On The Tee with Hank Johnson

Putt Like A Tour Player
Line ControlEvery successful putt is a result of the proper combination of Line and Speed. You have to start the ball rolling on the correct line with the correct amount of speed for that line.The most critical skill required for good line control is the ability to accurately and consistently aim the putter face down your intended start line. If you have this skill and trust it, you will be able to focus only on speed as you make your stroke.Almost without exception when someone come to me with putting problems, they have lost confidence in their aim and stroke to control line and they are trying to hit the ball on line rather than using their stroke to control speed.The best device to improve your aim and stroke for line is a simple chalk line. Find a putt on your putting green that has no break to the left or right. Slightly up hill is fine. Snap a chalk line that’s at least ten feet long and runs through the center of the cup and a foot past it.Place the ball on the chalk line about three feet from the cup. Check to make sure your putter face is square and practice rolling the ball down the chalk line and into the cup. Keep moving back until you are a foot from the end of the chalk line. You want a bit of the line behind your ball for visual effect.I’m an advocate of using a line on the ball to aim with. If you use one to do the chalk line practice it will greatly improve your line control in your putting. Another good way to practice line control is to putt down a yardstick. You can do this at home.

Speed ControlEvery successful putt is a result of the proper combination of Line and Speed. You have to “pick” the right line and then give the ball the correct amount of speed for that line. That being the case, job number one is to develop a “feel” for speed.The only way that I know of to develop this “feel” is through practice and a lot of it. I’ve found it helpful to isolate practice to “feel for speed” only.For example if you stretch a ten foot piece of string across a relatively level area of your putting green and then “lag” putts to it, that focuses your mind and your stroke on “feel for speed” only. You don’t worry about line because the target is ten feet wide so you can focus on “feel for speed only”.Lag putts to the string from different distances to represent different lengths of putts. Your goal should be to get every putt in a space between the string and one foot past the string. You can put down a second string if it’s helpful.Variations on this drill would be to do it with your eyes closed and predict where the putt finished before you look up. This technique will enhance your “feel for speed”.You can also do this “string drill” looking at the string rather than the ball as you make your stroke.There I nothing that I know of that will help your putting more than having a good “feel for speed”. In fact if you have this one thing in your putting, you need to develop it before you work on anything else.

Hank Johnson, PGA
July 2011