By Marius Filtmalter
We all know that the flat stick is used more often than any other club in the bag. It is also no secret that many tournaments are won or lost due to putting. In fact, putting is so important that 2 putts were allocated to each hole we play in golf. For example, playing a PAR 3 hole, one shot to get onto the green and 2 putts; a par 4 hole: 2 shots to get onto the green and 2 putts, etc. By the way, PAR could be described as (P)rofessional (A)verage (R)esult.
The putting motion is a Fine Motor Movement as opposed to a Ballistic Movement used for the full swing. Fine Motor Movements are characterized by precision and accuracy. In other words, for the putting motion we access Motor Programs endeavoring to control both the distance and direction of a shot. Only these two things are important in putting, what I call D
2:
stroke the ball the desired direction and distance and the ball will drop. In a Ballistic Movement, distance is taken out of the equation. We concentrate on direction only and try to hit the ball as far as possible with that particular club. Should we try to hit the Driver, for example, only half the distance with a full swing, we will find it extremely difficult to control D
2, the distance and direction.
When stroking a putt with a 3 degree error in the alignment at impact, a 2 foot 3 inch putt won't see the bottom of the hole. With the same error on your Driver, the ball will end up in the fairway if the drive was shorter than 334 yards.
Assumptions:
Putt: straight and level
Driver: aim was for the center of fairway, fairway is 35 yards wide, no wind or side-spin influencing the ball.
Now we know why putting is so difficult; we need to control both the distance and direction. It requires a great deal of precision and accuracy!
The question is, how we could make putting easier? Very simple, take either distance or direction out of the equation. Thinking of both causes an overload of information and inhibits the creative side of the brain; but more about that another time. The best putters in the world only think of either the direction or distance. Loren Roberts, who is regarded as a good putter, only thinks of distance. Tiger Woods thinks direction on the "makeable" putts, and distance on the other so called, "lag" putts. This strategy makes a lot of sense as we seem to be more aggressive with the "makeable" putts. Research has shown that slightly more than half of the Tour players think direction as opposed to distance. Having said that, I personally believe that rhythm and tempo are probably the most underrated elements in a putting stroke.
In summary,
practice both distance and direction but concentrate only on one at a time.
