How To Putt More Successfully And Confidently With These Tips For Controlling Putting Speed And Club Head Stroke Length--From Our Expert Mark Harman

How To Putt More Successfully And Confidently With These Tips For Controlling Putting Speed And Club head Stroke--From Our Expert Mark Harman From The US Golf Teachers
Federation

By Mark Grove

With Mark Harman (US Golf Teacher's Federation)

One of the hardest aspects of putting is the speed of the stroke and keeping it constant. The other one is club head force when making contact with the ball. If don't have a handle on these two putting principles, your putts will not have any consistent accuracy and distance control. Once again, our resident putting and golf expert, Mark Harman from the US Golf Teacher's Federation espouses his veteran take on keeping putt force and speed in check, so you can concentrate on putting alignment and reading the green. Tiger Woods take is also mentioned, and a tip from the greatest golfer known to mankind can do anyone a world of good.

You should emulate his putting technique to a small degree, but develop your own as well so your own style doesn't go out the window and you end up totally lost.Or you can throw your putter in the water hazard next time out with all the other clubs,balls, and woodland creatures, oh my!

Believe me, these tips on club speed and force will have you running for the nearest practice green fast as a wink.


MG: Which is more important Mark, the amount of controlled force  you use to hit the ball -- or the speed of the club head when you connect to the ball in your putts?

MH: Well, I'm not sure you can separate the two. You feel the force, which controls the speed of the club head.The only thing the ball knows is the speed of the club head, so purely from a physics point of view that is more important. From a feel point of view, the force is more important.And since golf is played by feel, the golfer should work on feeling the force, which will in turn determine the club head speed.



MG: How can you practice your club head speed and force to hit the ball in your putting stroke?

MH: The important thing here is to remember that the pace of the putting stroke is the same regardless of the length of the putt.In other words,if a golfer takes one second in his putting stroke from start to impact on a 4-footer, it should still be one second for a 40-footer. The length of the back swing determines the force and club head speed, but the overall timing of the stroke should be the same for all distances. To help accomplish this, a metronome is a great practice aid.



MG: Where should the ball hit the club head for more accurate putts?

MH: Some teachers advocate hitting the ball off the toe of the putter for slick or downhill putts, but in my experience that is completely unnecessary. I believe all golfers should attempt to hit their putts on the putter's sweet spot. Now, there is a school of thought that says to put your left-to-right putts slightly towards the heel side of the sweet spot, and right-to-left putts towards the toe side of the sweet spot. Assuming you're using a right handed putter. This school of thought actually does have some validity for physics reasons too long to go into here --- but generally, most golfers will do well to try to hit the sweet spot on all putts.

MG: I may be repeating myself Mark, but how can you measure your putting stroke to get proper distance control and shot accuracy?

MH: Most people simply throw 2-3 balls onto the putting green and putt them towards the hole, thinking if they make the putt it is a good putt, and if they miss it is a bad putt. This is very poor practice. Instead, (PAY ATTENTION TO THE SPEED).

It sounds simple, but most amateurs don't do it. From less than say 30 feet, the goal is to have the ball finish within one club-length past the hole if the putt is missed. From outside 30 feet, getting the ball to finish within one club-length period, is a good goal. Make sure to vary the lengths of the practice putts often, but pay more attention to the speed, and less attention to the line. Tiger has often said that the speed of the putt determines the line, while most amateurs think it's the opposite. If a golfer improves distance control, I guarantee the line control will automatically improve.

Mark Grove