Solving the Visual Aspect of Putting

The majority of golf equipment manufacturers would insist that the only putters that sell well feature intricate sight lines. This is the current marketing sizzle. However, from an instructor’s point of view, this can be a deterrent on the road to better putting for many people. Why?

In putting, everyone perceives the designated target differently. For example, if you have trouble seeing straight lines and are attempting to use a linear strategy (line on ball, lines on putter, every putt is straight mentality), more problems than solutions may be created. If you have linear tendencies and use a line on the ball, that is often a sufficient aid.

Sight lines on putter do not always point in the same direction as a perpendicular line from the face. Take a 2X4 and set it on the ground. Take your putter and square the face to the end of the board. Look at your alignment aid. Is it pointed in the right direction? You would be shocked at how many are not, and it really does not matter if it truly is aligned correctly. How it looks to you is all that matters.

The loft of the putter has some influence on this visual as well. With the face on the 2 X 4, move the shaft toward the target and away, keeping the face in the same position relative to the board. Does the line appear to change directions? Some designs are better than others, but more often than not this adds to the visual confusion.

Finally, many of us cannot accurately align the lines on a putter with a target when looking at them from the side. Our perception is that we are accurately aimed, but this is often an illusion. The most common mistake is that we aim the line at the ball, rather than the target. If the line points at the ball, we convince ourselves that we have aimed correctly because the ball has become the target, rather than aiming the putter in the direction we wish the ball to travel. When we use putters with lines that frame the ball, the problem often becomes worse instead of better. Now we really do a good job of pointing the putter at the ball. We have found that eliminating the lines on a putter takes away the distraction and helps the player focus on the intended line rather than on the ball.

Every time you add a layer of information to your putting strategy, you create a condition that must be controlled. This gets complicated, but it suffices to say that more layers cause more confusion and make the condition harder to stabilize. The confusion caused is so great that you are never quite sure what stroke you are going to use when you stand over a putt. Elimination of an incorrect visual reference helps strip away some of these layers.

Swing Hard - Hit it Straight

In a couple of weeks the President’s Cup, the final big golf event of the year, will be played in Australia. As I have watched the media discuss the Captain’s picks concerning who should play and who shouldn’t, I can’t help but think that this was one team competition where the final spots should have gone to the Captains themselves.

Fred Couples and Greg Norman are two of the best players of my generation. Both of whom still play some pretty good golf. Fred basically birdied ½ of the 54 holes he played to win a recent Champions Tour event. Greg hasn’t played as much lately, but I would take him even coming off a layoff, any day. Greg was a resident of Bay Hill when I was an assistant there in the early 80’s and we played quite a bit of golf together. It is possible he is the greatest driver of the golf ball in history and I am not the only one who thinks that way. Every drive I ever saw him hit just took off, stayed in the air for a very long time, and landed on the same line it left the club. This is with unforgiving persimmon woods and high spin balata covered golf balls. Regardless of my personal opinion, both had the incredible ability to hit the ball both very long and very straight. No matter what event you are playing, long and straight works.

In a comparison of both swings you might not see much similarity. Fred has a long, loose, easy motion to his swing while Greg’s is more mechanical and exact. But even with the difference in appearance there is a common aspect of their swings utilized by most great drivers of the golf ball. They both swing their arms on an upright plane. They combined this action with a lateral, rather than rotational use of the body, which results in the club staying on line for a longer period of time.

For those of you like me that find it harder to turn shoulders and hips like we could when we were younger, the concept of upright and lateral, might appeal to you. The sequence of motion for this technique might be described like this. Inside and up is how I would describe the backswing. Take the club back on a path inside the target line. The more inside the better, and when the hands get about waist high just lift them straight up in the air. Jack Nicklaus, another upright swinger, called this reaching for the sky. To start down swing your arms as fast as you can toward the ball, while your hips slide and your weight shifts to your left foot. Slide don’t turn, In and up, then down and left. Try it, you might find this swing to be the answer to you ball striking issues.

Fixing a Slice.

I supposed if someone asked me the most common problem I deal with as an instructor, it would have to be the Slice. For right handed players this would be the ball that curves to the right and for most the ball curves too much. After years of different methods, about 10 years ago I realized the best way to fix the problem is to help the player to understand the problem. So how does a golfer hit a slice?

