RATTLE BOTTOM
BULL’S EYE! Got a makeable short putt? Focus on the start line.
Try This New Way to Think About Putting This logical and effective method will give you an edge on your opponents (and it’s how the pros navigate the greens) BY LUKE KERR-DINEEN
WHAT DO PRO GOLFERS think about when standing over a putt? Well, frankly,
towards that spot, then let the slope bring it back.”
it depends on the putt. Just like the bull’s-eye illustration above, you can expect their mind-set and approach to be determined by what ring their ball is in. I call them “putting zones,” and one of pro golf ’s most respected putting coaches, Stephen Sweeney, will explain how to adjust your goal depending on what sector you’re in. OUTERMOST SCORING CIRCLE “Tour players are more likely to three- putt than one-putt around the 30- to-35 foot mark, so speed control out here is the top priority,” says Sweeney, who works with many tour players in- cluding Collin Morikawa and Shane Lowry. “Err on the side of overread- ing putts. It will leave you closer to the hole than underreading because the slope will pull the ball to the hole. I of- ten tell my players that every putt has to start uphill relative to its fall line. Find the highest point between you and the hole. That’s where your atten- tion should be: Putt your ball uphill
MIDDLE SCORING CIRCLE “Between 30 feet and about eight feet, you can’t rely on making too many of these, but you’d like to have a chance. A lot of golfers think they should hit these putts firm, but gravity has a greater ef- fect the slower the ball is moving. That means the effective size of the hole gets bigger. When the ball is moving slower, lip-outs become lip-ins and misses be- come tap-ins.” INNERMOST SCORING CIRCLE “At eight feet, flip the importance from speed to start line. It’s way more im- portant to have a clean start line that matches your read. Lots of pros put a line on the ball and use it exclusively to get their start line right. They’ll also spend a lot of their putting practice trying to get that ball rolling end-over- end. Most of players’ technical practice comes on these putts, too, making sure they’re delivering a square putterface at impact from this length, because every degree left or right matters from here.”
PHOTOGRAPH BY STEPHEN DENTON
38 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2024
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator