Stroke Every Putt as Though it Was Straight
Most players find that they have more trouble with putts that break in one direction rather than in the other. Take a moment and think back to your last round of golf. Try and remember whether there are certain putts over which you felt more confident than others. Two footers straight into the cup don’t count for this exercise! If you are like most golfers out there, you will likely have developed more confidence making putts which break in one direction rather than the other, perhaps without having even realized it. Some of you might prefer those left to right sliders, and others will routinely stroke those right to left breakers into the back of the cup with nothing but pure confidence.
In my case, I am a right handed player. I find left to right putts much more challenging than I do right to left putts. In fact I would probably say that I can much more easily align myself and feel completely confident over a right to left putt than vice versa. Today, I can stand over a putt which breaks in either direction and feel quite confident that it will find the hole. On the other hand, if I took an inventory of my missed putts in years past, I would likely find that most of my missed putts broke left to right and that they were missed below the hole. Why is that?
" find a spot somewhere along the line or beyond the line you have visualized, and make that your target spot ..."
I would say that in part it has to do with how the putt fits your eye and which eye in your case is the dominant one. There seems to be a more natural vision related to a putt going out and back towards you for some reason, rather than going away from you. The same could be said with the natural vision of most players to want to draw the ball rather than slice it. Now for most of us who have a ’slight fade’ to our ball flight, drawing the ball is not such an easy task in the full swing. On the putting green, it can be a completely different story!
Try This …
No matter which way your next putt breaks, imagine it as a straight putt. What I mean by that is not to putt straight towards the hole, but to pretend as though you are making a completely straight putt to your intended target or target spot on the green, depending on which way your putt breaks. Mentally take the break completely out of the putt. In doing so, visualize the line your putt is going to take and see it going into the hole.
While visualizing your putt, find a spot somewhere along the line or beyond the line you have visualized, and make that your target spot. Your target spot will routinely vary from putt to putt depending on two things: the speed of the green and the amount of break in the putt. Now set yourself up and align yourself not to the hole, but squarely to your target spot.
You can now comfortably prepare yourself to make a straight putt to your specific spot and let the break in the green do the rest of the work for you.
Always be confident & Good Luck !
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| Gary Bos CPGA Teaching Professional Director of Instruction Gary Bos Golf Academy Peninsula |
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Note: The teaching methodology solely reflects the views of the author and may not reflect the views or opinions of the Ontario PGA or GolfScene About the Ontario PGA Established in 1927, the Ontario Professional Golfers’ Association is a non-profit association comprised of approximately 1,300 golf professionals from Belleville to Windsor with a mandate to promote and advance the game of golf, serving the needs of both its membership and the golf public through professional and junior golf development programs and high-calibre competitive events. For more info, visit www.ontariopga.com |
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