Golf Instruction

This article is extracted from a series of folding pocket lessons for leading international golf coaches called Pocketshots™. Visit www.dizzyheights.com for more details on the entire Pocketshot™ series.

Introduction

Harold Swash has more than 40 years of experience in the golf industry as a coach, golf club designer and inventor of putting training aids and the 'Yes C' groove putters. He is a leading authority on putting and instructor to many of the world's top professional and amateur golfers. He has coached 8 of the 12 players on the winning European Ryder Cup team, and we all know how good they are at holing putts.

My Philosophy. Putting is probably the most important but least practiced area of the game for most amateurs. You will use your putter more than any other club in your bag, anywhere between 40% and 50% of the strokes in one round of golf are putts.

The theory and exercises in this lesson have been used by tour professionals and leading amateurs to improve their games. You may not be able to swing a driver like the Pros but you have got a much better chance of developing a solid putting stroke, that gives you every chance of putting like one.

True Roll – My Guiding Principle. The guiding principle that governs my teaching is the need to develop a true roll on the ball. The quicker a ball starts to roll after impact the better chance it has of staying on its intended line with its intended pace.

My views on the mechanics of the stroke, such as the stance, posture, stroke plane and the grip, are all geared to help you achieve a true roll.

Objectives. By the end of this lesson you will have learned (or for many of you re-learned) the basics of a good putting stroke. You will have the essential information you need to rehearse and then execute the perfect putt. Remember most golf tournaments are decided on the greens!

Practice regularly. Trust your stroke and your scores will tumble. Good luck and do let us know how you get on.

Fundamentals. I call the basic principles of putting the 'Four Fundamentals'.

1st Fundamental. The blade of the putter needs to be square to the target at both the address and strike position.

2nd Fundamental. The blade of the putter needs to be square to the path through the hitting area.

3rd Fundamental. The putter blade needs to have a slight upstroke through the hitting area.

4th Fundamental. The putter blade needs to have a smooth acceleration through the hitting area.

	1st Fundamental The blade of the putter needs to be square to the target at both the address and strike position. If you setup with an open or closed face at address, you will find it difficult to square the clubface at impact and will subsequently hit the ball off-line.
	2nd Fundamental The blade of the putter needs to be square to the path through the hitting area. If the blade is open or closed to the path of the stroke you will put hook or slice spin on the ball. If you do, then on the ball's first contact with the ground it will try and spin off-line. When putting on slow greens with thicker grass any degree of side-spin will deflect the ball much more easily than on a fast, smooth putting surface. Therefore, we need to make sure that we keep the blade of the putter square to the path of the stroke.
	3rd Fundamental The putter blade needs to have a slight up-stroke through the hitting area. The correct ball position is critical to achieving the desired strike. With the hands slightly ahead of the putter through the strike you develop the correct plane of strike that will hold the ball truer to its target line.
	4th Fundamental The putter blade needs to have a smooth acceleration through the hitting area. How hard you hit the ball determines whether or not the ball takes any break you may have read. You need acceleration (not deceleration) through the ball. Strive for a rhythmic stroke and a smooth acceleration through the hitting area. If you decelerate as a right-hander you will tend to leave putts left of the target or even short. The easiest way to control the speed of the putter head is to use the bigger muscles (shoulders) to lead the stroke.

Next Week The Grip Is The Life Line Of Putting

For further information about golf instruction, training aids and the C groove putter visit www.haroldswashputting.com. For more informationabout C-grove putters visit www.yesgolf.com.

We recommend you use one of these great sites to keep track of your improvement: www.strokeaverage.com and www.golfscoretracker.co.uk.

Published by Dizzy Heights UK Limited.© Pocketshots™ and Dizzy Heights™ are trademarks of Dizzy Heights (UK) Limited all other trademarks are acknowledged. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part or in any form.