DIY - How To Putt Like a Pro!

Putting is probably the most part of golf as it can break you or make you regardless of how you hit the ball.

A 2-inch putt is worth as much as a 350-yard drive off the tee.  That is why every pro on the PGA Tour can putt really really really good.

Today, I will tell you some simply tips on how to get that ball in the bottom of the cup.

Here’s the tips for today:

1. Alignment, alignment, alignment.  You need to align your putt before you do anything else.

How to align the putter?

Align the putter so that it hits the top of the apex of the putt.

As you can see in my horrible photoshop screenshot, the green line represents the overall break of the putt.

Now, the apex is where the putt start breaking and you need to start your ball there.

2. After aligning “parallel” to your putt, you need to “feel” the speed and rhythm of the putt.  Do not ground your club behind the ball yet.  You need to “feel” and judge the exact speed of the putt.

How to do this?

Really feel that your right hand is doing all the work in the putting and feel the right hand “rolling” the ball.

You need to find the right speed where the golf ball will stop maybe 3-5 inches past the hole.

Of course, this will depend on your putt.  If you have a really fast downhill putt, you want to think of stopping the ball right at the cup.

3. Once you get the feel for the distance and speed of the putt, simply step up to the ball and hit it.  Since you’ve already “aligned” yourself, don’t hesistate too much and repeat your “feel” from the practice stroke.

If you do this, I guarantee you will hole a lot more putts.

Remember, putting is 90% feel and 10% technique.  If your feel is good, you might get away with really bad technique.

Okay, this does really happen to me every couple months.  That is that I find the secret to the golf swing.

You go to the golf course and return with this “amazing” feeling that you’ve finally mastered the game of golf, or at least just the golf swing in this case.

Let me tell you how it happend and the secret too.

I have been on a long-trail of hitting balls on the range and really not practicing my short game or putting.

Well, yesterday, I go to the range at Harding Park GC, and found that the range closes early on Mondays.  Of course, this was my first time going to the range after 6pm on a Monday.

So, I decided to practice my short game for 2 hours.  What happened after that was amazing.

For the first hour and a half or so, I was really struggling to hit these hard-pan lies.  After trying several things, I hit a goldmine, the secret to my golf swing.

You see, the secret is in the dirt just like Ben Hogan said.  Literally, I found it in the hardpan dirt, where it’s practically impossible to hit the shot good unless you strike the ball perfectly.

As such, I found the secret of the golf swing as the following:

Your full swing is an extended version of your short shots.  It’s never the other way around.

For example, you are hitting the 2-iron really well.  You miniturize that 2-iron swing on the short pitch shots.  It might work and it might not, simply because what’s working for the full swing isn’t guaranteed to work on the short shots.

However, if you are hitting your 30-yard pitch shots from a hardpan lie perfectly (as you do need to hit it perfectly on the ball in order to avoid chunking it or thinning it) and you extend that short swing into a 2-iron swing, you will find that 99% of the time, the swing works.

This is why tour pros practice their short game so much because the rhythm and the swing technique flows into other longer shots.

Now, that is how I found the secret, let me tell you the “technical” details of my findings:

You need to feel that on the downswing, you are rotating everything including your stomach, shoulders, arms, and hands to the left while your weight is centered over the left foot.  You also need to feel you are standing very tall.

Here’s the important part, you need to feel like your wrists are uncocking upwards toward the sky just after impact.

If you take a careful look at Hogan’s after-impact position, you will notice that his wrists are actually lifted toward the sky.  This really helps you to hit the ball perfectly while minimizing wrist action through impact.

Now how to achieve this feeling?

It’s pretty simple, try to imagine there’s a giant ball hanging from the sky sorta like the above picture.

Then, try to rotate your body to move that ball foward toward your target.  Also try to hit the big imaginary ball with your elbows, this will automatically uncock your wrists the correct way by letting your wrists lift upwards.

I tried this and boy, I am going to the PGA Tour Q-School next year baby!

Will McKenzie is leading today over at John Deere Classic.  He shot 65 yesterday and 64 today.

Let’s look at his stack and tilt swing to see what makes him “tick”.

First of all, I’d like to say that Will has a really simple looking swing, it looks really good.

At address, you will notice that Will stays real “balanced” in the center, not tilting his shoulders much.  This is great way to swing.  Now, pay attention to the triangle formed by his arms and the club.

At takeaway, Will breaks his wrists slightly early but that’s not a problem as his triangle looks great.

At top of Will’s swing, Will looks really good, with little or no backswing weight transfer (his head stays in the same position as at address) and he has a really great “width”.  Notice how far above his head the hands are.

At half-way down, Will looks pretty good again although his right foot could be more relaxed.

At impact, will really gets his hands ahead of the ball but stays in perfect balance.

After impact, WIll’s follow-through is a mirror-image of his takeaway.  Again, great stuff.

Will’s finish is probably one of the best I’ve seen.  His standing almost perfectly vertical as you can see the line formed by his legs and upper body.  This is really good for playing golf when you get older and also helps your back.  (no straining your back when you finish like this)

Overall, I am really impressed at Will’s swing because of his rhythm and simplicity.  He makes it look “easy”.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he won this weekend, good luck Will.

Here’s Will McKenzie’s Driver swing in action:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

Here’s Will McKenzie’s Driver swing in action from the back, it looks really good:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

Davis Love III has one of the best swings on tour.  Perhaps the most I like about his swing is actually his rhythm, not his mechanics.

Continue reading ‘Davis Love III Iron Shot Down-the-line Swing Analysis’

For some reason, Scott has been one of my favorite golfers with a gracious rhythm and a unique swing.

Continue reading ‘Scott McCarron Driver Down-the-Line Swing Analysis’