Pratice Putting Indoors

Dear Seth,

The No B.S. Golf Newsletter

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Golf Potpourri
by
Mac Stevenson

Practice Putting Indoors for Fast Start This Spring

It's that time of the year when golf takes a back seat to
Arctic air and a howling north wind. Serious practice is
put on hold, with one notable exception--putting. With all
the instruction available on all shots, it still comes down
to that one most-critical club, the putter. And winter is
a good time to work on your stroke and fundamentals. The
key to excellent putting is practicing until you develop a
repeating stroke that will stand up under pressure.

When talking about putting fundamentals, we leave solid
ground; the styles of many skilled putters vary as much as
the weather. However, there are three rules that most good
putters follow:

Perhaps most important is keeping your head as steady as
possible during the stroke. Everyone has a tendency to
move their head too soon to see where the putt is going.
And when you twist your head, you also get unwanted
movement from the rest of your body.

All golfers should at least begin with the reverse-overlap
grip. If you don't understand this, ask a good putter or
your pro. It isn't complicated and most advanced players
use this grip.

Regardless of your grip or width of stance or any other
idiosyncrasies, concentrate on taking the putter straight
back and straight through on the short-to-ten-foot putts.

Practicing on the rug will help you achieve a smooth and
repeating putting stroke. It won't feel exactly the same
on the golf course because you won't always have a level
stance, but it will help a lot over the long run.

It will also help if you find a straight seam in your rug
where you can practice your stroke without a ball. This
will be a big help in training yourself to take the club
straight back and straight through. On long putts, the
putter will have to come slightly inside the desired line
on the backswing. But on short, quick putts it's straight
back and straight through.

There's an old saying among golfers that a faulty putter
will eat the head off your driver. In golfers' talk, that
means if your putting goes awry, you'll start hitting other
shots badly by trying too hard to make up for the inept
putting. Conversely, if you sink a couple of putts, you
can't wait to get to the next tee and play another hole.

Golf is a crazy game. When you're playing well, each shot
seems easy and the putts drop and you're convinced that you
finally have the secret and you'll play splendid golf from
then on. But when your game turns sour, you decide that
it's all over and you'll never play well again. It can
drive you batty. Whoever said "golf is a humbling game"
knew what they were talking about.

Unfortunately, there's no easy solution to putting woes.
Even talented pros go through putting slumps that knock
them out of tournament after tournament. And it can last
for a long time. Putting is tied so closely to the mental
makeup of your game that it's difficult to snap out of a
bad-putting stretch that causes your scores to skyrocket.
During the winter, there's no pressure when you work on
your putting indoors, and you can regain your confidence.
That's why it's so beneficial to work on your stroke during
the off-season.

During cold weather, you can work on refinements on your
grip and stroke that will help you get off to a fast start
this coming spring.

If you finished the 2007 season putting poorly and you
practice on the living room rug, you'll snap out of your
putting funk this spring. And don't be too proud to invite
friends over who are good putters and ask for their advice.
That's a great way to spend the time-outs and halftimes
during televised basketball games. Have your friend check
your alignment and the path of your stroke; you may have
slipped into a bad habit that you're not aware of. And you
can do the same for him or her. You can also compare notes
on grips and stance; it will be fun and beneficial to your
putting stroke.
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Richard's Quick Tip

This is another excellent article by our good friend Bill Lloyd.

50 years ago this month, January 1958, I began a long and
somewhat illustrious career in golf by taking 15 lessons
for $15 offered by the City of Gardner MA Recreation
Department. A big class which hit plastic balls off of mats
one night a week for 3 months and hit short irons in the
school's back yard for a few more lessons. Over these many
years, I have also gone to a teaching pro for an adjustment
here and there.

I have mostly used lesser known and less expensive clubs
and cheaper balls with great success. This begs the
question, if you had limited funds to put into golf would
you spend it on balls, gloves, and clubs, or would you put
more of your money into lessons? Until you can wean your
self from lessons, you need to take them. Once you
understand the fundamentals and can correct yourself, then
you can slack off on the formal lessons as I did on
occasion just until I needed another set of eyes to coach
me for a singular issue.

