Home | News | Videos | Subscribe | Forum | Contact
Copyright 2004© Golf International Services Limited and Golf Content Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Golf International Services Limited and Golf Content Limited provide this website to you subject to Terms of Use.

Rock the handle down then up, and roll the ball like the game's greatest putters

Years ago, I remember reading about an experiment that was conducted to determine the common denominators of the really great putters. And the only thing that was discovered (other than the fact great putters holed lots of putts) was that the handle of the putter went down and then up through the course of the stroke. In other words, the butt-end of the grip could be seen to work down a little in the backswing before working up as the putter was released through the ball. That single finding is something
that I have stressed to all of my pupils ever since, whether they be aspiring tour players or keen club golfers.
The fact is, good putters strike the ball so much more sweetly than poor

putters. They get the ball rolling and hugging the green. Poor putters tend to ‘trap’ the ball between the putter-face and the surface of the green, and never really get the ball running true off the face. What you have to remember is that the pure weight of the ball on grass causes it to sit down into the surface of the green.
On these firm and quick Wentworth greens, probably 3-4% of the ball sinks into the green (more on slow greens), and so to get it out of that small indentation it has to be struck on the equator as the putter works
up. And that’s why you have to work on hitting it with a little loft and slightly ‘on the up’ – as all the great putters do.
So there’s a first principle to keep

firmly in mind. We talk a lot about checking matters of alignment and ball position – quite rightly but when it comes to effectively improving
your putting stroke, this is a critical element of technique that you need to be aware of.
So work on the exercise above; get the handle of the putter working down and then up for that slightly ascending through-stroke that gets the ball rolling true.
Here I am rehearsing the ‘release’ drill with the Zen Oracle putter that allows you to hold and roll a ball from within the aperture the head. But whatever putter you use, repeating this exercise will transform your stroke and help you to hole more putts.