Natalie Adams – PGA Teaching Pro

One of the main reasons that you might be taking too many putts on the green is leaving your putt short all the time. If you’re leaving your putt short, then they’re not going to reach the hole. There’s no chance of the ball going in. This is a great tip for you if you find that you are leaving your putt short; because one of the main reasons for that is decelerating as you’re striking the ball, rather than accelerating.

Now when you’re out on the putting green the next time you’re practicing, have a look at the stroke that you’ve got. Set up to the ball, and if you play the shot, just notice how far back you draw the putter head and then hold your finish and look at the finished position for the putter head. If you’re decelerating, what you’ll find is that you’re swinging the putter head back a much bigger distance than the putter head’s going through the ball. To decelerate, you would notice this kind of action, a very big back swing and then very little follow through and that would cause you to miss hit your put and you’ll also leave the ball short a lot of the time, because the putter head’s slowing down as it’s connecting with the ball.

To have a really consistent and effective putter stroke, you want to make sure that the swing on the right of the ball with the putter head is the same distance as it is on the left of the ball so that you’ve got a really even balance to the swing. Work on however far you swing the putter to the right, it must go the same distance through the ball to the left and then you won’t decelerate through the shot. Now if you’re struggling with making sure that you follow through and that you get that longer movement into the putter head on the follow through, try the following drill.

This is just for a drill. You can’t do this out on the golf course, because this stroke would be illegal because it’s actually a push rather than a stroke, but it will get you to get the feeling of moving the putter head through and beyond the ball once you’ve hit it and into a good finished position. Set yourself up ready to putt, put the putter head as close to the ball as possible and then just push the ball into the hole. That will really encourage you. See there’s no back swing at all there and I’ve really pushed the putter head through the shot. Once I’ve done that, I can start moving further back away from the hole. Start from say two feet, then move to three, then move to four, then move to five and you’ll see that you can hold the ball with no back swing at all because you’re accelerating through the ball.

Once you’ve been practicing that with no backswing, then have a go at actually making a backswing. What you’ll pick up on is the fact that you don’t need a big backswing. If you’ve just been practicing that push through drill, you’ll find that you have a very short backswing but you really swing the putter head through the ball and have a good follow through. If you find you’re leaving all your putts short, make sure you follow through and not decelerate on the ball. To ensure you do that, make sure that as you swing the putter head away from the ball on the backswing you equal that length of movement to the left of the ball on the follow through.