3 keys to Putt Better from the Open Championship

Brian Harman wooed the field at the Open Championship with an amazing display of golf and thoroughly deserved his victory.  I was there at the Open and the course set up was very difficult but fair and rewarded only strong committed shots. One of the cornerstones of his victory was incredible putting - he holed 58 out of 59 putts from inside 10ft.  Another was very solid driving. It reminds me of a story 2 time major winner Sandy Lyle once recounted at a Coaching Clinic when I was a Junior – he said the 3 most important clubs in your bag were your Driver, Sand Wedge and Putter, and for that reason any club contracts he had with manufacturers did not include these clubs!

So this week we are going to talk about how to improve your putting. My friends Phil Kenyon and Mike Kanski have been the pioneers of putting at Tour Level and Coach many of the top players in the world (www.visioputting.com) What I have learnt form them are that there are 3 SKILLS you have to constantly look to develop:

1.  Starting Direction
2.  Speed
3.  Green Reading

I believe it’s important that you have processes, protocols and a plan to develop these 3 skills. So for instance some ideas would be:

1. Starting Direction – Work station for aim and path, then a gate or chalk line to give feedback for starting direction
2. Speed – 2 critical variables o develop good speed or center contact and constant acceleration profile. So blue tac for feedback on center contact, and use a metronome app for acceleration profile
3. Green Reading – Go around the green reading specific putts, then you can use a digital spirit level for sloe recognition, or the Perfect Putter to check your perceived line against the actual line.

I think the key to developing these 3 skills are good feedback stations and www.visioputting.com from Phil Kenyon is definitely a great site to visit to help with this.