The first thing you need to know is that the ball starts where the face of the club is pointed at impact. If it is pointed right it starts right or left it starts left. So the first question to ask becomes, “Does the ball start right or left of your intended line? “

The curve is caused by spin. Spin is created when the direction the club is moving doesn’t match the direction the clubface is pointed. For example, if the path direction matches the direction the face is pointed, the ball goes straight on that path. If the path does not match the direction the face is pointed the ball spins and curves. The ball curves in the same direction the face is pointed relative to the path. If the face is pointed right of the path for a right handed golfer the ball curves right, and if it curves enough we call it a slice.

The solution comes from understanding the relationship of the face to the path. For right handed golfer the face is always pointed right of whatever path the club is on. Armed with this knowledge we can ask the question that fixes the problem. Why is the face pointed right of the direction the club is swinging?

The problem is in how a golf club is built. Because the shaft attaches in the heel or inside edge of the club, the club rotates around that point as it moves. In order for the face of the club to stay perpendicular to the direction the club is moving, the toe of the club has to rotate faster than the heel of the club. Slicers do not allow the toe of the club to move faster than the heel! The toe lags behind the heel as the club comes forward. I don’t think there is a best way solution other than to hold a club in front of you and get the feel of moving the toe of the club around the heel of the club. I think you will see this motion is created easily by rotating your forearms, hands and wrists. You will also feel and see it is easier to rotate the toe of the club faster coming forward if the toe rotates faster going back. If you can develop the feel of controling the toe of the club, longer and straighter shots are in your future.

Bad Golf? Blame the Clubs.

I gave my first professional golf advice 30 years ago this past summer. I was an assistant at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club and Lodge and in charge of club repair. One of our members was considering a change in her golf clubs. She was suffering from arthritis in her hands and hoped the switch to graphite would be beneficial. “It is one thing to play poorly,” she said, “but I don’t want to play bad and hurt too.” I suggested to be better informed I should watch her hit a few balls with her clubs. Her problem was obvious as she basically collapsed at the top of her backswing, the club head dipped, her elbows bent, and she lost her grip on the club. This loss of balance and control made it difficult for her to recover. When I mentioned these observations to her she said emphatically, “Bruce I have heard all that before! I try to stop but I can’t. You sound just like my husband.” I understood clearly that she did not offer that as a compliment and if I didn’t think of something fast my first opportunity to help someone professionally might be my last.

I offered that maybe the swing issues weren’t her fault and that the clubs were too heavy for her to support at the top of the swing and not only would the change to graphite help the pain in her hands but the lighter weight could help her improve her swing as well. I went to the repair shop to see what I could find to help prove my point. The only thing that was lighter were shafts with grips but no club heads. I took the headless golf club back out to the range and told her to swing the shaft for me. She laughed, but did as I asked. The change in her golf swing was incredible. She was balanced perfectly, no hint of collapse of any kind. I instantly knew we had to build her a set of clubs as light as I possibly could. She gave me the ok and I will end this by telling you based on her success, I rebuilt many sets of golf clubs that winter.

Since that time I have never looked at a golf swing without asking myself, “Is the problem the swing or the clubs they are trying to swing?” You would be surprised to know how often the perceived golf swing problem is simply a reaction to the clubs the player uses. So how can find out if it is your swing or the clubs? The red flag for me is if the player has a favorite club. 99 times out of 100 this club will be of a different specification and weight than the other clubs. It is unlikely you would make a good swing with just one club, unless you change your swing to adapt to the poorly fit club.

Bad Golf? Blame the Clubs.

I gave my first professional golf advice 30 years ago this past summer. I was an assistant at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club and Lodge and in charge of club repair. One of our members was considering a change in her golf clubs. She was suffering from arthritis in her hands and hoped the switch to graphite would be beneficial. “It is one thing to play poorly,” she said, “but I don’t want to play bad and hurt too.” I suggested to be better informed I should watch her hit a few balls with her clubs. Her problem was obvious as she basically collapsed at the top of her backswing, the club head dipped, her elbows bent, and she lost her grip on the club. This loss of balance and control made it difficult for her to recover. When I mentioned these observations to her she said emphatically, “Bruce I have heard all that before! I try to stop but I can’t. You sound just like my husband.” I understood clearly that she did not offer that as a compliment and if I didn’t think of something fast my first opportunity to help someone professionally might be my last.

I suggested that maybe the swing issues weren’t her fault. Her clubs were too heavy for her to support at the top of the swing and not only would the change to graphite help the pain in her hands but the lighter weight could help her improve her swing as well. I went to the repair shop to see what I could find to help prove my point. The only thing that was lighter were shafts with grips but no club heads. I took the headless golf club back out to the range and told her to swing the shaft for me. She laughed, but did as I asked. The change in her golf swing was incredible. She was balanced perfectly, no hint of collapse of any kind. I instantly knew we had to build her a set of clubs as light as I possibly could. She gave me the ok and I will end this by telling you based on her success, I rebuilt many sets of golf clubs that winter.

