Decelerating Stroke Causes Many Putting ills (Video) - Lesson by PGA Pro Pete Styles
Decelerating Stroke Causes Many Putting ills (Video) - Lesson by PGA Pro Pete Styles

One of the biggest mistakes that I see with people not putting good, high handicappers, touring professionals whoever, it is the decelerating putting stroke and it’s very, very difficult to be consistently hitting the ball nicely and straight with good pace. With the putting stroke that decelerates, the body just doesn’t like to have that feeling of the long back swing with lost in its power and then decelerates on the way through. It’s very difficult to consistently hit the putt with that. It’s much better to have an accelerating action, a short back swing with a slightly longer follow through.

And I push through the ball. So what I like to work on one third, two thirds, one third is my back stroke, two thirds is my follow through. It’s the same way you might throw a dart, it would be short back swing and a long follow through, a nice aggressive push rather than a big back swing and then decelerating as you hit. It’s very difficult to control its action, so next time you’re putting, think one third, two thirds when you’re making a stroke.

If you want to hold low put, you have to understand the ball has to get to the hole; it’s got to roll within of speed to stay on line to track evenly towards the hole. And a study show that we should be aiming for about 17 inches past the hole. Seventeen inches roughly about half of your putter lengths, so measure your putter, chop it in half, measure that distance beyond the hole. If this is the hole, this is where the ball should be stopping. So when you’re aiming your puts, you don’t actually aim for the ball to finish in the hole, you aim for your ball to finish 17 inches beyond the hole and effectively the hole as it gets in the way and gathers the ball open, it’s going past.

If you’re aiming to stop the ball at the hole and you made a three inch mistake, your ball would suddenly be short. Now a three inch mistake is not a wide enough window to do consistently. If you’re aiming 17 inches past the hole, you allow to make a 17 inch mistake and the ball would still go in. Well also if you made a 16 inch mistake long and you went past the hole on the far side, you would still be inside three feet and most players are good from three feet, most players from the length of that putter would hole the return put. So actually if you aim 17 inches past the hole, you’re probably widening your ability to get your ball in but also make sure you to put.

If that’s a new concept to you and you’ve been aiming for the hole, you’re now going to aim slightly beyond the hole. Don’t forget, with a bit more phase, the ball won’t break quite as much. So you can play a slightly straight line with slightly firmer phase rather than the wide and trying diet into the hole that you might have been playing. So make sure your puts get into the hole, play it slightly straight to line, think about one third, two thirds, and three to keep that club accelerating. And I’m sure if you do that, the number of puts your taking will reduce on the golf course.

 2012-06-07

One of the biggest mistakes that I see with people not putting good, high handicappers, touring professionals whoever, it is the decelerating putting stroke and it’s very, very difficult to be consistently hitting the ball nicely and straight with good pace. With the putting stroke that decelerates, the body just doesn’t like to have that feeling of the long back swing with lost in its power and then decelerates on the way through. It’s very difficult to consistently hit the putt with that. It’s much better to have an accelerating action, a short back swing with a slightly longer follow through.

And I push through the ball. So what I like to work on one third, two thirds, one third is my back stroke, two thirds is my follow through. It’s the same way you might throw a dart, it would be short back swing and a long follow through, a nice aggressive push rather than a big back swing and then decelerating as you hit. It’s very difficult to control its action, so next time you’re putting, think one third, two thirds when you’re making a stroke.

If you want to hold low put, you have to understand the ball has to get to the hole; it’s got to roll within of speed to stay on line to track evenly towards the hole. And a study show that we should be aiming for about 17 inches past the hole. Seventeen inches roughly about half of your putter lengths, so measure your putter, chop it in half, measure that distance beyond the hole. If this is the hole, this is where the ball should be stopping. So when you’re aiming your puts, you don’t actually aim for the ball to finish in the hole, you aim for your ball to finish 17 inches beyond the hole and effectively the hole as it gets in the way and gathers the ball open, it’s going past.

If you’re aiming to stop the ball at the hole and you made a three inch mistake, your ball would suddenly be short. Now a three inch mistake is not a wide enough window to do consistently. If you’re aiming 17 inches past the hole, you allow to make a 17 inch mistake and the ball would still go in. Well also if you made a 16 inch mistake long and you went past the hole on the far side, you would still be inside three feet and most players are good from three feet, most players from the length of that putter would hole the return put. So actually if you aim 17 inches past the hole, you’re probably widening your ability to get your ball in but also make sure you to put.

If that’s a new concept to you and you’ve been aiming for the hole, you’re now going to aim slightly beyond the hole. Don’t forget, with a bit more phase, the ball won’t break quite as much. So you can play a slightly straight line with slightly firmer phase rather than the wide and trying diet into the hole that you might have been playing. So make sure your puts get into the hole, play it slightly straight to line, think about one third, two thirds, and three to keep that club accelerating. And I’m sure if you do that, the number of puts your taking will reduce on the golf course.