Winter Putting Practice
By Bradley Turner MBA, PGA – Keiser University College of Golf Director of Online Golf Instruction
In making 2021 your best golf year ever, it makes good sense to focus on the club that makes a big difference in lowering your handicap. This winter is the perfect time to fine-tune your putting stroke by dedicating five minutes a day to this important skill. There are three main fundamentals that you can improve this winter. First, great putters hit the ball solid and in the center of the putter face. Center-face contact is important to start the ball on your intended line and to hit the ball the distance you anticipate. Secondly, the best putters can maintain a straight path to the intended target. Most importantly, they square the face to their intended target line at impact. Developing and fine-tuning these three fundamentals will significantly improve your success on the greens. Carving out only five minutes from your daily schedule appears to be easy. But you need to do this regularly. The following is a putting practice routine that can be completed this winter, transforming you into a great putter.
Use Simple Training Aids
The use of training aids is designed to provide feedback for you by associating a feel with a desired fundamental. Training aids are great if used properly and will get you on the right track toward improvement. My belief is to use training aids at the beginning of your practice session. Then remove the training aids and challenge yourself to create the same feelings and sensations. This process will help you transition the changes from the practice tee to the first tee.
Center Face Contact – To provide feedback in your practice sessions, apply your favorite foot powder to the face of your putter. At the end of your five-minute practice session, you will have good evidence of the consistency of the impact position. Take a picture of the results and save it as your initial baseline test. Throughout your practice sessions, you should see the impact pattern becoming tighter and on the sweet spot of the putter…evidence that your center face contact is improving.
Straight Path – A favorite training aid to develop a good putter path is a 2”x4”. Make sure and get a straight piece of wood to work with, and your putter path will improve tremendously. To use the 2”x4” board, simply hit putts with the heel of the putter, lightly touching the board. After about a minute, switch to using the toe of the putter against the board. Do not putt to a target when using the 2”x4” board unless you are certain the board is aligned properly to your intended target. Remember, you are trying to get a feel for a path that is relatively straight towards the target. Research tells us that some of the best PGA tour putters have a very slight arc to the putting stroke. By practicing using the toe and then the heel, you will be able to balance out a feel for a putting stroke that will most likely have a slight arc…just like the tour players.
Face Angle – There are plenty of putting mats available for you to use this winter. A putting mat with lines is the best, as it will help you to square the putter face in your setup position and then provide feedback as to the position of the face angle at impact. Another simple training aid is a carpenter’s chalk line. Most professional golfers and competitive amateurs use a chalk line to help them see a perfectly straight line. Once you have a straight line to practice from, ensure your putter face angle is square to the line in your setup and begin striking putts.
Only Five Minutes a Day
Somedays, you may want to spend a bit more time putting than five minutes, but I would caution against a long putting session. It is much better to spend five minutes, six days a week than to spend 30 minutes putting on a Saturday. It is also much easier to commit and execute a practice plan that requires such a short amount of time! By focusing on the three important putting fundamentals and using the suggested training appropriately, you will have earned the confidence to be a great putter.
If you’d like to study with Bradley Turner and other PGA Master Professionals, contact the College of Golf today.
