- At home or on the practice green, set down a ball to putt.
- Place an object on the line one foot behind the ball, the other two feet beyond the ball. (You can vary the distance by placing the forward object twice the length away as the back object.)
- Make rehearsal strokes in which you barely bump each object – one on the backstroke, the other on the through-stroke.
- Because the forward stroke is longer than the back-stroke, you must accelerate the putter.
- Concentrate on moving or rocking the shoulders back and through, with little or no wrist action. Using the big muscles will make you less susceptible to the effects of nerves.
Pressure can cause the most aggressive putter to become tentative. Afraid of rapping the ball far past the hole, the golfer makes a weak, decelerating stroke and leaves it short or pulls it off-line.
When you’re nervous, it’s important to focus on accelerating through the ball. Otherwise, you’ll fail to knock home those crucial putts – and you may even blow your chances by missing easy ones.
Here’s a simple drill that will ingrain an accelerating stroke and provide a great mental key for those stressful situations. You’ll need two simple objects, such as range ball buckets or golf balls:
After several practice strokes, try hitting putts with the same 1-to-2 ratio of back-stroke to through-stroke. And visualize the drill any time pressure surfaces on the golf course.