Do you have a routine? Have you totally learned a good grip
and set up, in good balance, not too close or too far from
the ball, setting the ball in the right position for the
strike? Do you properly bend from the hips rather than
from the waist? Have you grooved a viable swing? Does the
ball go towards where you are aiming?

How much time do you spend on the practice tee and more
importantly, putting, or in the bunkers and other short
shorts from within 100 yards of the green? How is your
tempo? Are you too fast or too slow with your swing? I
spend most of my practice time putting, chipping, and
pitching from the rough, sand, and with better lies. You
don't need to stand on a mat on the practice tee and hit a
hundred drives or a zillion 3 irons, etc. In fact, unless
you can hit long irons well, you might want to add more
fairway metals or hybrids. I dropped my 2, 3, and 4 irons
years ago and sometimes, even the 5 iron. I might carry 2,
3, or 4 wedges, as well, depending upon the course or
Conditions.

I recently saw VJ Singh give a lesson at the Champions tour
and he addressed the issue of tempo and whether you should
spend more time and money on lessons than on equipment.
Good subjects for thought. He talked about using a count to
develop a swing with good tempo. He said he counts, one-two
on his swing. I count one and two. The problem with
one-two, it's easy to still rush your swing, but one and
two fits better and keeps my swing pretty much constant. He
later said, that when one-two becomes too fast, he will
count 17-2 because it's hard to rush a seventeen. The same
with my one and two. He also made the point that most
amateurs need more lessons than they take and of course, if
you never had lessons, why not?

There are good pro teachers and bad. For example, I saw
some lessons on uneven lies a few years ago by one of
golf's 100 top teachers and he taught the uneven lies
backwards. For example, I teach to put the ball back in
your stance on downhill lies and forward on uphill lies. He
taught the opposite. On sidehill below the feet he taught
to put the ball forward. I teach the opposite and not
strangely, he was consistent in lies above the feet where
he plays the ball back, where I teach forward. He didn't
mention gripping down on the club with the ball above your
feet or bending more on balls below. At least he got it it
right when he said the tendency for the ball would be L-R
on a downhill lie and R-L on an uphill lie. He also didn't
mention that on an uphill lie, you should use less loft and
the reverse on a downhill lie.

Ball position is always important and keeping the lower
body still is equally so, because if you sway on your back
swing, it's hard to strike the ball properly as your whole
body has moved and you have to make strange moves to make
proper contact.

Another mistake is to keep your head still. That makes you
not to move your head and it limits your back swing. Just
before I start my back swing, I cock my head down and to
the rear and keep my left eye on the ball throughout the
swing, then not moving it is fine. because it's already in
striking position. And always keep your body vertical to
The lay of the land whether it's an uphill, downhill, or
Level shot. In other words, go with the slope.
Do you tend to chunk the ball? Move it further back to make
Better contact and if you hit them thin, stay down longer
To finish the swing. Always lead with the front hand and
let the back hand follow. On the back swing, the Y formed
between your shoulders, arms, wrists and hands should stay
as a Y until waist high, returns to Y on the down swing and
stays Y until the waist on the follow through. Then the
wrists may break and turn over to finish. Think of striking
the ball with the back of the front hand and the palm of
the back hand. By keeping the wrists firm you avoid
slapping at the ball. If you let your back hand take over,
the ball can go anywhere. The back hand should not lead
until 3 o'clock on the follow through.

If you do all the right things, you may not need a teacher,
but if all this is strange to you, find a good teacher and
lower that handicap.

Best wishes and Happy New year! Bill Lloyd

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Quote:

"Take pride in what you do. The kind of pride I'm
talking about is not the arrogant puffed-up kind;
it's just the whole idea of caring - fiercely
caring."
Red Aurbach
Professional Basketball Coach
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Until next time, good golfing!

Richard C Myers

http://www.thinkandreachpar.com/
http://www.golfforleftys.com/
http://www.totalgolfdvd.com/
http://www.ourdreamrv.com/

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