when practising is maintaining the angle of my right wrist. For long putts I believe in drilling with my right hand only, like rolling a ball underhand. Feel is hard to teach. It comes with practice. SHORT PUTTS Putting is the most mental part of the game and needs to be enjoyed. Trying too hard doesn’t work. It’s more im- portant to have a routine and stick to it, always believing you will hole each putt. I take short putts seriously and convince myself that I enjoy them. I practise rolling them in, then dribbling them in, and last by drilling them in. Back to pace once again. CONFIDENCE Few people practise shorts putts. You need to be confident to be a good put- ter and confidence comes from hol- ing putts. Practise holing putts of two or three feet and see your confidence grow. PUTTING UNDER A STRING Pay attention to fundamentals. To en- sure your putter is aiming straight, drill under a string, preferably with an aim- ing board with a series of aiming lines. Choose a putt of about 1.5 to 2 metres (4 to 6 feet) so that you’re expecting to hole each putt. Use two stakes with a string that runs above the middle of the hole and extends about half a metre. Putting under the string makes aiming easy and ensures you are training or practising correctly. KEEP THINGS SIMPLE Many players, including tour pros, think too much and try too hard. Apply the basics, relying on hours of practice, then aim to put a good stroke on it and make solid contact with the back of the ball, almost as if you don’t care about the ball going in the hole. Do your part and let the ball do the rest. PUTTING UNDER A STRING (opposite page) To ensure your putter is aiming straight, drill under a string, preferably with an aiming board with a series of aiming lines. RIGHT HAND ONLY DRILL (left) A favourite drill is to putt with my right hand holding the club. My left hand is touching the hinge of the right wrist. This helps me focus on maintaining the angle of the right wrist through the stroke.
ROLLING THE BALL You create roll by keeping the putter low going back. From there, the natu- ral flow of the head will enable the ball to be struck slightly on the up, creating over-spin or roll. A good drill is practis- ing striking the putt off the toe of the putter. Locke encouraged striking the toe side rather than heel. Dead centre is best but err towards the toe. Great put- ters roll the ball. PACE HELPS YOU READ PUTTS The most important feature of all great putters is perfect pace. A feeling of pace helps you read putts and you will never end up far from the hole. Correct pace enables the ball to fall in the hole from all sides. Reading a putt is also pace dominant. If your pace is wrong, read- ing is tough. I believe that great putters over-read rather than under-read. The
ball always has a chance approaching the hole from above the cup. RHYTHM AND TIMING Never hurried, always slow when put- ting. A good drill is to take the putter back and stop, count to three, and then strike. It helps make the stroke slower and more deliberate, which is ideal. Always work to a finish of the stroke and hold. (Holding your finish on ev- ery swing or stroke is a great discipline, especially with the putting stroke.) Anything that slows you down when putting is to be encouraged. LONG PUTTS No difference in fundamentals between long and short putts. I always feel the putter head throughout the stroke, and this comes from my hands and arms and not from the shoulders. My focus
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 105
MARCH/APRIL 2025
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