Dear Geoff,

I am a mid-handicap golfer living in Adelaide, Australia. I I have read your thoughts on putting and applied them in recent times with great effect. I realise that when I was young ( and a much better golfer and putter ) I had my head more over the ball in a horizontal position and could clearly see the line better. But over time , probably copying various modern pros, my head position has become more vertical and I really have not been able to see the line properly for years. Now I feel somewhat reborn as a putter and I can see the line!

If you have time I was wondering whether I could ask you your thoughts on a another putting question:

My current pre-shot routine consists of a look from behind squatting, standing up next to the ball and taking 3-5 practice putts/swings trying to find the pace, and then , with both hands still on the putter, laying the putter head behind the ball with a look down the line, and then putt! The problem is that although I feel than this method seems to give me some ( ? false ) confidence that I have worked out the pace of the putt, laying the putter behind the ball with both hands on the grip does not make me feel that I have aligned it properly. Since trying to apply your technique I feel that I want to use the Greg Norman technique- ie lay the putter behind the ball with the right hand only at first trying to get the alignment right, then place the left hand on, and then go. But this with this method the value of any practice putts/swings seems diminished because 1) there is a greater time lag between the practice putts/swings and the actual putt and 2) the grip for the practice putt is broken and then reapplied for the actual putt. This method seems to help me get the alignment right but I have not had my practice putt/ swing fix.

I suppose my question can be broken down to:

1/ Do you see the value of practice putts/swings before the actual putt? I must say that the putter I admire most at the moment is Aarron Baddeley and he does not seem to rely on a pre-shot practice putt and I wonder if you think they are over-rated. I have heard Baddeley quote that he he does not think about pace because he ' does not think how hard he has to throw the ball to someone' so why does he have to think about how hard to putt the ball.

2/ Is the focus on alignment more important than the pre-shot practice putts?

3/ What do you do in your pre-shot routine?

My current thoughts are that with shorter putts I will use the align with right hand method ( as alignment seems relatively more important in these situation ) but use the older method with longer putts ( where pace seems to be more important ). The the routines will be basically the same except for the alignment/re-grip with shorter putts.

Thanks again for the site and the help that it has given me.

Cheers


Chris Moy

Dear Chris,

Thanks for the very kind words!

Let me reply separately to your questions.

1/ Do you see the value of practice putts/swings before the actual putt? I must say that the putter I admire most at the moment is Aarron Baddeley and he does not seem to rely on a pre-shot practice putt and I wonder if you think if you think they are over-rated. I have heard Baddeley quote that he he does not think about pace because he ' does not think how hard he has to throw the ball to someone' so why does he have to think about how hard to putt the ball.

I agree with Aaron that you don't have to "think" about how hard or how fast or how far to stroke the putter. The targeting routine essentially feeds all the necessary information about distance, and in a way that goes straight thru your instincts rather than your problem-solving thinking brain. The end result is you can ignore distance except you have to target carefully, consider the space between ball and target, consider the green speed, and stick to your stable, every-day-the-same putting tempo. Once you have this pattern down, you just target carefully for distance and then go with your tempo. There is no thinking or worrying or trying for great distance control. Just concern yourself with tempo and targeting.

2/ Is the focus on alignment more important than the pre-shot practice putts?

Yes.

3/ What do you do in your pre-shot routine?

Before starting a round, I do some "core putts" on the practice green to make sure my tempo is stable and even and smooth, and that a same-length stroke with this tempo sends all balls exactly the same distance on the level green, whatever distance that may be. This tunes me in to the green speed and my tempo. See my "Core Putt" tip at http://puttingzone.com/MyTips/core.html.

Then, on the course, it is all about targeting for read and distance, and aiming square to the target, and then setting up and stroking square with good instinct for distance. When faced with a putt, I stalk the hole to get a sense of the fall-line thru the center of the hole (as all breaking putts come in the top half of the cup breaking down with this same line), then read the curve of the putt backwards out of the hole with imagination / visualization of real-time ball roll in reverse. This gives me the last three feet of the path of the putt and an accurate sense of the speed of the ball as it nears the cup and drops over the lip. This last segment of the path allows me to build back to the apex of the curve and then from there to see the path from apex curving back to the ball's address position. The final section gives me the direction for the startline of the putt. My "target" will usually be something even with the hole along this startline. The rolling ball will curve off or "drop off" this startline as the ball breaks into the hole.

Once I see the read, I walk behind the ball the same distance as the putt, so long as the putt is within about 30 feet (outside this it gets a bit too much). from this vantage, I place my dominant eye on the line from ball to target and then raise my puttershaft as a visual ruler to connect the ball and target along the edge of the shaft. This shows me the exact center of the back of the ball I will have to square the putterface to, and also shows me the exact grass in front and behind the ball in case I need some "spots" to help target the face.

