“Yes, that’s a new putter.
The last one didn’t float very well.”
—Craig Stadler
Ben Hogan once said that putting should be an entirely different game. Well, it is. Nothing can get you hot under the collar like a day of good ball-striking followed by three-putting and missed birdie chances. But putting is also the area of greatest opportunity for most golfers. The stroke is simple and much more natural than the full swing. Think back to all the times you’ve set a new personal best on the course or to the last time you were the big winner in your regular game. No doubt, your putter made the difference.
When it comes to the stroke itself, putting really is “different strokes for different folks.” All you have to do is stand off to the side of the putting green at a Tour event to see that there is no right way or wrong way about it. Billy Mayfair wins his share of tournaments and money with a highly unorthodox stroke. But the bottom line on putting is getting the ball into the hole. If you’re doing that, you’re doing it right.
The biggest step you can take toward better putting is to eliminate three-putts. Three-putts turn eagles into pars, birdies into bogeys and pars into double-bogeys. You can prevent most of them simply by paying more attention to your preparation on longer putts. I can’t tell you how many players I see who beat themselves by failing to properly read their putts and by neglecting the basics of speed control. In this chapter, you are going to learn how to develop putting strategies that will help you eliminate three-putts and even make a few long putts.
To be a good lag putter, you need to be able to read the green properly. This is a skill that anyone can learn, but it requires experience and good technique. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you won’t get the information you need.
There are a number of factors involved in reading the green. The speed of the putting surface, the slope of the green and the surrounding topography will all have an impact on the putt. Are the greens wet or dry? Soft or firm? What are the wind conditions? All of these factors will come into play if you are to make an accurate read.
The best putters start reading the green before they ever reach it. In other words, they pay close attention as they walk up to the putting surface. Use this wide focus to determine topography and the lay of the land surrounding the green. From the fairway, you will have a better perspective of the overall slope and contour. Does the land run off toward a drainage? Most architects design greens to drain to specific areas. An effective way to determine the slope and break of greens is to locate those drainage areas. Narrow your focus as you reach the green by studying the undulations of the green around the hole.
Just as there are different types of ball-strikers, there are different types of putters as well. I divide golfers into two putting groups—“die” putters who like to have the ball drop slowly over the lip of the hole, and “speed” putters who generally like to hit the back of the cup. For examples of great die putters, look no further than Ben Crenshaw or Phil Mickelson. When they miss a putt, it seems to end up sitting right at the edge of the cup. Speed putters include Tom Watson—in his hey- day he was probably the greatest speed putter ever—Tiger Woods and Nick Price. A speed putter’s misses usually go a foot or even two feet beyond the hole. In most cases, swing style and putting styles mirror each other. The more aggressive hitters of the golf ball tend to be speed putters, where the smooth swingers are often die putters.
Knowing what type of putter you are is crucial not just to speed control, which I’ll discuss later, but also to determining the line of the putt. A die putter will usually play more break. A speed putter will reduce the break by making a more aggressive run at the hole. Also, the more you know about your own tendencies, the more you can modify them. Speed putting is very risky on fast, downhill putts. Likewise, if the greens are grainy and slow, die putters will need to make adjustments to their style.
Great putters are able to change their styles depending on the circumstances. When you are putting on very fast greens or have a downhill putt, it is a great advantage to be able to become a die putter, even if it goes against your natural style. And if you are on slow or grainy greens, you had better be able to adopt a speed putter’s mind-set if you are going to have any success. You will need both styles during almost every round, sometimes on a single green.
Once you know the lay of the land and your own putting tendencies, you can begin to determine the line of the putt. I recommend a process called triangulation. Basically, you view the putt from three sides of a triangle.
Start by positioning yourself behind the ball and identifying the low side of the putt, a crucial bit of information. For example, if you have a 20-foot uphill putt that breaks from right to left, the left side of the hole will be the low side. Walk along the low side of the putt, looking for imperfections along the line, including ball marks, spike marks and bare spots. Use your feet to help you determine the severity of the slope, and use your small paces to help you get a better feel for the distance of the putt.
