Putting is one of the most crucial aspects to obtaining a good score in golf. At times is can represent up to 50 percent of your score. When one improves their putting skills marginally you can often see a remarkable difference in your overall score.
Most people tend to grip their putter in the same way they grip a golf club, which is more in the fingers. This allows your wrists to hinge freely resulting in more rotation of the club head back and through the hitting area.
The putter grip is designed like a paddle enabling it to fit more into the palm of your left hand (if you are putting right handed). Let your arms hang down at address, then grip your putter along your left-hand lifeline, your putter will then become an extension of your forearm. This will neutralise the motion of your hands and create a much smoother pendulum putting stroke back and through. The idea is to have less rotation through the ball, which causes pulls and pushes with the putter.
Since the putting motion is a pendulum action of the arms and shoulders, the shoulders, hips and feet need to be lined up parallel to the target putting line. The majority of golfer’s tend to set-up with correct alignment of the feet and hips, but misalign their shoulders to far left or to far right of target line. When standing directly behind the ball it is far easier to see the putting target line and align oneself, however we are not directly behind the ball when putting but rather to the side, therefore, it is natural to open ones shoulders subconsciously. This in turn results in an outside-to-in swing path of the putter head cutting across the ball. Once again highlighting the importance of being aligned parallel to the target line.
Although the skill of putting seems simple, there are many aspects that need to be considered. In conclusion the key areas one needs to focus on are the
- The grip
- Alignment in the setup
- Pendulum action of the putter head