Fundamentals of Putting

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• Main Menu
• Overview
• The Mechanics of Putting
• Diagnostics and Observation
• Putter Fitting
• The Grip
• Ball Position
• Setup and Alignment
• Lock and Rock
• Swing Plane
• Rhythm
• Eye Movement
• Pre-Shot Routine
• Pre-Shot Routine Template
• Green Reading
• Wind Effects on the Green
• Practice Drills
• Rhythm Drills
• Distance Control Drills
• Eye Movement Drills
• Speed Control Drills
• Pressure Putting Drills
• Before You Play
• Linking the FOP with the Mechanics
• ASSESSMENT

Setup and Alignment

Ball Position and Posture:

In Step Two of the fitting procedure and then in the section on ball position, we established the preferred set-up position for the ball – about 8 inches in front of the feet and about ¾ of an inch toward the target, directly below the eyes. Slight adjustments can be made, but not to a position that is difficult to replicate and which in turn leads to inconsistency and potential errors.

With the ball in this position and the weight distributed evenly -- between both feet and toes and heels -- the spine angle (at a point slightly above the middle of the shoulder blades) should be about 10 degrees above horizontal, in contrast to the suggested tilt of the spine at the hips of 45 degrees. The knees should be slightly bent. This is generally a comfortable posture for most golfers over the ball.

Slight adjustments can be made from this initial posture, but the angle of the spine between the shoulder blades is fairly critical, because it is at a right angle to the plane in which the putter head should move. This relationship between the spine and the putter head should remain the same throughout the stroke.

Throughout the process of discussing the basic mechanics of the putting stroke, we refer to natural movements. We believe that the more natural the motion, the more repeatable it will be, since a natural swing has fewer sources of error than a contrived one (a contrived swing, for instance, may move the club off the swing plane which a good, natural set up would create; another contrived error would be to intentionally rotate the wrists rather than to let the head rotation, relative to the horizontal plane, be a function of swinging in a plane with no wrist rotation).

As mentioned above, the ball should be directly below the eyes, but to get the student into this position, it is important that the student not lean forward or back to achieve this eye position. The student must maintain the comfortable posture with good weight distribution and move the entire body closer or farther away from the ball to reach the correct position.

The posture must be comfortable, as an uncomfortable posture may result in muscular stress leading to mental distraction.

Many students may have a posture which they have adopted over years of play and which they are loathe to change. Getting them into the correct position may be a little difficult at first, but it soon will become familiar, with the comfort level increasing in proportion with improved skills.

As comfortable as it may be, during the lesson (and later on, during self-directed practice) the student must not remain in the putting position for too long (no longer than about 40 seconds at any one time), as this position will tend to tire the back unnecessarily. Thus, between putting strokes during the lesson and/or practice, the student should stand upright between putting strokes.

Alignment: Shoulders, hips and feet:

Alignment of the body with the target line will help in making a symmetrical stroke toward the target. If the shoulders and/or feet are aligned to the left or right of the target the golfer will be require to compensate for this misalignment to get the ball directed along the target line. Unless the golfer has perfected the compensation for many years, it will probably be inconsistent and not result in a natural movement in the correct plane.

If possible, --unless an open/closed stance is ingrained – get the student to align the tips of the toes, hips and shoulders parallel to the target line when in the address position.

In many cases the student will assume that the feet should align directly at the target, or if the hole is the target, at the hole. For putts greater than 20 feet long, this is not going to be far off, but for short putts, aligning the feet at the target is an error.

The toes of the feet should be aligned with a point about 8 inches to the left of the target (for a right-handed golfer), parallel to the target line. This is most important on shorter putts, as alignment errors can have a significantly greater effect than on longer putts.

Head position:

In the address position the head should be positioned so that the eyes are directly above the ball and the head and neck are in line with the spine. Tilting the head (relative to the spine and neck) to the left or right will add to misjudgments of the correct target line.