter on Wednesday 2 September 2009
On short putts, amateurs tend to have too long a backstroke and then decelerate through impact. This causes inconsistency in the stroke’s rhythm and tempo and a lack of control over distance and direction. For putts of, say, six feet and closer, your general rule should be to make a short, accelerating stroke. Experiment with trying to halve the length of...
Written by Phil Mickelson on Wednesday 2 September 2009
Although the forward press in putting is a matter of preference, it has always been my style to use one, and I recommend you give it a try. By nudging your hands toward the target a couple of inches before starting your takeaway, you’ll find it easier to return at impact with your hands ahead of the ball — a...
Written by Kiran Matharu on Monday 7 December 2009
Do you suffer from… 1. Putts hit frequently off line. Why does this happen? You’re hitting putts off line because you have an inconsistent putting stroke. Your body is too involved and you have too much hip rotation and head movement. To combat this, your hands tend to become active to try and square the clubface. The Fix: 3 checkpoints – grip, stance and stroke. Grip...