As amateur golfers, the chance to hear the best tips and drills from top professionals is an opportunity we can’t afford to pass up. It’s obvious that improving your performance on the greens is a great way to lower your scores and ensure your handicap plummets, but selecting the right putting drills and setting aside the time to practice is what’s going to make the difference.
In this article, Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach John Howells shares an easy to set-up drill, inspired by 15-time Major Champion Tiger Woods, that can help you to visualise the putt and nail your distance control every time…
‘Picture’ The Putt
Tiger Woods has often spoken about how his father, Earl, taught him to ‘putt to the picture’. Tiger really goes to town on scoping out a putt, looking at it from multiple angles. But the final stage of the process – the routine he goes through just before hitting the putt – is that he will get in by the side of the ball and take a lot of mental pictures.
In his mind, he will almost take a photo of the hole and visualise what the slopes are doing around it. Then he will putt to that picture on his practice strokes before stepping in and doing it with the ball.
(Image credit: Tom Miles)
Pay Attention To The Bigger ‘Picture’
Many golfers become locked on the ball and don’t look at the target enough. Make sure you go to the low side or even the other side of the hole to really take things in, then finish near the ball to take a final mental picture before it’s go time.
Pre-round, work on distance control by focusing on how different-sized back and through strokes perform – ideally symmetrical both sides.
(Image credit: Tom Miles)
The ‘Picture’ Perfect Putting Drill
Start with 20ft putts, both uphill and downhill, taking those pictures in your mind and being aware of what the putts do. Having a vivid image and responding to it will help you become more instinctive and improve your feel.
Now progress to 40ft putts to see what it takes to get that distance right. These two key lengths provide a good bandwidth of putts to use on the course. Then you can just comfortably respond when you face putts of those distances at key moments.
(Image credit: Tom Miles)
What Is The Lag Putting Drill For Distance Control?
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