Five areas to improve your putting skills

So when you go to your local pro and take a putting lesson (you DO take putting lessons, right?), what do you work on? I can tell you that I have taken many putting lessons in my life. In short, the pro usually looks at the mechanics of the stroke. But are there other fundamentals to improving one's putting fundamentals?

Here are five areas to think about when improving your putting:

(1) Understand your vision and visualization skills
(2) Improve the roll (pace or speed) of the ball
(3) Improve your greenreading skills
(4) Start the ball on YOUR line
(5) Understand the proper way to practice your putting

(1) Start by understanding your vision and visualization skills.

Vision - A couple of things about vision. Your eyes basically are objects that transfer information to your brain. So this is really a brain thing. Having said that, knowing a couple of things could improve your understanding to better putting (1a) Know your dominant eye. By knowing your dominant eye, you will be able to recognize if you are cross-side or same-side tendencies. Both could affect your stance and ball position. (1b) Know if your depth perception is off. There are certain people that see things closer / further than they really are. Both affect your sense of target awareness. We can do basic tests to help you understand both.

Visualization - Can you see the putt or line before hand? If not, maybe you are not a good visualizer and may need the help of some lines on the ball or putter. We can actually test your visualization using something called "block flips" to see if you can visualize certain patterns.

(2) Improve the "roll" of the ball. Looking at high speed cameras, we know that, after impact, the ball skids and then rolls. It is vital to understand if your ball starts jumping, creates backspin and skids too much. This is why ball position plays a big part in your development. Placing the ball too forward / back could produce any sort of undesired results. Another important aspect of improving the roll of the ball is to improve the tempo of the swing. Using a TICK...TOCK...or...1...2...as a way to guide the back and forth movement of the swing is a great way to control the pendulum. (2a) A great drill here is to stand in the middle of the green and think of yourself in a big clock (find 12:00). Now have a friend say a number on the clock and your job is to putt to the edge of the green in that direction of the clock. You do this by focusing on the roll of the ball. If you successfully putt at least 9/12 within 1 meter from the edge, then your roll is pretty good.

(3) Once you have a grasp on your pace, it is time to learn how to read the green. The best set up would be to become an AIMPOINT expert (little plug for Mark Sweeney / John Graham), but if you do not have the time here are some ideas to help you.

* Find the "Low Point" to the putt and look at the entire line from this point. Often times you can see the break and confirm the line easier standing from below the line.
* Read from behind the hole. You will be able to read how the ball will curve once it starts to slow down at the hole. This is valuable information when playing enough break.
* Go behind the ball. You will be able to see the first part of the line. How will it start (uphill, downhill, sidehill, straight).
* Finish your routine by going to the middle of the putt and feeling the slope with your feet. You should be able to confirm the line with 100% confidence.

Once you have gathered the slope information, you will be reading to find your starting point.

(4) Many of my players can read the break, but have difficulty starting the ball on their line. There are a couple of drills to start the ball online. (4a) Place a target-ball on your line (1 meter on). The idea is to hit the ball so that the ball kicks forward. If it kicks right or left, you know you have slightly missed your line. Not a problem on a putt which is 1 meter, but could be a problem on longer putts. (4b) Use the gate drill. This is a classic drill where you set up a "gate" using two tees, which is 2 meters or so on your line. I would challenge you to use the "double gate" where one gate is 2 meters on and another gate is 3 meters on. It could get really interesting. (4c) Use a coin to learn how to roll the ball over the coin. It is very important to note, how the ball starts.

(5) Understand Proper Practice. Here is a sample 30 minutes Practice Session:

5 minutes for better tempo. Take this time to focus ONLY on the pace of your stroke. Don't get caught up in the quality of impact, starting line or speed. Keep asking yourself "Does this tempo match my internal tempo? Or is it a tad too slow or fast?" Your method will be more block practice.

5 minutes for proper aiming. Take this time to focus ONLY on aiming. Use this opportunity to understand if a line on the ball/putter works for you. After every putt, you will change your target and re-train your eyes. Your method will be random practice.

5 minutes for starting the ball on the proper line. Take this time to practice the ball drill and the coin drill. After every shot, stop and understand what happens. Switch back and forth between coin/ball and change the target after every putt. Your method will be random practice.

5 minutes for better roll. One aspect of speed comes from solid contact. Using the random practice method. Hit 20 putts towards the edge of the green about 5 meters away. Your goal is to feel the solid contact. Putting toward something other than the hole will take away judgement about the result. Just feel what is solid.

5 minutes for better greenreading. Using the random practice method, your focus is routine-oriented. Focus on learning the four keys. Take your time on every putt. Your focus is remembering.

5 minutes for tempo. The last 5 minutes sets the tempo for the rest of the day or leaves you will time to "cool down" after 25 minutes of deliberate practice. If done correctly, 30 minutes of practice should leave you mentally tired. Your method will be block practice.

After every practice session, write down in your journal what you have learned, what you have discovered, and what you can continue to improve on.

Good luck with your putting progress!

Steven