What should you think as you stand over your putts?
AND How to make more putts with less stress
The best putters in golf have an absolutely consistent routine before they take the putter back.
They read the green, pick a target and fully commit to hitting the putt they imagined in the same way every time.
If doubt creeps in, they step away and start again.
So, what do you do when you're actually over the ball?
- Align the putter (HARDER THAN IT LOOKS)
- Pull the trigger (EASY!)
Let's start with number 2, since I promised no stress in the headline.
How to pull the trigger?
When you're ready to go, it's important to have a physical trigger and an accompanying thought when you take the putter back.
Your physical trigger might be:
- a forward press
- bouncing the putter very lightly behind the ball
- picking the putter up off the grass.
What you choose doesn't matter, although you don't want to undo the careful alignment work you've done up until now with any large movement.
So keep your trigger small.
what to think when you take the putter back
The mental thought to go along with your physical trigger is the feeling that you are surrendering control of the putt to your subconscious mind.
In other words, you have to trust at this point that there's nothing more you can do to help your putt go in the hole, except let your natural athleticism take over.
It's just like throwing a ball of paper into a waste paper basket...
The more you think about it, the harder it gets. The quicker you look and throw, the more likely it is to go in.
So, now's the point to relax and give up control.
Bob Rotella, renowned sports psychologist, says you have to "get out of your own way" or simply "Look and react".
So a great sequence just before you take your putter away would be:
- Final look at the hole (imagining the ball going in with perfect pace)
- Physical trigger as your eyes return to the ball.
- Let it go!
The more you give up control, the more likely you are to make your putt, and if you embrace this, it's one hell of a stress-busting thought.
In fact, if you really, genuinely give up control, you can't even blame yourself if the ball doesn't go in... you did everything you could have done!
a few words on aligning the putter
Before you pull the trigger, you have to put your putter behind the ball with as close-to-perfect aim as possible.
But aiming isn't as easy as it sounds.
Turns out that we human's aren't very good at lining up a straight line shape - your putter face or the line on the back of it - accurately when your only reference point is a curved surface - the ball.
This is especially difficult as the margins for error are so small.
On a 6 foot putt, if you misalign the putter face by 2 degrees, your ball will miss the target by 3 inches, enough not to even touch the hole.
The solution: Use an line on your ball
This is hardly revolutionary advice - almost every tournament professional from Tiger Woods onwards has put a line on their ball with a marker pen and a lining tool.
But the way you use the line on your ball is important.
You have to align it from directly behind the ball, looking down the ball-to-target line.
This gives you the perfect perspective to check the alignment, like an archer looking straight down an arrow.
From behind the ball it's easy to see whether you've aimed up to the right or left of your intended line.
Get the line aimed up right from behind the ball, and then - crucially - trust it!
When you get over the ball, resist the temptation to change the alignment of you putter.
Remember, you're simply not in the right position to aim when you're looking down with the putter behind the ball.
Trust the line and let it go! If you can't trust, step away and quickly make sure your line is still correct from behind and then go again.
And that's it... Over to you now to consistently implement a sound routine!
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