The most accurate read of the line comes from directly behind the hole, looking back to your ball. This is a better place to read the putt from primarily because the ball will be traveling at its slowest around the hole. The slower the ball rolls, the greater the effect of the green. How will the ball be breaking when it reaches the hole? Imagine yourself pouring water on the green around the hole. Whichever way the water would run is the way the putt will break.
Reading the green from behind the ball helps you identify the low side of the putt, a crucial piece of information.
Now walk back to the low side of the putt, about halfway between the hole and your ball, several yards below the line of the putt. Why not look at the putt from the high side? You see more detail from the low side. Think of looking up at a mountain from the bottom. You’ll see much more detail of the mountain than you would if you looked down from the top. From the low side of the putt, the entire slope of the green is in front of you. You also get some great input on the distance of the putt from this angle. When you look right down the line of the putt, either from the ball or from the hole, it’s difficult to judge the distance. Try looking straight down the shaft of your putter, from the butt of the grip to the head. Now hold the putter sideways in front of you. The length is much easier to gauge. The same is true with your putt.
Finally, read the putt from directly behind your ball. The primary goal here is to determine the starting direction of the putt. As you study the line, visualize the point at which the ball will begin to break back to the hole, and find an intermediate target between the ball and that point. The intermediate target will be useful as you align yourself for the stroke.
Reading the putt from the low side gives you great distance information.
Make sure you have factored the day’s unique conditions into your read. Maybe there is early morning dew or rain on the green, which will slow down the putt and cause it to break less. Maybe it’s hot and dry, and the greens are faster than normal. The key is to be aware of how conditions can affect the break of your putt.
Reading the putt from behind the hole will give you a better idea of how the ball will behave around the hole.
One of the major mistakes I see golfers make is ignoring their read when aligning themselves to putt. Even though they have determined that the putt will break two feet to the left, they focus all of their alignment on the hole. Now is the time to use an intermediate target. Identify the spot where the ball will begin to work back to the hole and select a target between the ball and that point. This is the intermediate target. As you crouch behind the ball, keep the ball directly between you and the intermediate target. Only in the case of a dead-straight putt will that line go right to the hole. If you are overfocused on the hole, you will have trouble aligning yourself to the intermediate target, and that is the key to starting the ball on the proper line.
If you don’t already have a regular pre-putt routine, you should work on developing one. There are two elements to the pre-putt routine—the mental and the physical. For the mental side, take your time reading the putt. Think like a champion as you prepare for the stroke. In other words, concentrate on what you want to do, not on what you don’t want to do. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone say after missing a putt, “The last thing I told myself was ‘don’t leave it short.’” Speak to yourself in positive terms, not negative ones.
Reading the green is part of both your mental and physical routine. Enter your routine as soon as you approach the green, when you begin reading the lay of the land with your wide focus. Mark and clean the ball to make sure it will roll properly. Then read the green, using the triangulation method. Pick the line and visualize the ball rolling, at actual speed, along the line until it drops into the hole.
You are now mentally prepared to make the stroke. Continue your physical routine as soon as you replace the ball on your mark. Many players line the ball up so that the brand logo points down the line of the putt. I like the idea of positioning the ball the same way every time. It’s simply a good trigger for your mind.
Many golfers think putting is all about reading the break. But if you can’t control the distance of your putts, then the best read in the world won’t do a thing for you.
When I work with students on distance control, the first thing I do is pick up a golf ball, toss it to them, and have them toss it back to me. Then I ask them how they determined how far to throw it. Did they estimate the distance between the two of us? Did they take a couple of practice tosses to make sure they had it right? No, of course not. They looked, their minds calculated the proper distance, and then they tossed the ball, knowing that it would come right to me. This is the kind of distance control reflex that you should aspire to on the golf course. Your mind knows how to work with your muscles to produce the proper amount of force, as long as you stay relaxed and supply an adequate target.
No matter how long the putting stroke, it should be the same length back and through.
