How To Improve Putting, 3 Basic Tips (Video) - by Dean Butler
How To Improve Putting, 3 Basic Tips (Video) - by Dean Butler

Okay we’ll talk about three good putting tips for the senior golfers. I think number one is to keep your eyes over the top of the ball. So let me show you how we do that, and basically how important it is.

First of all, we need some much, much closer to the ball and maybe what you’re doing at the moment, we’re going to try and get these eyes right over the top of the ball. And from that, as you get closer to it, your swing will become a little bit more like a pendulum. So the closer you go, the more the arms are going to swing back along the track here, inside these two holes going backwards and forwards. Remember, this is all about getting your eyes over the top. If your eyes are over on the outside, which is to the right of the ball, then the Putter will tend to wave it outside. So that’s settled. Over the top of the ball, eyes over the top there and then from here we’re going to swing and create a pendulum effect from the shoulders. So backwards and forwards, so watch as this is supposed to go back in between the two poles, so from here, take it back, and swing through. So you can see that the Putter has gone inside and inside just not crossed the poles at anytime. Now, you might be wondering how do I know that my eyes are actually over the top of the ball. Well, the good would be to get a CD. I’m sure we’ve all got CDs and have the shiny side up. Set yourself up for the Putter behind it. At least you can see here, as I look down, I can actually see my eyes right over the top of that CD there. So it’s a very, very simple, but very, very good tip to use to see if your eyes are actually in the right position. So, mark my words, you might think it’s a bit strange in the Putting Green using one of these CD disks, but at least you know where your eyes are. So for that tip, use one of those and remember, it’s all about encouraging you to swing from the shoulders. The Putting stroke should be like a pendulum. On tip number two, we want to talk about maintaining your head position. You can imagine how many times have you seen people putting? They swing it back, and their head’s off. And then as their eyes move towards, the target watch for the stroke, just the stroke. It comes around so to commune the head all over the place is really not a good thing. It’s a bad thing for putting. You’ve got to try to put the ball in the hole. We’ve worked our way from the Tee to the Green now we’ve got to get the ball in the hole. So maintain a good head position. So again, to focus on this head position, again eyes over the top of the ball here. But what I want you to do is I want you to focus on actually listening to the ball drop. So if I put a ball back down in between the two lines, you can use two clubs here. You can use or run our golf balls on either side to create that alley way. From here over the top of the ball, keep your head up. And I don’t want you to move your head. I want you to stress your strokes. If I go straight back, straight through, you can see my head hasn’t moved one bit at all. What we try and rely on when we’re actually out there playing in tournaments is listening to the ball. You might think oh this sounds a bit sort of cocky, it’ not. Hit that Putt and don’t move your head until you actually hear the ball drop. Or if you don’t feel comfortable with that, use your Putting stroke, wait for the ball to go halfway down the line and then you can follow it. Remember, once you’ve hit the ball, there’s nothing you can do about it, it’s a matter of what you do with your head. So just kind of work on that sort of position; your head position. You could also just set yourself up and close your eyes if you wanted to, and close your eyes so you’re building the feel of the stroke up in the game. By having your eyes closed there’s no temptation to start looking down to see where that ball’s gone. So maintain a good head position is a good second tip. The third one is trying to get the hands to become passive. So you think what does that mean? Well, quite a lot of Putters people who putt badly tend to use their wrists. So they’ll have the Putting and they tend to flick it and you can just imagine the sort of wobbling effect as the wrist become very, very dominant. I’ve watched out the putter being square holders suddenly comes into the left which is close or to the right open. So how would you make these hands passive where they really don’t do any work at all? A good tip would be to take your Putter, put your left hand down as you normally do, a good say three inches down. Now put the ball there against just inside your wrist, some of your wrist and put your right hand down. Now from here with my wrists are not doing any work, that ball will maintain the position. You see that ball is not moving. Watch what happens if my wrist become active. The ball drops. So it’s a very simple way of putting your ball into a position. Remember you need to go down a good three inches so you create a gap there for the ball to sit. And then from there just do your normal putting stroke and straight away you’ll be able to feel whether or not you’re a wristy Putter or somebody who is actually swinging the club with their shoulders which is the ideal Putting stroke. So there you go. You’ve got three very, very simple tips. Spend a good 20 minutes on each one on the Putting Green. See what works for you, and if you still find yourself struggling, remember the PGA professional is there to help you. 2014-03-31

Okay we’ll talk about three good putting tips for the senior golfers. I think number one is to keep your eyes over the top of the ball. So let me show you how we do that, and basically how important it is.

