Focusing on making a perfect putting stroke will inhibit feel and take your mind of the main objective… which is the target!
“A good stroke is the result of a relaxed body joined to an attentive mind following a dependable pre-shot routine.”
What do you think a hunter is thinking about when he throws a spear at an animal? Do you think he is
thinking about taking is elbow back above his ear, making a 35 degree angle between forearm and bicep, whilst rotating shoulders 90 degrees, before releasing the spear and making sure his weight is transferred onto his front foot, whilst holding perfect form?…
…If he thinks like this, he and his family will starve. I think not, he is totally focused on lining up the animal and throwing the spear at a precise spot on the animal; end of story, B.B.Q dinner here we come!
Once you start getting more focused on the target – and less on technique, you will start holing loads of putts.
Cross-hand-grips, claw-grips and belly-putters are all fine and good tools to help you develop a pendulum stroke. But don’t neglect the other (more important) factors like: visualization, routine, and confidence by being too focused on the type of putter and grip you are using.
No Sir, buying a new putter or changing putters all the time is like purchasing the “Miracle-Abs-Cruncher” or the “Magic-Diet-Pill” to lose weight. Do lean, strong, healthy people use these “quick-fix” products (dreamed up by marketers) to develop their bodies?…
…Of course not, it is the same with putters; they are simply tools to express what the mind is thinking and feeling. The mind connects with the body, the body connects with the putter and the putter connects with the ball… and if the mind is working well, the ball will connect with the bottom of the hole!
Treat miss-putts as gifts (great putters learn from their misses, move on and then make the very next putt)
If you lip out… you have hit the putt to wide; no luck involved. The putt has not gone in because: the green was not read correctly or the putt was miss hit or the putt was not hit at the correct speed.
When a player starts to look at the REASON for this miss putt, instead of making excuses (like some many people do), the player is on the road to becoming a great putter. Missed putts are gifts, and I will show you how you can use these gifts to putt great.
I call them “putting-robots;” you know… players that stand in a crouched posture, pumping balls out from the same spot, ball after ball, imprinting their size 10 Nikes into the green.
Hey, a good stroke is important but a good stroke only happens when your mind is relaxed, you are following a routine and you are reacting to the target. You can not have a good stroke and hope to putt well week-in week-out when you are focused solely on the stroke.
Maybe it is just me… but when I get out on the course I have 30ft-double-breakers, 5ft-left-to-right down-hill putts, 14ft-straight-flat putts and maybe an 8ft-curling, pressurized-putt on the 18th to finish off a great round and or win a competition
Routine? What’s you talkin about Willis? This his how great players hole loads of putts and can putt well under pressure. Think Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo, Jack Nicklaus; they get nervous like anyone does, but they have a dependable, physical and mental routine that shields them from the nerves and destructive thoughts.
This is why many amateurs can go out and have 5 or 6 up on the front side then have 5 or 6 down on the back 9. The pressure gets to them; they do not have a grooved pre-putt routine to turn to. It doesn’t have to be this way, a dependable routine that you know inside and out, it is your secret weapon; your guardian angel against pressure.
I have developed: through research, practice and experience (under pressure) these techniques for many years now; you can be nervous (as I get too) but if you have a routine to follow, you can continue to make putts and keep a good round going – even when the pressure is on.
Having a dependable routine is also a passport into the “zone” – that place where putts are holed from all over; you feel calm, focused and the game feels easy. What a beautiful feeling.
They get nervous, they get tense, but the best putters have simple strategies and keys that gets their heads back to where they need to be – so their bodies can still perform well and make the putt.
Do you have the strategies and keys that enable you to keep “making shots” when the pressure is on deep into the back-nine?
If you want to putt well consistently, get “hot” more frequently and hold together a good round all the way through to the end of the 18th hole…
It all started in the late 90′s when I was doing a Professional Trainee-ship. I was always a solid putter (doing loads of practice as a youngster) but never freaky. That changed in late 1997; from this point on I have had dozens of peak putting performances.
Through studying what leading sports and golf psychologists where teaching to leading golfers at the time – and practicing, testing and adding to this information myself, I came up with a step-by-step system for consistently good putting round after round.
These rounds include multiple birdie barrages featuring 4-6 birdies in 5-10 holes. One of the most extreme rounds was a victory as a Trainee Professional…
… At this time I was a very ordinary ball-striker and on this day…
Stop making this common putting mistakes and start putting great.
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