Now take one or two practice strokes, rehearsing the length and pace of the stroke. The practice stroke length and pace should be the same as the actual putt. After your practice stroke, align yourself and prepare to make the stroke. Take one look at the hole and use your eyes to scan back from the hole to the ball. Within a second of returning your eyes to the ball, make the stroke. There’s no point in making lag putting any more difficult than it already is.
Your first putt will tell you a lot about your upcoming second putt and can help you avoid costly three-putts. That’s why you should never turn away from a putt that is rolling toward the hole. Instead, watch it closely. The last five feet of the putt will show you how the ball is going to behave around the hole. If your putt travels past the hole, you’ll get to see exactly how the ball is going to break on your next putt. This is a great lesson and something that every good putter does. You may not be happy that you missed, but you’ll be a lot happier knowing what the next putt is going to do than you will be if you have to start all over from scratch. You can also get valuable information by watching the behavior of your playing partner’s putts.
There aren’t any great secrets to holing short putts. If there were, someone would have discovered them by now, and no one would ever miss a three-footer. The key to these putts is alignment, tempo and, most of all, confidence. I encourage most golfers to take an aggressive approach to short putts. Imagine the ball hitting the back of the cup as it dives into the hole. It’s when you try to get too cute with short putts that you find yourself in trouble.
In most cases, the read will be fairly simple. Only on the most severe slopes will you need to play the ball outside the hole. Find a spot on the back of the hole and drill it into your mind. It may be on the left or right side of the cup, depending on the break, but you want to play the short putts as straight as possible.
Make sure you are aligned properly, using the entire face of the putter. Both the heel and the toe should be square to the line of the putt. Now concentrate on making a rhythmic stroke, keeping your head and body still as you stroke the putter an equal distance back and through. Accelerate with your hands and the handle of the club as you stroke through the ball. Keep your eyes from looking ahead of the ball. A good image to keep in mind is to visualize a coin lying directly beneath your ball. You want to determine whether the coin is heads-up or tailsup before looking to see if you made the putt.
There are hundreds of different putters on the market today. Still, most fit into three different categories—mallet heads, blades and offset-style heads. Which one is right for you? Only you can answer that question. In earlier years, there was great variation in putting surfaces among courses, even courses in one region of the country. Golfers would have a heavy, mallet-head putter for slower greens and a lighter blade-style putter for faster greens. Today, advances in course maintenance and agronomy have eliminated many of those variations, making putter selection more of a matter of personal choice.
Putting is all about confidence. Most golfers I’ve known wouldn’t hesitate to switch putters if they felt a change would make a difference. Paul Azinger won tournaments several years ago with a space-age putter called “the Thing.” It was working for him. What can you say?
Regardless of the putter you use, you should know how to find its sweet spot. When you strike the ball on the sweet spot, you get a true roll and distance consistency. Hitting the ball on the heel or toe of the putter will cause the face to twist ever so slightly and will decrease your chances of making the putt. Find the sweet spot by holding the putter between your thumb and index finger at the end of the grip and tapping the face. Some putters have sweet spots toward the heel, others out toward the toe. Take a magic marker and make a small mark on the sweet spot and then make sure that’s where you line up every time. Putts are just like all other shots—when you strike the ball on the right part of the clubface, the results are generally good.
RULES ON THE GREEN
While putting may be the “simple” part of playing golf, it can also be complicated from a rules perspective. Some of the best players in the world have lost tournaments by not knowing the rules that govern play on the putting green. Here are a few guidelines to help you stay on the right side of the law.
The fringe is not the green. You may mark your ball on the fringe if it interferes with another golfer’s shot, but you cannot clean it, and you must replace it exactly as it was lying previously. Also, if your ball is on the fringe, you may not repair ball marks on the fringe until your ball is resting on the green.
The accidental stroke. In the 1997 Tournament Players Championship, Davis Love III was playing well and poised to pick up valuable Ryder Cup points. On the green of the devilish par-3 17th, however, he accidentally hit his ball with the toe of his putter while making a practice stroke. He assessed himself a two-shot penalty, marked the ball and then played from the new position. What he didn’t know, however, was that the rules require you to replace the ball to its original position if you accidentally move it. The violation wasn’t reported until after the completion of his round, and since he had failed to assess himself another penalty for not replacing the ball, he was disqualified.
