K of C 3777 Golf League

Lengthen Your Backstroke For Better Lag Putting
The Bunker Shot
The Low Running Shot Around the Green
Conquering Uphill And Downhill Lies
Clubface At Impact
The Magic Of The Feet
Struggling With Your Long Clubs? Try These Tips
Develop A Pre-shot Routine
The Importance Of Balance
Putting
Uphill And Downhill Lies
The Differences Of Address And Impact
Grip Pressure
Pitching
Golf League Results for 2003

Putting

All golfers are interested in hitting the ball farther and straighter. Due to this obsessive desire to improve the full golf swing, most players do not adequately practice the short game. It is important that you understand that good ball striking abilities can only accomplish so much as far as making you a better player. Developing a proficient short game is the fastest way to reduce your handicap. Putting, chipping and bunker play are collectively known as "scoring shots"
and are equally important, if not more so, than your overall golf swing.

Almost 70 percent of all golf shots are within 100 yards of the green. To emphasize this point, if a professional is playing a par 72 golf course and he shoots even par while hitting every green in regulation, half of his shots would have been putts. Do you spend half of your practice time on the putting green?

The goal in putting is quite simple: get the ball in the hole. As with all areas in the golf game, developing a consistent putting stroke will give you the greatest opportunity to accomplish this task. However, putting is not a science. It is a physical action. Therefore, try to be athletic when putting.

There are only two things you should be concerned with while putting: distance and direction. Many things, such as the slope of the green, grain of the grass, time of day and weather conditions can influence a putt. Once these factors have been considered, you must simply decide how far you want the ball to travel and in which initial direction. Of the two, distance is more important than direction. Since the cup is three times as wide as the ball, there is room for error in direction. If you are consistent with your distance then even if you are wayward with your direction, your ball will end up somewhere near the hole. Conversely, your direction is irrelevant if you consistently hit putts either too hard or too soft. Amateurs tend to hit their putts to soft.

.....from Scott Sackett, Director of Instruction at the PGA TOUR Golf Academy at World Golf Village in St. Augustine, FL.