Link-Up-2-Golf-4-Women – The Cliffs Notes – Putting

Green Etiquette:

 On the green, we if we make a ball mark we should fix it by taking a tee or divot repair tool and stick it in green around the perimeter of the ball mark, pulling the grass back up towards the center.  Tap the green flat again using your putter.  At all times, we are trying to keep the green as smooth and well conditioned as possible.

Green no-no’s: 

Don’t talk while others are hitting, don’t walk in someones line (area between their ball and the hole), or have your shadow draped across someones line while they are putting.  Otherwise, have fun.

Being Helpful:

You may ask, or someone may ask you, to TEND the flagstick if putting from a great distance.  Hold the flag in the hole until the person putts, then quickly remove it so their ball doesn’t hit the flag and they incur a penalty.   In addition, we should be ‘reading’ our putts and prepared to hit when it’s our turn (person furthest from the hole putts next).

Marking and replacing the Ball

Once the ball is on the putting green, you may mark it with a coin or other flat object, clean it, and replace it.  Often, we do this out of courtesy for other golfers who we’re interferring with because we’re closer to the hole.  Mark the ball behind or to the side, and sometimes you’ll be asked to ‘move’ your mark…line up with some point in the distance and move your mark the width of your putter head, reversing the process when it’s your turn again.

 

Putting Grip: 

Take your ‘normal’ grip if you want, or experiment with extending one or both of your second fingers down the side of the club to reduce excess wrist movement.

1st Requirement of Good Putting:

The path the club is swinging in at impact determines direction.  Our club should be traveling along our intended target line through impact.  One of our favorite games to play is to place a couple of tees on the inside and outside of the clubhead with approximately 1/4 inch clearance, and try to hit some putts while avoiding the tees. 

Our second favorite game is to build confidence and clubhead path awareness by practicing 1 foot putts…if you miss, you instantly know which direction your club was traveling in.

2nd Requirement of Good Putting – Technical Ability

Fortunately, the putting stroke is the easiest stroke to learn…unfortunately, the goal of putting is to get a 1 inch ball into a 4 inch cup.  This requires precision and efficiency.  Precision and efficiency are attained when you utilize the fewest moving body parts, namely the arms and shoulders.  Any movement below the waist and any movement in the hands and wrists should be eliminated.  Set up to an imaginary ball without a club, and, while keeping your knees perfectly still, swing your arms and shoulders back and forth…you’ll notice no wrist or hand movement.  Strive for the same feeling with a club in your hand.

Excess lower body movement is a killer…notice how Prince’s legs have moved.

Excess hand and wrist movement is a killer…notice how Prince’s arms have stopped moving and the club has ‘flipped’ his hands and wrists.

 3rd Requirement – Distance Control / Reading the Green

Reading the greens refers to the art of looking at the putting surface to determine whether the sloping ground will cause the ball to curve (known as the ’break’ of the green), or require a change in velocity due to going uphill or downhill. 

Without proper distance control, you cannot ‘read’ the break of the greens.  When attempting breaking putts, select an alternative target (indicated by the tee in the photo below) and start the ball rolling along that line.

The slope, or break of the green will take it back towards the target.   

 To hone your distance control, play a game whereby you space tees about 3 feet apart and roll balls as close to each tee as possible.  Hit to a further tee only when you have ‘mastered’ the previous distance.  Vary your putts uphill and downhill to gauge the affect of slope on speed control. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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