Natalie Adams – PGA Teaching Pro
Here we’re going to look at how to create a really good pre-shot routine to help you hole more putts. Now, the whole point of having a pre-shot routine is to help you complete the task in hand and that’s just to get the ball from the position it’s in into the hole. So it’s really important that we keep your routine as simple as possible because the simpler the task is, and the less you’ve got to focus on, the easier it would be for you to complete that task successfully and hold the putt. So the first thing you want to do with your pre-shot routine is actually read the green. So crouch down behind the ball, have a look at the, the green and the slopes that are on that green, work out what is going to happen to the ball, which way it’s going to curve and where you feel you’ve got to aim. So now you’ve got your target-line, the next thing you want to do with your pre-shot routine is practice the putt that you’re going to play.
So you’ve decided on where you’re going to aim but now you want to practice the stroke, feel the tempo feel the speed that you’re going to swing the putter up just actually feel that putt and focus on the speed you want to roll the ball down the target line to the hole. Once you finish doing your practice putt and you’ve, you’ve worked on the feel, now work on the aim. So again visualize the line that you want the ball to go down, try and make that a really vivid color, it makes it easier to pick up on where that target line is, so turn it into maybe a red line which, which you going to see the ball travelling along and always make sure that, that target line finishes in the hall. So you’ve decided where your target line as you’ve seen it in this really vivid color, now work on aiming the club-face down that target line to allow the ball to travel down the target line.
Set yourself up and now swing the putter so the putter moves straight down the target line back and through keeping the putter-face square to the target line. So keep focused on the target line and the speed you want the ball to travel down that target line and you’re going to hole more putts. So good pre-shot routine for putting would be read, read the green then visualize the target line get a feel for the speed you want the ball to travel down that target line and then just keep it really simple. Set up to the target line and hit the ball down that line with the speed that you want.
Using this routine will help you block out any distraction and it will help you keep focused on that, those few simple but effective performance cues that will help you complete the task of getting the ball into the hole.