For Your Swing by Dave Ramsay - March 2011

I've had no shortage of days in which hopeful golfers have been hanging around the golf shop while waiting for the frost to thaw, snow to melt, or the rain to subside.  Common diversions while waiting to play include socializing, sipping a hot beverage, watching sports or the news on the TV (okay, just sports), playing cards, and heaping verbal abuse on the golf pro (my personal favorite).  I always take note, however, when someone grabs a putter and starts rolling some balls around the carpet.  It often surprises me how much wrist and body movement people have in their putting stroke, especially considering that you can't find a long distance target within the confines of the golf shop that would require a strong putting stroke.  This is especially common with novices and intermediates, but I also see subtle signs of excessive movement with many advanced players.
 
An important concept in putting is that you are rarely going to need to create very much force to get the ball to the hole.  In the regular golf swing, creating force is important.  You must generate a lot of clubhead speed because the goal is to get the ball airborne and hit it a long distance.  To create that clubhead speed, there needs to be many moving parts in your swing working together, synchronized and coordinated.  It takes a long time to develop a swing that can do this properly, because a good swing must be built with many parts turning, hinging, rolling, shifting, etc.  All of this action is to create more clubhead speed to hit the ball as far as possible (while still being in control).  However, a putting stroke is not built around the idea of hitting as far as possible; it is about precise distance and accuracy.  Even with a simple five foot putt, a face angle or swing path that is only slightly off can result in a miss, especially coupled with a speed that is just a bit too excessive or light.  Contrasted with the golf swing, a proper putting stroke for the majority of players should have as few moving parts as possible - and it's critical to have the correct parts moving, not simply the fewest.
 
One of the tell-tale signs of excessive movement is poor distance control.  It is always beneficial to objectively judge your consistency at several distances, especially since distance is even more important than line the farther you get from the hole.  The next time you go to the practice green, take a few putts of various lengths to get used to the green's speed for that day.  Then, using only one ball, rotate several times between different five foot putts, ten foot putts, and twenty footers - one at 5', one at 10', then one at 20', then go to a different angle or different hole and repeat at least half a dozen times.  Do you miss half of those 5 footers, sometimes because of lip-outs?  Do you sometimes run a ten foot putt more than two feet past the hole (or leave it short)?  Are your 20 footers often more than a few inches short or more than three feet too long?  If so, these may be signs that excessive movement is making it difficult for your putting stroke to be consistent.  The better you can effectively learn to separate the appropriate moving body parts from those that should remain stationary, the quicker your natural coordination will learn the appropriate amount of force to make your putting stroke for any given distance.  This is how a better player more easily adjusts to different greens and different lengths for each putt's single attempt while playing a round.  Anyone can adjust when hitting the same putt several times.
 
Most people think believe they are a better putter than they actually are.  Give yourself an objective test, and regardless of how well you do, ask yourself whether you can improve your results with improved mechanics.  A little shoring up on the putting stroke has done wonders for even advanced players.  Just ask any Tour player.
 
As always, I'll assist the first three people tfor free hat ask for a putting stroke analysis!  See you at the course!
 
Dave