What is it going to take for you to become a great putter? This is the first question you must ask when approaching the golf subject. Most golfers do not have a real concept of what it takes to accomplish this great feat. You may drain a putt, and it looks like it goes in perfectly. Meanwhile, it was completely misstruck and gives you the illusion that you have a consistent putter swing. The average golfer who aims at the hole, hopes and prays that the putt is straight, and also then rants and screams when they miss a 3-footer. They are running on pure hope not the confidence of technique and knowledge. Obviously, with these top 5 best golf putting drills, you can quickly get ahead of your competition
The hard part is taking the average Saturday round joe and allowing him to be more precise without making him a range rat. Will this be an instant success without practice and repetition? Usually not. But what I am here to tell you today is you have simple options to reorient your brain and become a confident strong putter.
The tips and drills I have displayed here today can be used for any duration of time the longer, the better usually, but if you commit 10 minutes a day for 4 days a week, I promise there will be significant results in 3 weeks. The ability to commit is the ability to change, and that is a true test of a great golfer which most desire to be as much as we don’t want to admit it. Follow these tips and drills to form the mind of a master putter.
The Gate Drill: Pending where you are practicing. Put your putter down flush on the ground. Then take two tees and push them into the ground on the toe and heel of the putter creating a gate. If on a mat or other surfaces, you can use i.e. (Pepper and salt shaker, plastic shot glasses, or soda cans) and item tall and stable enough to create and open gate look. You will then place a ball in between the two tees or items and take a stroke at the ball. Check out the best golf tees for high handicappers here.
This drill will tell you if you are coming through the impact area square. If you do not hit any objects and cleanly hit the ball. Then impact is not your issue. If you are hitting the objects than pay close attention to tip two. You will be able to tell very fast how stable and consistent your stroke really is with this drill. You can draw the club back as crazy and wild as you like if you can control the impact area which is most crucial to consistent great putting. If you find that you are hitting the gates too much to begin start by widening them some until you can comfortably and confidently complete this drill. This is one of Tiger Wood’s favorite warm up and putting drills, that has allowed him to be one of the greatest putters in history.
If you found that you are having issues with the first drill than this will help develop the stable consistent technique you will need. We start by standing with our heels about 6 inches from a flat wall or door way. We will then get into our putting stance if you are not move back until your butt touches the wall. This is our stable point the object of this drill is to teach your lower half to be calm and quiet while your top half uses the shoulders only to execute the rest. Now with your butt touching the wall you now want to let your arms hang in front of you like they are dead. Without allowing your butt to slide or shift around slowly rock your shoulder from side to side allowing the shoulders to be in complete control of the speed and pace of your putting stroke. Do this 20 times without a putter in your hand. After you have done this pick up a putter and continue to repeat the drill against the wall. Remember do not let you body shift or move on the wall. Stay as calm and still as possible.
For those who feel they have good contact but poor speed than this is the drill for you. The object of this drill is to hit zones with proper speed and efficiency. In order to understand speed better you have to understand distances by sight feel alone. Practicing this drill will allow you to mindlessly see a flat straight putt and the body just takes over out of reflex. You will want to have at least have 10 feet to start this drill and it works all the way up through lag putting distances. But we will start with 10 feet. You want to take some tees and begin to put them out in front of you 2 feet apart all the way up to 10 feet on both sides of your intended putting track and target no more than 1 foot apart. This you will now see has created blank ladder rungs in front of you. You job is to isolate a zone in front of you whether that is the 0-2 feet zone directly in front of you or the 8-10 foot zone in the back. You want to be able to hit at least 5 putts in a row into each zone until you cant complete the entire ladder without missing a zone once. This will begin to burn those numbers and feel of speed into your brain. The more consistent your speed, the greater chance you have of jarring putts.
This is the one everyone wants to skip and then rages on the course when they miss. The bane of golfer’s nightmares. The hard and easy-to-miss 3-foot putt. For this simple drill, you are going to place gently (so the superintendent does not kill you) your putter head in the hole and hold the handle to the ground. This should be around 3 feet away from the hole at the butt of your putter grip. You will then place 4 balls North, South, East, and West of the hole. Place markers of some kind at these points to set up the drill easier for repetition. The Object is to be able to go around 5 times in a row without missing a putt. If you have made the 5 in row and want the extra challenge add an additional 4 balls in the gaps to intensify the drill. This will teach you to mindlessly drain 3 footers with complete confidence in your game.
This drill is specifically for lag putting. (If you dont know: What is a lag putt, check it out here). Do you know The object of the manilla folder putting drill is to give you a bigger target but a small enough zone to still control. You want to place the folder in front of the hole or intended target. The idea is to have the ball barely roll to the folder allowing its frictionless surface to carry the ball the rest of the way to the hole. This is specifically designed to have feel and control all the way to the hole. When we only focus on the hole, it becomes such a small target. But creating a larger target to hone in on will help build greater confidence when starring down a 40-footer. Practice this drill until you can hit 4 out of 5 putts to your target.
Are the drills above the holy grail answers to all of your putting woes? Probably not. But what they do accomplish is becoming solid building blocks in which the entire putter empire is formed. This is the most subjective stroke in golf and can be accomplished in so many fashions. But the true greats are the most consistent fundamentally and technically. Give yourself the opportunity to grow as a golfer by gaining the mental fortitude and confidence if you accomplish these drills. If you dedicate the 10 minutes on a consistent basis, you will see results.
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