Since that time I have never looked at a golf swing without asking myself, “Is the problem the swing or the clubs they are trying to swing?” You would be surprised to know how often the perceived golf swing problem is simply a reaction to the clubs the player uses. So how can find out if it is your swing or the clubs? The red flag for me is if the player has a favorite club. 99 times out of 100 this club will be of a different specification and weight than the other clubs. It is unlikely you would make a good swing with just one club, unless you change your swing to adapt to the poorly fit club.

Abandon your Comfort Zone for Better Scores.

In our daily quest to help golfers lower their scores, our biggest obstacle at the United States Golf Academy is to get players to leave their comfort zone and make the changes that can help their game. A typical example would be the chronic slicer. The comment from this player will often sound something like, “My drives always slice. I just can’t seem to find a way to stop it.” We will then show them the technique to hit a draw. We then get the predictable comeback of, “This doesn’t feel right!”, even with the desired result of no slice. In thirty years of teaching I have never figured out how to get a swing that produces a right to left ball flight to feel like a swing that produces a left to right ball flight. The two swings are going to feel different. The most important aspect of learning to play better golf is to embrace change rather than fight it. Well struck golf shots are not a matter of luck. They are the result of proper movement when swinging the club. When you find a swing, tempo or balance or combination of all three that works stick with it no matter how “bad” it feels. You will find that with success the “feel” improves rapidly.

Another place where the comfort zone is a hindrance is when it pertains to how a player judges him or herself as a player. Once the label of bad or poor has been applied it is very easy for that player to limit their potential. In every first lesson I always ask, “What kind of scores do you shoot.” When they tell me, I always wonder why they aren’t better. It is a rare occurrence when a golfer is a better player than they look on the range. I am sure the reason is that once you put yourself in a category like 90’s shooter or 100 scorer, you play to that level. No matter what happens, you find a way to get to your comfortable score. I have seen a number of spectacular ways of golfers finding their way back to a level they can handle. Birdie, birdie, quad, triple is an example. I just don’t think there is a physical change from the birdie to the triple bogey. The problem is mental and not physical. When you play a golf hole well and have a good score, without a lucky shot, you have to tell yourself that this is the golf you are capable of playing and most important if you can do it once you can do it again. Never allow yourself to think you are playing over your head, because to be honest you are not. It isn’t luck or fairy dust or the proper alignment of the planets. It was you and you can do it again if you let yourself.

Handling your Golf Nerves.

Anyone who ever plays the game eventually finds themselves in a situation when their nerves inhibit their ability to pay their best. Team events, league play, business golf, even playing golf with someone you don’t know can create enough stress to alter your normal game. As you might imagine this becomes a frequent topic of discussion at the United States Golf Academy. Calls for help are often triggered by the situations I just mentioned. Here are three of the ways I suggest as a start to win the battle of the nerves.

Maintain your Balance. One of the best tips I ever heard was from a tour player who told me when the pressure was on he tried to swing the club while maintaining the feel of the ground with his feet. By focusing on his feet and how they felt on the ground, he stayed stable and under control. This stability helped him maintain a proper speed and tempo. How many times has someone told you to slow down? It is really bad advice as the last thing we want is to sacrifice speed because of a lack of balance. By definition a balanced swing leads to proper tempo and that will often solve the problem. If not….

Swing Both Hands Together. Many players find when the pressure is on that their dominant hand over-powers the other. Instead of swinging the club, they try to hit the ball. Without a swing to guide and control the club this hitting action creates a number of problems. The idea of hitting at the ball is difficult because golf clubs are built and work best when they are used with a swinging action. That is why they have flexible shafts. If they were to be used with a hitting action the shafts would be much more rigid. The solution is to make a conscious effort to swing both hands together. You will find this smoothes out the swing giving you improved control over the club.

Swing Past the Ball. When a golfer gets nervous they often become so focused on striking the golf ball they literally stop or slow their swing as the club reaches the ball. Again, the golf clubs are not built to perform this way. Because of the flexibility of the shaft, when the club slows or stops abruptly it becomes unstable and the shaft bends in such a way that solid contact with the ball is difficult. The thought of swinging past the ball keeps the club moving through impact allowing the shaft to do what it was built to do.

The next time you play a round of golf try to implement these three suggestions into your game. Stay grounded, swing both hands together and swing the club past the ball, not at the ball. This has been a successful formula for a number for great players and I am sure you will find it works well for you.