Today, I will explain couple basics about how to putt like a pro.  Trust me, I have read more books about putting than most people will ever in their life and I have spent $2000 on a lesson with Stan Utley, one of the best putters on Tour.

So here’s how to putt like a pro:

1. You need to learn to sink a lot of short putts within 3-10 feet range.  To do this, think of the short putts as the “short game” of putting.  That’s right, these short putts are the most important and count as much as a 350 yard drive.  If you can’t sink ‘em, go home.  If you can, you might become a pro.

2. Soft hands, hands like noodles, gentle grip, or whatever you want to call it but make sure you are holding the putter very very lightly while you putt.

3. Learn to lag putt real good from 20, 50, 100 feet.  Lag putts are great for absorbing the speed of the greens.  The more you can lag, the better putter you will be overall.

4. Putt for money.  Next time you are with a buddy, play an 18-hole putting match, one dollar per hole.  Without putting pressure on your putting, you never know how it’s going to be in a real tournament situation.

Heck, most of the time I play with my buddies, we are betting like $20 per putt or hole.  Pressure games make you better.

5. Develop a consistent putting stroke that rolls the ball true.  Whether you are putting a 20 footer or a 100 footer, your ball should roll very true from the start to finish.  If your ball bumps up in the beginning or at the end, you might want to work on your putting stroke so you putts roll true.

When your putts roll true, you will notice that your putts roll a lot smoother and also get less effected by any breaks in the putt.  Probably the biggest difference between an average golfer and the pro golfer is how true the pro golfer “rolls” the golf ball while the average golfer doesn’t even understand that putting can be so complicated.

Well, that’s it for today, I might need to go hit some balls. 

As Ben Hogan said, “Everyday you don’t practice is another day longer it will take you to become a good golfer”.

Practice, practice, and practice while playing pressure games in your head.  That’s right, you should be putting for the U.S. Open win on every practice putt.  (Damn, I let anther worst kept secret out…)

balls, Ben Hogan, buddies, footer, games, gentle grip, golf-ball, greens, heck, money, noodles, pro golfer, putters, short game, short putts, soft hands, stan utley, stroke balls, Ben Hogan, buddies, footer, games, gentle grip, golf-ball, greens, heck, money, noodles, pro golfer, putters, short game, short putts, soft hands, stan utley, stroke If you like this post, please subscribe to the ProGolferDigest via RSS or via E-Mail to receive updates.

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Here’s a front-view of Sergio Garcia’s Swing in slow-motion:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

Sergio probably has one of the biggest “lags” out all the top players today.

Now, he probably comes as close to Ben Hogan’s “lag”.

Is lag a good thing?

Well, “lag”, I think is overrated. It’s the egg, not the chicken. In other words, you shouldn’t have to try to create “lag”. These players such as Sergio Garcia and Ben Hogan, didn’t try to do that.

They ended up doing that naturally while trying to hit the ball square in the middle of the clubface.

Even if you look at Tiger’s swing, he does have some lag, but too much “lag” can actually hinder your golf performance and you need fine hand control to be able to play consistently with “lag”.

“Lag”, however, is great for really squeezing every bit of your wrist power efficiency. Now, this is for the top golfers or scratch golfers. If you still can’t break par, you should really stick to simpler ideas.

Sergio Garcia Iron practice at the range:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

What you need is really to practice lots and lots of short pitch shots as Sergio Garcia is doing here.  Most good pro tour players will actually hit over 75% of their practice shots for shots within 100 yards.

Why?

Well, this is the worst-kept secret on the Tour that no average Joe will ever listen to.  When you hit the smaller shots, you swing in tempo and in control.

Now, once you are swinging in good tempo and control, you can carry that to your longer clubs such as the driver.  (It’s never the other way around, even John Daly will tell you so…)

Don’t believe me?

Lol, well if you are ever in San Francisco, we can play for some money and I can show you how to take someone’s money.

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I haven’t been golfing that much lately other than hitting some balls. (actually just once this year)

My last outing went pretty well though so here are my key thoughts:

1. Swing in rhythm

2. Really feel like standing up.

3. Swing like butter, like Freddy Couples.

4. During practice, hit each ball with thought and quality. Don’t just bang 100 balls and tell yourself you’ve practiced. Even though I don’t practice much or even play ever, I can pretty much take money from everyone because I practice “quality” practicing. This is definitely psychological effect that “quality” practice can give you, by letting you only see your best efforts. If you simply bang balls and not give it your 200% on every practice shot, exact same thing will happen during a round of golf and you’ve just wasted an hour of hitting balls.

Phew, that’s about it. Now, I really gotta take some videos again…

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Is this a gimme? Of course I’d say…unless it was for any money… THEN you have to hole it out no matter how short it is…

Well…this one’s definitely NOT a gimme if we are playing for more than a dollar…

what do u think?

via joe-ks

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