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 Send in your favorite putting tips and drills and I will post them here. Practice makes perfect and having your own golf green is a great opportunity to improve. If you have tips for putting practice, please send to me and I will post them here. 
You have a great sight, but I guess you don't need to hear that from me. I sent you an e-mail earlier, but I was reading your tips section just a bit ago and thought I would share my experience with you as well. Post it if you like. Oh about my other e-mail I basically would like to know if I can order your book via phone with my debt card? Don't you go shopping with it now :-) Anyway about putting. I am a 5 handicapper who loves golf. I play year round in the Seattle area. I was having some trouble with the putter though and couldn't figure it out. After a few video shots from various angles I realized that when my putter hit the ball...the damn thing would bounce a short distance and then skid a little and then finally roll smoothly. (this could not be clearly seen with the naked eye so it wasn't drastic) Anyway I found that the lower I keep the putter in my back swing the better the ball will come off the face. Keeping the putter a little lower also made me use my shoulders more and prevented me from breaking my wrists. When you break your wrists the putter comes up off the ground more causing the putter to move downwards through impact. That downward movement is what was "popping" the ball up in the air. If the ball leaves the ground at all 2 things can happen. One, you lose speed and two, it can bounce off line. Since figuring this out I have much more confidence in my shorter putts and I am sinking more putts from 5-10 feet away. So for those of you that find your ball is bouncing all over the place (and not from spike marks) try keeping the putter head closer to the ground at take away. The ball will roll nicely off the putter face and almost seem as though it is hugging to the ground on the line you intended it to go. And remember follow through just as far as you took it back...if not farther. This will keep you eccelerating through the ball and prevents that ever so nasty deceleration move. Here are some great tips (thanks to Jim Wile (I use these all time)): Leo, here is a putting tip I learned recently that I'd like to share with other visitors to your website:This tip (actually 2 different tips that I use together) is from the book See It And Sink It listed above. This is a great alignment aid to ensure that you are indeed aiming where you think you are aiming. Use the label or some words on the ball to align yourself with the hole. (I use Titleists, but prefer the words "DT Wound 100" rather than the label "Titleist", because the line of words are thinner and longer. You can also draw lines on the ball if there are no good aiming words.After looking over the putt and deciding on the amount of break, squat down immediately behind the ball and turn it so that the label or words are located on top of the ball and point directly to your aiming point (the hole for a straight putt or some number of inches left or right for breaking putts). To test whether or not your words are aimed correctly, use the shaft of the putter. Holding the putter by the grip in one hand, line up the bottom of the shaft--the grip end--with the words on the ball. The top of the shaft (putter head end) should be pointing where you are intending to aim. By bending your wrist up, you can make the top of the shaft extend all the way to your aiming point. If it does not cross your aiming point, adjust the position of the ball and take another reading down the shaft until you are satisfied. With the words on the ball correctly aligned, take your stance and place the putter blade perpendicular to the words. It really helps to have aiming lines on your putter to do this acccurately. You are now perfectly aligned. It's uncanny how simple, but effective this is; it almost feels like cheating but is perfectly legal. My aim has improved dramatically on all length putts, and I am putting better than ever using this method. You have to trust it, though, because your eyes can fool you. It always seems to me that I am aiming too far left, but that helps to explain why I always used to miss putts to the right. - Robert Snyder To practice your lag putts. Take a bunch of tees and make a 3 foot circle around the hole. All of your chips and long putts should be inside of this circle. That is your goal on long putts. Jackie Burke, winner of the 1956 Masters practiced 4 footers and 40 footers. His theory was that most golfers don't make 20-30 footers but probably won't three putt from 20 feet. But forty feet is almost a guaranteed three putt. Getting a 40 foot putt close, say inside of four feet is the objective. Then ... practicing four foot putts will ensure that you can get up and down from forty feet. Practice chipping off of the fringe with your 3 or 5 wood. This is a great shot to know and a favorite of Tiger Woods. It is really easy to get the ball rolling low and fast, so you should experiment with these clubs. The shot is great for uphill chips on a sloped green. One simple drill that I do all of the time is to place 10 balls around the green, some on the putting surface, some on the collar and some in the rough. I then have to chip/putt them all in with 20 strokes or less. This encourages you to try to make a few, in case you miss a short putt. Another favorite drill of mine is to make a circle around the green with balls about six feet from the hole. I won't stop until I have made 7 out of 10 balls. To develop a sense of feel on the putting surface. Putt 20 balls with your eyes closed. Don't look up at the results until you have putted all the balls. The result is that you will learn to focus on a smooth stroke and not over-focus on the hole or the ball. My all time favorite practive drill on my putting green actually involves chipping. I start with 5 balls on the collar of the green with a short chip to the hole. I won't stop until I have holed all five balls. This really gives you confidence to make this kind of shot in real situations rather than just getting it close. I have improved my short chipping greatly with this drill. I use a 9 Iron, and try to roll the ball low and smooth. A classic putting drill is to line up 5 balls in a line from one foot to ten feet either straight or on a line. Start with the close ball and make all the putt. If you miss, start over again. Kind of like "around the world" in basketball. Another classic putting drill is to lay down two clubs just wide enough to accomodate your putting head. Then smoothly putt balls down this line without touching the "rails" of the clubs. This will help you if you are having trouble pushing/pulling your putts and need help visualizing a straight putting path. To practice those testy downhill putts, there are two techniques. The first is to hit the putt with the toe or heel of your putter. This will take the speed right out of the hit. Another technique is to hit the putt using an extremely short grip. by gripping way down on the putter (well into the metal), you now have a small putter with less inertia, and it is easier to control than the toe method which can twist in your hand. Here are some links to other good putting sites:
times since 10/5/98. Backyard Putting Green Construction Manual Copyright © 1998 Leo Melanson |
