Focus...

Focus!

By Annika Sorenstam

WOMEN'S WORLD No.1

Fine-tuning your sense of line and pace is the key to holing more putts

The only thing you should be thinking about out on the course is the line and the pace of the putt you are about to make.

Of course, they are related: the harder you hit a putt, the less borrow it will take, and vice versa. I go along with the thinking that says the ideal pace is that which would see the ball roll perhaps 18 inches beyond the hole, if it should miss, so rolling the ball at that speed dictates the way I see the ‘break’. Then it’s all about going through the motions in a well-developed routine.

First, I take a good look at the line to the hole, both from directly behind the ball and also from the side. That gives me a good overall perspective of whatever slopes are there to be negotiated.

Second, I like to stand behind the ball, facing the line of the putt, and visualising the outcome in my mind’s eye. I like to ‘see’ the ball roll into the cup. As I do this, I rehearse my stroke, back and forth, measuring the pace to exactly match the weight of the putt.

All of this helps me get a good feel – a feel that I am then able to communicate in the stroke itself.

All about concentration...Get into your own ‘bubble’ on the greens. Read the putt, then roll the ball just as you visualised it. Note that the reverse-overlap grip keeps my wrists nice and quiet through the putt, the back of the left hand perfectly square to the putter-face.

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