John Phillips Tuition Series: Putting
Grip / Setup / Pendulum Motion / Drills / Custom Fit

Drills to Improve Feel and Confidence

Remember most golfers lose more shots putting than at any other part of the game, simply because they have an incorrect stroke or little feel for distance and average, between 38 to 42 putts per round, while the top pros average 27 to 30 putts.

Put 3 tee pegs on the green at 8, 16 and 22 feet apart and with your eyes shut try to putt a golf ball the different distances. After a few practice sessions, your feel for distance will improve so when you are playing on the course, the feel for length of your putts will improve. Practice this at all different lengths of putt.

Place 6 golf balls, 3 feet away from the hole and with the putter placed behind the ball, make no back swing, and push the ball into the hole. Try this up to 7 feet away from the hole. The idea with this drill is to feel the back of the left hand and putter face going towards the target.
Custom Fitting Your Putter
Putting a key part of the game, yet golfers tend to spend far more time and money trying to find a driver that will add those few extra yards on their drives rather than improving their putting. Here are a few ideas on what to look for when finding a new putter: Personal preference is an important factor when choosing the shape or feel of your putter. Generally, I would recommend that the putter sole lies flat at address. This will encourage you to look straight down on top of the ball as I discussed earlier. If the putter was too flat the heel of the putter would be off the ground, which could lead to you pushing the ball right of the hole, but if the toe of the putter was to much off the ground, you may putt the ball left of the hole. From this you can see how important the lie of the putter becomes and the old saying "drive for show and putt for dough" is so true. All putts have loft on them, but how much loft depends on the manufacturers. It can range from 2 degrees to 6 degrees depending on the model. For instance, a golfer who has a forward press may benefit from a putter with more loft, a golfer who addresses his hands behind the ball, may benefit from a putter with less loft. This can also change if the golfer plays on faster or slower greens, those that play on faster greens may use a putter with less loft than those that play on slower greens, they could benefit from a putter with more loft.

Putting: Grip / Setup / Pendulum Motion / Drills / Custom Fit