Last year this time, few punters had Brian Harman winning the Open Championship. But the 37-year-old lefty didn’t just capture his first-ever major championship, he also dominated the field — especially on the greens.
How lethal was Harman’s putting? He finished +2.85 Strokes Gained: Putting versus the rest of the field, and drained a staggering 58 of 59 putts from within 10 feet, making his performance one of the most convincing major victories in recent memory.
While Harman has always been steady with the flatstick, it all came together last year on the grandest stage, showing just how much of a differentiator great putting can be.
Sure, neither you nor I will likely ever see the level of success on the greens that Harman did at Royal Liverpool, but it doesn’t mean we all can’t slowly dial in our short games. One way to do so is to use the same training aid that helped Harman run away from the field:
A simple putting mirror that helps with many different aspects to ensure your clubface and path are in the right spot.
Before prevailing at Hoylake, Harman referenced the putting mirror as his secret weapon.
“It’s a silly looking mirror where it’s got like a little better release pattern,” he said.
Why the need for an aid?
“I was just kind of cutting my putts too much,” he said. “I spent a lot of time just feeling the ball, almost hitting like a baby draw with my putter, and it’s been really, really good the last month or so.”
Talk about the best kind of endorsement, right?
So how does a putting mirror work? And why is it so useful? I asked golf instructor (and putting guru) Ralph Bauer to help provide some answers.
How a putting mirror like Brian Harman’s will help dial in your stroke
Putting mirrors not only help improve your alignment but also provide amazing feedback to make sure your starting position is consistent.
I strongly encourage my students to start their practice sessions with a mirror on a straight putt, which helps set a baseline for the day. I suggest starting from about 6 feet from the hole, setting up the mirror so that it points toward the center of the hole.
Once you get set up, you want to make sure your eyes are just slightly inside the middle of the ball.
Ideally, your eyes should be directly over the middle of the ball, but it’s easy for your eyes to line up over the outside part of the ball, which will skew your view of the target. It’s good to have a slight bit of insurance on this, so always have your eyes slightly inside the target line. The mirror will help you be consistent with this.
Another way to build more consistency on the putting surface is to stand the correct distance from the ball. With a mirror, it’s relatively easy to measure where your toes should be in relation to the ball. A good rule of thumb is to have your toes 8-10 inches from the center of the ball (depending on your height and comfort level at address).
If you stand either too far away or too close, your posture will suffer, which makes it more difficult to control the stroke with your shoulders.
Finally, the putting mirror also can help with ball position, ensuring that it’s in the middle of your stance. You want to hit the putt on the upswing, so having the ball one inch forward of the middle of your stance allows you to do this without having to make any in-stroke adjustments.
So if you’re in need for some help on the greens (most amateurs are!), it might be worth taking Harman’s recommendation and see if a putting mirror can help you drop more bombs.
