Putting

Alot of people don't practice their putting which results in an inconsistent stroke when they get out on the course. It is important to practice your stroke to get it as smooth and repetitive as possible. This means that when you are out on the course your putting action is automatic and requires no thought. This allows you to concentrate more on the speed and line of the putt.

When it comes to putting, practice does not mean go out on the putting green for hours hitting putts. In fact that can do more harm because of the posture adopted when adressing a putt.

The best way to practice is is two stages:

Stage 1 - Stroke practice

This is where you do all of the ground work and get your stroke formed as a repetitive action. You can do this on the putting green but i prefer to just do this on the carpet at home whenever i have 10 minutes free. Doing this exercise little and often will give you the repetitive action required to be a good putter. Obviously carpet will run quicker than greens so i never worry about the speed i only concentrate on the direction. I only work on speed on the day because conditions change daily.

Setup:

* Place a couple of books in a V shape to make a hole.

* About 10ft away place two balls slightly wider apart than your putter head.

* Put a third ball in the centre - this is the ball you are putting into the hole made with books.

* The idea of this exercise is to get your follow through pointing to the target - the green dotted line. A lot of missed putts are a result of following through to the left or right of the target. If you swing any other way than straight on this exercise then you will disturb one of the yellow balls. The better you get, the smaller the gap you can putt through.

* Following towards the target is just the first part of a good stroke, the next step is rythm. A good tool for this is a metronome. Go to www.metronomeonline.com and set the beat to 60 (1 per second). This is a good tempo to base your putting stroke on. Begin the stroke on a click and you should hear the next click as you strike the ball. It will take a bit of getting used to but eventually you will be able to hold that rythm without the use of the metronome.

Stage 2 - Pre-Game Warm Up

* Ok so you've practiced on the living room carpet and you can hit the ball straight. Now you need to take that stroke out onto the course. Before every game you should spend 5-10 minutes on the putting green just hitting a few straight putts from about 10-15ft. This will just shake the dust off and bring your stroke back to the top.

* This is also when you want to get an idea of the speed of the greens. As i said earlier, when i practice i never worry about the speed i just work on getting the good straight stroke. The speed of the greens changes every day and at every course that you visit so you need to be able to adapt on the day. The better your putting stroke is, the easier it is to adapt to the speed.

SUMMARY

* Practice your putting stroke often so that it is smooth.

* Warm up before your game to get the speed of the greens.

If you would like a 1 on 1 lesson with Resident Golf Professional Ernie Wilson to help with any aspects of your game please give us a call on 01325 315257.

Prices are available on the lessons homepage.