Then I walk into the ball on this line and set the putter down behind the exact center of the back of the ball, with the face of the putter aligned along the startline of the putt so the toe of the putter is pointed at the back center of the ball.

I then step around to the side and look at the back of the ball, and look for the exact opposite point on the front equator of the ball. This "line" thru the center of the ball is what I have to square the putterface to.

I then use my left hand only to turn the putterhead to square the face behind the ball, with the putter sweetspot centered on the back of the ball and the plane of the face perpendicular to the line thru the center of the ball. I make sure the sole of the putter is flush to the surface, even if the surface is tilted uphill-downhill or sidehill or otherwise. This putterface turning and squaring is only slightly similar to Greg Norman's, because he tries to turn and place the putterface squarely all at once. I give a lot more attention to seeing a line thru the ball and then squaring the putterface thru this line.

Then I use my at-address targeting process to make sure I am setup square to the intended target, thus getting the behind-the-ball targeting on the same page as the beside-the-ball targeting. I use a point straight out of the face of the putter at the sweetspot thru the line thru the center of the ball to identify a spot right off my left big toe on this line. I look from the ball targetward across this spot in such a way that my "eye-line" across both pupils follows a straight line along the ground away from the ball, and this line of look along the ground is the same as the startline of the putt. With my "Ferris Wheel" gaze and head turn, I wait to see where this look away from the ball ends up. If I end up looking straight at the target, then I feel squarely aimed. If not, I recycle and get it right. If I have to pick a new different line thru the ball to square the face, I start this procedure all over and re-set my putterface square to the new line thru the ball.

Once the putterface is squared, I set my feet square to the startline -- left foot first, and then the right, and then move the right foot wider and back about shoulder width. I try not to move my left foot after I square it to the line, with the ball positioned inside the heel, off my heart and my left eye. With my left hand loose, I then bend from the hips to set my head and eyes and gaze properly, and as I do, my left hand slides further down the handle without disturbing the putterface alignment. This sets my body square to the putterface, so my body is aimed the same way the putterface is aimed.

Once this is done, I assume my grip. My grip is left hand on the handle with the handle laid in the palm along the life line. Then I bring my right hand onto the handle over the left. In my particular grip, it is sort of a left-hand-low without the low, since all three fingers of the right hand other than the index cover the same three fingers of the left hand offset a half finger width lower. So the two hands are opposed, thumbs on top, index fingers relaxed along side of handle and shaft, and right hand about one fingernail lower down the putter. So my shoulders are about level and conform to the surface rather than to gravity.

At this point, I have committed my putterface and my body to the same aim, have gotten my thoughts about aim from behind the ball on the same page as my targeting from beside the ball, have walked the eact distance of the putt about 3 or 4 times, and have looked at the distance another 3-4 times, and am in a position to make a straight stroke with even smooth tempo and solid contact.

With all this flowing into the stroke, I don't think at all about the distance. I don't need a practice putt for distance estimation, and I trust my instincts completely so long as I use the steady tempo. My tempo is "one potato" back to the top of the backstroke, and then a free-fall into impact on "two." So I am thinking "one potato, ... two". Since I have just looked back from the target to the ball, I wait just a good second while looking down at the ball for my vision to focus clearly on the ball. I call this "waiting for the shine," as the lenses reshape themselves and bring the exact surface of the ball into clear focus. Often there is a circular shine on the ball in the sunlight, and you can see yellow and violet color in the circular shine. If in shadow, I just look at the bowl-shaped depth and geometry of one dimple or the little letter "i" in Titleist or something non-verbal and very exact. When I do this, my body gets a very precise fix on the distance from eye to ball, and this sets my pivot and head in a very still attitude. It also stills my eyes and clears my mind of all thoughts. At this point I am completely physical feeling the pattern and timing of the stroke. With my tempo, the instincts send the putter back to the top of a backstroke that is most often exactly right for the distance, and the free-fall dropping of the putter thru impact yields a gravity acceleration that gives a putterhead speed at impact that is perfectly coordinated with the backstroke length. If I have targeted well, aimed well, and used my tempo, the putt is just putting the putterhead back with a count of "one potato" and then letting it go.

Of course, there is much more to be said about keeping the face square in the stroke without hand manipulation and about finishing the stroke after impact, but these are details.

Let me know what I can do to help! Hi to all in Adelaide, too.

--
Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Theorist and Instructor

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Once I have the putterface set, I then set my feet, hips, shoulders, and head-eyes and allow my arms to hang naturally -- all without altering the putterface orientation. In effect, I set my body TO the squared putter.

Then I perform my at-address targeting to make sure my bodty is square and the face is aimed correctly. Above, I have this part incorrectly before setting my body.

Geoff