I NST RUC T ION
Time spent putting will pay off
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hile teaching at Cedar Ridge, I occasionally take inventory of my lesson requests. More often than not, I am asked for swing rather than putting help. Last year, 85 percent Maggie Roller of my students asked for swing instruction while only 15 percent asked for putting and short-game help. Is this because most golfers in Tulsa average 27-28 putts per round? I beg to differ. The reality is most courses have large amounts of players hitting full shots sometimes for hours at a time, and hardly anyone putting. Did you know putting equates for about 40 percent of your score? Why would anyone looking to improve, neglect it? Improving your putting is one of the quickest ways to lowering your handicap and I recommend you work on your putting 40-50 percent of the time you practice. Since speed and line are the two main parts of putting, here are some great tips and drills: Use gate drills with tees. There is nothing better than gate drills to work on proper line, centeredness of contact, alignment, and speed. Place one tee on either side of the putting head, which creates a “gate.” Either you hit the tee, or you ingrain a straight-back, straight-
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through stroke that forces you to hit the ball in the center of the putter face. Set up another gate with two tees, 3 feet in front of your ball. This teaches you to read the putt properly, as well as maintain a straight putterhead through impact as well. The gate midway through the putt is one of the best self teaching aids you can do on your own. If the gate is set properly, the only way to make the putt is to roll the ball through the center of the gate. Using this gate drill immediately helps the player adjust the stroke properly keeping a straightback, straightthrough fluid putting motion. You can do this on any length putt, but start with 10 feet and under. Gates can be 4.5, 3.5 and 2.5 inches apart. Next, practice your speed. If you have a fairly large practice green, putt extremely long putts, cross country, across the entire length of the green, 60-80 feet. I attend the Masters every year and Bubba Watson (two-time Masters champion) does this drill before each round, putting several putts across the length
of the top putting green at Augusta. This gives the player an extremely good feel for speed and then when you have that 25-footer on the course that day, it looks makeable. Play nine holes on the practice green, a minimum 30-35 feet. The goal is to score an 18, leaving short second putts that I call “no pressure putts” (anything inside of 3 feet). Keep track of your score in a notebook each time you play this game. I recently did these speed drills at Shangri-La before my round and had 27 putts that day. Lastly, keep track of your putts per round along with your greens hit, fairways hit, and up-and-downs. Putting is such an important stat. Amateurs three-putt six times more often than PGA and LPGA Tour players. Work on line and speed with these drills and watch your three-putting and scores drop. Maggie Roller Director of Instruction Cedar Ridge Country Club maggie.roller@sbc-global.net
GOLF OKL AHOMA • JUNE/JULY 2020