By Harold Swash
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.
IntroductionHarold 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.
Finding the Sweet Spot
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To try and ensure you hit the ball cleanly from the sweet-spot, try this exercise. Set yourself a fairly straight short putt. Take two tee pegs and place one just outside each end of the putter head. Now try and hole a series of putts. If you hit the tee pegs you are not hitting the ball out of the sweet-spot. This drill will help you setup square to the target line, hit off the sweet-spot and swing on a straight line through impact.
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Practice Drills
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To build confidence holing those short putts, setup a series of similar length putts on different points of the compass around the hole. Try and pick a part of the green that will give you breaking putts to make it more challenging. Now try and hole as many as you can in a row. If you miss one then you must start again! This helps simulate the pressure of a real situation on the course. Set yourself new goals and challenge your friends. |
Warm-up Drills
In a round of golf you never get the same putt twice. Be creative in practice and vary the putts you hit. Your warm-up should not be about your mechanics. Instead you should be preparing yourself for the situations that lie ahead. Always warm-up in the playing mode.
Warm-up Drill 1Take one ball onto the putting green and practice making putts. Vary the hole you putt to and the distances you putt from. Hit putts with large and small breaks, monster putts and gimmes. Use your pre-shot routine on every putt.
Warm-Up Drill 2Setup a number of balls on different lines around the hole. Challenge yourself or a friend to hole as many putts as possible.
To make it harder increase distances or the break. Use your routine on every putt.
These drills will increase your touch, feel and visualization.
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.
