Putt Like the Pros
Putt Like the Pros
By Dr. T. J. Tomasi, Keiser University College of Golf Senior Faculty and Director of Research
A few years ago, Dr. Ralph Mann at Grand Cypress Academy of Golf in Orlando, Florida, studied a number of the world’s best putters and found some interesting things. Regardless of the length of the putt (they measured 4-foot, 8-foot, 16-foot, and 32-foot putts), the completion times of the strokes were exactly the same. The downswing time is roughly half of the backswing time, showing that the player is accelerating the blade through impact. As an example, on a 4-foot putt by Greg Norman, the backswing took 0.62 seconds, the downswing 0.3 seconds, the total completion time 0.92 seconds. For the 32-foot putt, the backswing took 0.63 seconds, the downswing 0.29 seconds, and the completion 0.92 seconds. All of the professionals measured consistently produced a follow-through distance almost twice that of the backswing distance, again due to acceleration.
The model setup
Each pro’s setup was noted and measured, and then all were averaged together to come up with these composite ideal positions:
1] The feet are about 12 inches apart at the toes with the front foot drawn back an inch from the target line;
2] The ball is 2 inches inside the front big toe and 10 inches out from the foot.
3] The eyes are positioned about 2 inches inside the ball, contradicting instruction that tells you to have your eyes directly over the ball.
4] The weight is toward the heels and evenly distributed, again contradicting advice that most of the weight should be on the front side.
This pro is using a mirror so he can see where his eyes are positioned.
The Model Stroke
Likewise, the pros’ putting strokes averaged out to this ideal form: It’s predominantly straight back and straight through, a pendulum-type motion that stays on the line as long as possible. The recommendation is to putt with the arms and the shoulders (not the wrists), thereby creating the motion of the club by using a tilting of the shoulders. Overusing the wrists opens and closes the clubface, and this leads to slapping at the ball. The lower body does not move much at all. The key is returning the putter face to its address position at impact with the putter face perpendicular to the arc of the stroke. This makes the stroke as simple as possible with fewer chances for error.
Putting drill: Stroke the putt by taking the putter back to your right toe, then through the ball to twice the distance. Use tees to create gates to guide the putter. Do this for all distances until you develop a feel for how much backswing you need for each putt length. Then practice putting to the hole, focusing only on the distance. You can actually learn to putt this way out on the golf course. It’s a great way to get your backswing under control and to get the relationships between the backswing and the follow-through correct every time.
If you’d like to study with Dr. Tomasi and other PGA Master Professionals, contact The College of Golf today.
