Golf Tips On Short Putts, Long Putts, And Reading The Break
Article by Keith Barker
Let’s start out with today’s golf tips on your stance and where your ball should be. Your heels need to be about shoulder-width apart at address. You need to bend over to put your putter behind your ball. How far do you need to bend over, well far enough so that your eye line is directly above the ball. Now I know this next part is going to sound silly, but its one of those little golf drills that work. Place a ball on your forehead between your eyes, bend over and let the ball drop. Where the ball lands is where the ball should be in relation to your body. your ball shouldn’t be to the inside, the outside, behind, or in front of that point. Your ball should be dead center. Now, let’s get to some actual golf putting.
Tips on putting and how to putt have been written about since the begining of golf. So lets get right to it. You have to hit each putt so that the ball rolls at the right speed and if don’t have the speed, you don’t know where to aim. Listen carefully because these are some great putting tips. The right speed means hitting a putt so that the ball that misses the cup finishes 14 to 18 inches past the hole. You’re probably wondering why your ball needs the right speed. The right speed gives the ball the greatest chance of going into the hole. If the ball rolls toward the middle of the cup, it won’t be going so hard that it rolls right over the hole. If the ball touches either side of the cup, it could drop in. Your plan is to give your ball every chance to drop in, from any angle, be it the front, side or back. The only putts I know that don’t drop are those putts that are left short of the hole. You should try to make every putt that lands ten feet from the hole and closer. You hope to make every putt from 10 to 20 feet, and your trying to get every putt close from 20 feet and beyond.Short game golf is where you score.
Your next question should be-how to develop my ability to make short putts? And this is another great putting golf drill. Get on a practice green and stick your putterhead into the cup and where the butt end of the club hits the ground, place a ball down to putt. In fact, use 50 to 100 balls and putt from those 3 to 4 feet. Get comfortable making those short 3 to 4 feet putts because that can make or break your game. You need to be able to make those short putts most of the time and every time, if possible. You have to care about the result of every putt. So put yourself under pressure, even if you only make yourself stay on the green until you can make 25 putts in a row. Because you don’t want the ball to travel far, the stroke has to be equally short, which doesn’t give the putterhead much of an arc to swing on. But the lack of an arc is okay because on a short putt, you don’t want the putterhead to move inside or outside from the target line. Think straight back and straight through because if you can keep the putterface looking directly at the hole throughout the stroke and you are set up squarely, your going to make more short putts than you miss. Never allow the wrist on your lead hand to bend when putting.
Short putts are a test of precision and technique and long putts are a test of your feel for pace. The last thing you should be thinking about over a 50 footer is how far back you want to take your putter or what path the putter will follow. Focus on smoothness, rhythm, and timing. On a long putt, I don’t exactly aim for the hole, I’m thinking distance, not direction. Again, take a bunch of balls on the green and practice hitting 40 or 50 feet to the fringe or edge of the green. See how close you can get without hitting the fringe. Putting in golf is a huge part of the golf game and you must practice on a regular basis to maintain that feel.
After you have the distance control that consistent pace brings, you can work on the second half of the putting equation, which is reading the break. The break is the amount a putt moves from right to left or left to right on a green. The slope, water, mountains, the grain of the grass, and, most importantly, how hard you hit the ball dictates the break. The firmer you hit a putt, the less the ball bends or breaks on even the steepest gradient. So don’t be fooled into thinking that there is only one way a putt can be holed. The first thing I do when I arrive on a golf course is to find the natural slope of the terrain. If there are mountains on the first hole off to your right, any slope is going to be from right to left on that hole. Every putt breaks down a hill-high point to low point-unless you’re in a zero gravity enviroment, or putting up hill. After you know the lowest point, look at each green in detail. If your on an old course, the greens probably slope from back to front because of drainage. Greens these days have more humps and undulations than ever and are surrounded by more bunkers, and the sand is the key. The drainage should be designed so that water runs past the bunker and not into the sand. Take that into account when you line up a putt. Read over these tips on golf and practice them. Everybody needs golf help on how to golf when they first start. Just be sure to get some tips for golf before you begin so that you are practicing correct tips instead of incorrect tips. Once you play a while with incorrect techniques, it is hard to break those bad habits. Keep checking back for more golf tips and golf. See you on the blog side.
TAGS:\ golf tips,golf tips and golf,golf help,golf drills,putting tips,how to golf,golf putting,how to putt,putting golf,tips for golf,tips on putting,tips on golf,putting in golf,short game golf,the golf game
About the Author
http://www.worldofgolftips.com


