Speed kills

if you’re unsuccessful with speed (distance, slope, putting stroke length and tempo) alignment is irrelevant. all great putters and all bad putters have one thing in common – speed – it’s either correct or not. 3 drills to develop speed and distance feel:

1. graduated practice – start on as straight a putt as possible (very little break) – place a ball, alignment stick, whatever 18-24″ past hole and practice from 15-20′ away. putt your ball to that object past the hole without going any further. repeat until you have 12 balls on exact distance…once relatively mastered then alternate every other putt 10′ then 15′ then 12′ then 18′ etc. MASTERS TIP: be able to go from 10-20′ in 2nd increments without a miss (too short/too long)

2. learn how to breathe – the best rifle snipers control their breathing thus their heart rate by squeezing the trigger at the very last beat of their exhale. why? all tension is eliminated and the trigger press is a surprise; in other words, their habits / behaviors are honed for automatic execution.
MASTERS TIP: practice 2′ using this method 3 balls at a time and graduate (like old tee drill) to 8′ without a miss…I use this tip with my tour players to this day with great results!

3. to the collar – many practice greens or clocks are 50′ and greater in diameter. learn how to put from collar to collar without the ball going into the collar – only touch it or just roll out to the collar. your focus is on tempo of stroke, timing of stroke and the feel you believe to be successful. MASTERS TIP: great drill during your tournament warm up to understand this feel the pace of the greens for the day AND when things go bad that day you’ll have a feel for a very long putt to rely on