First of all, we need some much, much closer to the ball and maybe what you’re doing at the moment, we’re going to try and get these eyes right over the top of the ball. And from that, as you get closer to it, your swing will become a little bit more like a pendulum. So the closer you go, the more the arms are going to swing back along the track here, inside these two holes going backwards and forwards. Remember, this is all about getting your eyes over the top. If your eyes are over on the outside, which is to the right of the ball, then the Putter will tend to wave it outside.

So that’s settled. Over the top of the ball, eyes over the top there and then from here we’re going to swing and create a pendulum effect from the shoulders. So backwards and forwards, so watch as this is supposed to go back in between the two poles, so from here, take it back, and swing through. So you can see that the Putter has gone inside and inside just not crossed the poles at anytime.

Now, you might be wondering how do I know that my eyes are actually over the top of the ball. Well, the good would be to get a CD. I’m sure we’ve all got CDs and have the shiny side up. Set yourself up for the Putter behind it. At least you can see here, as I look down, I can actually see my eyes right over the top of that CD there. So it’s a very, very simple, but very, very good tip to use to see if your eyes are actually in the right position. So, mark my words, you might think it’s a bit strange in the Putting Green using one of these CD disks, but at least you know where your eyes are. So for that tip, use one of those and remember, it’s all about encouraging you to swing from the shoulders. The Putting stroke should be like a pendulum.

On tip number two, we want to talk about maintaining your head position. You can imagine how many times have you seen people putting? They swing it back, and their head’s off. And then as their eyes move towards, the target watch for the stroke, just the stroke. It comes around so to commune the head all over the place is really not a good thing. It’s a bad thing for putting. You’ve got to try to put the ball in the hole. We’ve worked our way from the Tee to the Green now we’ve got to get the ball in the hole. So maintain a good head position.

So again, to focus on this head position, again eyes over the top of the ball here. But what I want you to do is I want you to focus on actually listening to the ball drop. So if I put a ball back down in between the two lines, you can use two clubs here. You can use or run our golf balls on either side to create that alley way. From here over the top of the ball, keep your head up. And I don’t want you to move your head. I want you to stress your strokes. If I go straight back, straight through, you can see my head hasn’t moved one bit at all. What we try and rely on when we’re actually out there playing in tournaments is listening to the ball. You might think oh this sounds a bit sort of cocky, it’ not.

Hit that Putt and don’t move your head until you actually hear the ball drop. Or if you don’t feel comfortable with that, use your Putting stroke, wait for the ball to go halfway down the line and then you can follow it. Remember, once you’ve hit the ball, there’s nothing you can do about it, it’s a matter of what you do with your head. So just kind of work on that sort of position; your head position. You could also just set yourself up and close your eyes if you wanted to, and close your eyes so you’re building the feel of the stroke up in the game. By having your eyes closed there’s no temptation to start looking down to see where that ball’s gone. So maintain a good head position is a good second tip.

The third one is trying to get the hands to become passive. So you think what does that mean? Well, quite a lot of Putters people who putt badly tend to use their wrists. So they’ll have the Putting and they tend to flick it and you can just imagine the sort of wobbling effect as the wrist become very, very dominant. I’ve watched out the putter being square holders suddenly comes into the left which is close or to the right open. So how would you make these hands passive where they really don’t do any work at all?

A good tip would be to take your Putter, put your left hand down as you normally do, a good say three inches down. Now put the ball there against just inside your wrist, some of your wrist and put your right hand down. Now from here with my wrists are not doing any work, that ball will maintain the position. You see that ball is not moving. Watch what happens if my wrist become active. The ball drops. So it’s a very simple way of putting your ball into a position. Remember you need to go down a good three inches so you create a gap there for the ball to sit. And then from there just do your normal putting stroke and straight away you’ll be able to feel whether or not you’re a wristy Putter or somebody who is actually swinging the club with their shoulders which is the ideal Putting stroke.

So there you go. You’ve got three very, very simple tips. Spend a good 20 minutes on each one on the Putting Green. See what works for you, and if you still find yourself struggling, remember the PGA professional is there to help you.