Mark these words. The most common rules infraction on the putting green is failure to replace a mark moved at the request of another golfer. Bruce Fleischer almost cost himself a victory on the Senior Tour during the 1999 season when, at the 18th hole (and with a four-shot lead), he moved his mark at the request of a fellow competitor. He forgot to move the mark back to its original position, playing instead from the spot he had moved it to. Fortunately, a spectator informed him of his violation before Fleischer signed his scorecard. Even with the two-shot penalty, he won by two.
Start your read from the fairway using a wide focus—survey the topography locating mountains or bodies of water that dictate the general slope of the land
Survey the slope and contour around the green for drainage areas
Locate the break point by reading the putt from three vantage points: from behind the hole, from the low side and from behind the ball
Note factors and conditions that influence speed, such as: uphill or downhill slope, type and length of grass, soft and wet or hard and dry ground
Develop a stroke that produces consistent centerface contact
Swing the putter an equal distance back and through with even rhythm
Keep head and body still—the hands and putter handle lead the stroke
You need to learn how to effectively combine your read with the proper speed
Know what kind of putter you are—speed putter or die putter
Die putters play more break, speed putters play less break
Adapt your style to fit the situation, e.g., speed putters need to adopt a die-putting style on fast downhill putts
Your putting style often mirrors that of your full swing
Be observant—watch your ball as it rolls by the hole to learn the break of your next putt, and observe the putts of your playing partners
Don’t overread short putts unless the slope is severe
Developing and using a consistent pre-putt routine is crucial to peak performance
Always align the putter face to the break point (not the hole) on a breaking putt
Commit to your read—don’t second-guess yourself over the putt
Trust your eyes to tell your muscles just how much energy is required to stroke the ball from point A to point B
Because putting comprises roughly 40 percent of your score in a round of golf, being able to putt well is critical to reaching your scoring potential. If you consider how simple the mechanics of the putting stroke are to learn and master relative to the complexities of the full swing, it’s easy to see that almost every golfer has the potential to become a single-digit handicapper in putting. All it takes is a little practice.
Pick several breaking putts on the practice green and work to improve your accuracy and distance control by reading the green from the three angles described in this chapter and going through your preputt routine. Your goal is to improve your accuracy with each successive putt.
Use the safety zone drill described here to improve your distance control on long putts. Choose a hole on the practice putting green and pace off distances from the hole of 20, 30 and 40 feet. Putt three balls to the hole from each distance. Your goal is to make the putt, but if the ball misses it should be within the safety zone around hole. Your safety zone will depend upon your skill level. To start, make it the length of your putter. As you improve, make the zone the length of the grip or within the “leather” around the hole. Score points as follows: two points for a made putt, one point for a ball in the safety zone, and zero points for a ball that’s outside the safety zone. There are 18 possible points in this game, but pick a target score to start and keep track to record your personal best. The next practice session, vary your distances from the previous session. For example, you may choose to move to 40, 50 and 60 feet.
Play seven-up with a friend to practice competitively. This game is designed to sharpen your green reading, distance control and accuracy skills under gamelike conditions. You and a friend each have one ball. Whoever putts first chooses a putt from any distance to any hole on the practice green and you both take a turn at making the same putt. If you make the putt you score two points. If neither makes the putt, the person who putts the ball closest gets one point. If you three-putt you score a minus point. The first to seven points wins the game. What’s good about this game is that it simulates the conditions you face on the golf course: You have one chance to perform, you’re using your preputt routine for each putt and you’re keeping score. You may even have a little wager riding on the outcome.
When you’re warming up prior to a round of golf, I suggest you putt with only one ball. Choose a combination of long and short putts and knock in each putt. Using only one ball and performing your pre-putt routine for each putt, as you would on the course, gets your mind prepared for competition.