Denny McCarthy doesn’t like to get too technical when he’s putting. Some experts compare it to a free throw, a player who just reacts and fires.
The results don’t lie. McCarthy ranked 4th in Strokes Gained: Putting last year and was 4th in putts per round. He ranked 3rd and 2nd, respectively, in SG: Putting the two years before that. Clearly he knows what he’s doing. (He’s 68th in SG: Putting this year, although that number includes only 20 total rounds.)
What’s his secret? On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar podcast, McCarthy shared his No. 1 putting tip for amateurs.
“Pick something close by to aim at and focus on that,” McCarthy said. “Something close by, not near the hole, something that you can track closer to you and use whatever that is.
“I’m not very mechanical so I’m not going to throw out a mechanical tip,” he continued. “I’m just gonna say visualize that arc around that spot essentially, and I like it typically to be closer to me than the hole. It’s easier for me to aim at something closer to me than farther away. It’s worked really well for me, it should work well for a lot of people but some people don’t see things the same as me, but I would say use something close to you to aim at and track the arc around that.”
You can listen to the complete episode here or watch on YouTube below. McCarthy also shares what he’s done to become one of the best putters on the PGA Tour, how he increased his ball speed and more.
As GOLF.com’s managing editor, Berhow handles the day-to-day and long-term planning of one of the sport’s most-read news and service websites. He spends most of his days writing, editing, planning and wondering if he’ll ever break 80. Before joining GOLF.com in 2015, he worked at newspapers in Minnesota and Iowa. A graduate of Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minn., he resides in the Twin Cities with his wife and two kids. You can reach him at joshua_berhow@golf.com.
