x

The perfect "Instant" Holiday gift:

InsideGOLF + A FREE HAT
Putting

Brandt Snedeker on his unique putting stroke, and why he’ll never change his putter

By Brandt Snedeker
August 3, 2019

My putter is my favorite club. It’s the same model I’ve been using since high school. I love the way it looks and feels. It just fits my eye.

I talk fast, I think fast, I play fast. That’s just how I am. The way I putt matches my personality. It’s what allows me to be comfortable.

I felt like a genius after making birdie from the beach on Pebble Beach’s 18th hole during the final round of the 2019 AT&T­—but not while playing my second shot from the beach on the other side of the seawall. After I got the ball back on the fairway and nestled my approach shot close, I told myself, “Okay. I’ve gotten really lucky on this hole. I need to make this putt to cap it off.” Lucky enough, it was an easy downhiller.

With my stroke, I’m one of those throwback guys. I use my wrists a lot. One of the reasons I like it, and why it works for me, is that it gets the ball starting on line really quickly. When I’m putting my best, the faster my stroke is, the less I think about it and the less chance the ball has to waver off line.

I’m never afraid of three-putting. I’m trying to stay aggressive. I always try to roll the ball three or four feet past the hole. I find that when you put that kind of speed on the ball, it wants to find the hole a lot more often.

The biggest thing you need to remember in putting is to make sure the head of the putter is moving more than the grip.

As told to Evin Priest