Improving your putting is one of the fastest ways to reduce your score. Yet most golfers don’t spend enough time working on it, or don’t know what to work on. Putting has many facets: technique, green-reading, speed and direction control. When it comes to speed and direction, how hard you strike the ball affects how much your putt will break, while your putter-face alignment controls direction.
This drill, which I learned from putting whiz Dr. Craig Farnsworth, will help you keep your stroke on path and putter face square at impact. Here’s how to do it.
Benefits of this drill
- Gives you the sensation of being more “connected” in the stroke and reduces excessive wrist motion.
- Gets your arms aligned correctly and sets your wrist angle.
- Stabilizes the path of the stroke.
What you’ll need
- Putter
- Ball
- Two alignment rods
The drill
Put an alignment rod under each of your arms like this:
Then hold the putter so the shaft rests on the rods and your hands are under the rods. Also, cross the lead arm rod over the trail arm rod.
Next, take your setup and be sure the rods are touching both forearms. It doesn’t matter where, but they should touch in similar locations on each arm.
Now that you are set up correctly, make a few practice strokes and focus on what feels different. You should feel you are using your body more and hands less – i.e., a more connected feel. After a few strokes, the path of the putter head should also feel more stable and work on a slight arc.
Finally, hit a few putts with the rods in place. Pay attention to the feeling the rods create in the stroke. After 15-20 putts, remove the rods, hit 10-15 putts, then use the rods again.
Do this cycle three to four times during your practice sessions and you’ll quickly develop a more stable and reliable stroke.
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