Keep your head still...
until the ball is away
Another tip from the master himself, though I do think at times Nick [Faldo] takes this discipline a little too far. It’s true that you should keep your head as still as possible until the ball is on its way – at least until it is beyond your peripheral vision. That’s what I concentrate on. I keep my head still until the ball is out of view. Then my head rotates to follow the line of the putt all the way to the hole.

Lag putts:
Picture the dustbin lid
When I study a long putt, one that I’m happy to get close for a simple two-putt, I try to get this image of a three-foot circle around the hole. To be more exact, the semi-circle that extends beyond the hole is my real target area, as I’m always trying to get the ball up to the hole. Once you are set to go, it’s the rhythm and the smoothness of your stroke that is key to getting the ball to roll ‘end over end’. When you strike the ball sweetly (which the coin drill below will help you do) it really does keep rolling on and on.

How do you improve your strike?
First up, a neat drill I picked up from Nick Faldo. All you need is a thin coin, which you simply place on the green right behind the ball (left), just as if you were marking it. The idea then is that you make a smooth stroke and strike up and through the putt without touching the coin. The more you do this, the more you will develop a slight upstroke that imparts true roll on the ball. Aim to strike the ball bang on its equator as you release the putter smoothly. Try this drill on long putts for a better sense of pace control and also from three or four feet to hole out those must-make putts with extra confidence.