PGA Professional Paul Stuart gives this complete guide to better putting with some superb tips covering everything you need to know...
Your Complete Guide To Better Putting
In this series of videos, London Club professional Paul Stuart talks us through his complete guide to better putting
Paul explains everything from the basics of putting to striking and speed control as well as some great drills for you to try yourself.
He uses Odyssey's Stroke Lab putters, featuring a mix of steel and graphite in the shaft to save crucial weight that is re-distributed to the head and grip.
The Stroke Lab technology creates a more consistent stroke to help golfers hole more putts.
Your Complete Guide To Better Putting -
Putting Basics
It's really important for golfers to get a good, sound grip.
The chances are, without a good grip, there will be too much deviation at impact which can result in poor speed control and a loss of accuracy.
The putter should be through the life-line of the palm as oppose to the fingers, this stops the left wrist breaking down.
Ball position is a little bit forward of centre and the sternum should be slightly behind the ball to ensure that you don't hit down on it.
You want your eyes to be over or just inside the ball to help you see the line correctly.
The Clock Drill
The clock drill is great for you to practise putting under pressure.
Place four balls around the hole from around 3ft and go through your routine on each putt.
A good routine involves ensuring your grip is solid, find your read and start point, step in, look at the hole, make a practice stroke and stroke the putt.
This stays the same on the practice green and on the course.
Practising under pressure like this means that you'll shoot lower scores on the course when you have those crucial must-make putts.
Putter Striking
Most would think putter striking is easy but it really isn't.
If you don't strike it out of the middle, the putter will wobble and you'll have a poor strike and end up hitting it either offline or with poor pace.
The Callaway Triple Track golf ball really helps with alignment and using it offers great feedback for your striking.
You want to see the lines roll over straight, end-over-end.
This is a great drill worth trying out.
Metronome Pace
A lot players don't match up their backswing to their follow through.
They'll have a long backswing and decelerate or they'll have a short backswing and push through for a jabby stroke.
Both ways compromise speed control.
For consistency, use a metronome or download a metronome app on your smartphone and start hitting putts that match the sound.
This will help you with your rhythm and ensure that you match up the lengths of your backswing and follow through.
Odyssey's Stroke Lab putters are designed to help with this, allowing your stroke to be more consistent due to the technology in the shaft that re-distributes weight to the grip and head.
Gate Drill
It is one of the most helpful and oldest drills in the book.
It helps you measure how square your putter face is at impact.
Put two tees in either side of the putter head, just wider than the head and make your stroke as normal, trying to miss the tee pegs.
The better you get, the tighter you make the tees to the putter.
This really focuses your mind on striking the ball well and should lead to more holed putts.
The Odyssey Stroke Lab technology leads to a 13% more consistent face angle at impact, so couple that with the gate drill and you should begin putting like you never have done before!
Speed Control
Here is another drill that helps with your putting, this time speed control.
Set up a tee three paces away from the hole and then three more tees at two paces further back each.
Place an alignment stick or golf club 2ft behind the hole and hit three balls from each station.
Whilst you should be aiming to hole the putt, this also trains you to finish the ball within a foot or two past the hole - the perfect pace.
As you get further back, up the tempo in your stroke, don't start making it long and slow.
A few goes at this drill and you'll start holing more putts and avoiding those costly three putts.
String Drill
This is a drill lots of professionals use to help with their putting path.
The arc of your putting stroke should be very slightly inside-to-inside.
Also place a tee peg just behind and outside of your putter so you don't cut across the ball.
Set the ball up perfectly in the middle of the string and putt away.
Some players will have more of a pronounced arc whilst some will be more straight-back-and-through, this is why putter fittings are so crucial.
Watch: Can a putter fitting help your game?
Odyssey Stroke Lab range 2019 - Did you know?
The Odyssey range for 2019 features head styles to tailor any stroke, from toe-hang blades to the higher MOI face-balanced mallets and everything in-between.
The Stroke Lab shaft features a mix of graphite and steel, saving 40g of weight that can be re-distributed to the head and grip, leading to a much more consistent putting stroke.
The shaft concept allows Odyssey to control a more consistent putter stroke length, a more consistent clubface and help with distance control.
The Stroke Lab technology allows the putters to give –
- A 20% more consistent length of backswing
- A 21% more consistent position at the end of backswing
- An 18% more consistent face angle at the end of backswing
- A 15% more consistent forward swing time to impact
- A 14% more consistent velocity at impact
- A 13% more consistent face angle at impact
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