My putting has improved tremendously since hearing you on the Golf Smarter podcast. Thank you very much.

What is working: the "One Potato, Two" tempo, staring at the hole for four seconds, and moving my head back from the hole to the ball at same speed as the putt. Also, using my dominant eye is assisting lining up properly.

However, I am having trouble with distance control. Specifically, putting the ball too far past the hole, not too short. This is especially true on downhill putts. I am pretty sure that my setup is good. Any ideas or something to reference?

thanks

Dear Joe,

Nice to hear from you!

There are five factors in distance control, and usually the only one that varies from putt to putt is the targeting move that sets the backstroke instinctively: putter mass, ball mass, green speed, tempo, and targeting of distance. Going too far on usual putts across surface without radical uphill-downhill effects is just a failure of experience and trust, resulting in rushing the downstroke. Going too far on downhill putts may require adjusting one or two of the normally-left-alone factors: sense of green speed and/or tempo.

Putting too far normally means you aren't casual enough and are still "hitting" the ball in an effort to make sure it "gets there." Set up on generally unhilly green surface for a 15 or 20-foot putt, make a nice leisurely backstroke ("one potato"), and then at the top of whatever backstroke eventuates -- DONT DO ANYTHING except let your arms and hands drop and swing wherever they want to go. Just experiment with this to see how far the ball will roll, when there is no positive effort in the downstroke. You should see this sort of stroke will send the ball pretty close to the hole, with the arms, hands and putter swinging like a "pet door" under the hinge of the neck line, like the top bar of a swing set. But you have to really, really relax and let it drop from the top (no covert holding on to control the dropping swing). [Later on, you will have to learn to drop and "ride" the putter handle without exceeding gravity's fall, and this is a more coordinated sense of control without losing the benefit of the perfect timing and instinctive backstroke. After all is said and done, there is a little up-move on the other side of the bottom to complete the stroke -- not much, and carefully timed so the putter's own momentum does almost all the "damage" to the ball before engaging.]

If your instincts use the "one potato" tempo going back, the backstroke is every-backstroke-takes-the-same-time even with different sizes. That's fine, but also notice that ONCE the instincts have set a backstroke this way, the stroke has an inherent limit or range so long as you allow gravity to handle the downstroke. This limit is a double-edged sword in a sense. Unless you get both the full backstroke and a REAL relaxed dropping of the downstroke, you will be short. If you ADD any effort at all in the downstroke (after a full backstroke), you will certainly EXCEED the limit inherent in the backstroke and go long. If you allow the backstroke to reach it's full "one potato" instinctive size, then this backstroke SIZE has the CORRECT inherent limit. The brain is just that good for all normal adults who can successfully reach out and take hold of a door knob. This is a very useful and good thing. So long as you NEVER speed the downstroke past gravity, you will never be long. Doing this PLUS allowing the backstroke to reach full, instinctive size means you also won't be short.

So, going too long is always speeding the downstroke and nothing but. Speeding the downstroke is not really trusting your instincts to get to the correct size backstroke. So you need to experience casual "one potato" backstrokes enough to see that you NEVER NEED TO ADD to the downstroke. The "one potato" backstroke is always sufficient to roll the ball all the way to the hole.

For downhill putts, there are two minor complications. First, downhill-uphill factors require an adjustment. The adjustment comes ONLY in your sense of the speed of the green, and not in your sense of how fast to swing the putter or how hard to hit the ball or how far back to take the putter. Normally, your sense of green speed relates to surface without much uphill-downhill to take into account. So when the putt has significant uphill or downhill slope, just remind yourself that uphill is slower surface than usual, and downhill is faster surface than usual, and your intuition makes the adjustment from this simple reminder. The adjustment will NOT affect how long the backstroke lasts, but will reveal itself thru the instincts on a slick downhill putts (for example) by making you "more careful" about the speed so a shorter backstroke results from the "one potato" instinctive process. Your intention is to roll the ball as far as and not past the hole, careful of the faster surface, but otherwise everything is the same.

The second complication is when the instincts want such a short backstroke that you feel cramped trying to keep the putter going back while the "one potato" period persists. (The exact same thing happens with the "one potato" backstroke when the putts are pretty short.) The instincts just don't want to keep going back that long -- the body feels the stroke should stop but the count hasn't concluded yet. I think this is really a result of the human body requiring a certain minimum amplitude for the casual gravity-based backstroke of "one potato" -- big and casual enough to engage the big muscles of the abdomen and the tissues of the upper torso. (They don't get engaged without enough stretch.)

The way I spot this situation ahead of time is noticing a slight misgiving or doubt that the "usual" one-potato backstroke will be careful enough so the ball doesn't race downhill past the hole. If I detect this note of doubt or misgiving and suspect the backstroke will cramp and /or slop too big going back for this careful putt), I don't fight it, but instead switch to a backup Plan B.

Plan B adjusts something IN ADDITION to my sense of the speed of the surface -- the TEMPO itself. For these really slick downhill putts, I substitute a fake, tight, slow-motion backstroke-exactly-matches-thrustroke-length tempo that is wooden and mechanical. It is not a flowing or smooth, accelerating tempo like a pendulum in gravity. It's more like a machine part cocking and then uncocking with matching, constant, slow-motion speed and size of stroke. I call this the "Even-Even" tempo.

Combined with an adjusted sense of the downhill surface as faster, this fake, mechanical tempo then works great with a count of "even-even." The first "even" reaches the top of the backstroke with a deliberate putting back of the putter, and then the second "even" is said as the forward stroke progresses with the same timing. The breath between the first and second "even": is when the putter transitions at the top of the backstroke and heads to the bottom on the thrustroke. Once the putter reaches the exact bottom/middle of the stroke, the second "even" is begun and voiced until the stroke mechanically reaches a thrustroke the same size as the backstroke. No hurry at any time. You should see this combination results in nifty handling of slick downhill putts so the ball rolls ONLY as far as the hole.

Of course, some downhill slopes are so steep given the surface speed that the ball's roll cannot be controlled at all. For these cases, just start the ball with a quarter+ roll.

I hope this helps. Let me know.

Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
PuttingZone.com
Golf's most advanced and comprehensive putting instruction.

Geoff, thanks for your response. It makes sense that I am hitting at the putt and not trusting it. I will give it a try and respond with results.

Joe

Dear Joe,

It also helps to be very definite about where the ball moust STOP ROLLING. People tend to think of a "target" as something to pass thru, like an archery target. In putting, the target is the EXACT STOPPING PLACE for the END of the roll. It's a spot on the ground not to go past.

Dave Pelz's teaching people to putt past the hole is one of the worst tips in golf, and I have to routinely correct golfers using this notion who wonder why their touch is messed up. It's like telling someone to reach past the door knob to make sure you get ahold of it.

The fall-line straight uphill-downhill thru the cup (there is always only one, and it is part of that location on the green, and so never really changes) should be thought of like a 4-foot high WALL, with the idea of cozing the ball up to the base of this wall, as is done in pitching pennies at a wall. Whan facing a straight putt, the back of the cup is the wall. When facing a breaking putt, some exact point along the base of the wall on the high side of the cup is the target for line and distance. Using this spot for line is self-explanatory - aim the putter face at it. Using this spot for distance is a little more subtle - roll the ball exactly as far as the spot at the base of the wall AS IF the putt will not break. But in no event should you ever INTEND to putt (much if any) PAST or ACROSS the fall-line on the high side.

And obviously it helps to visualize the ball slowing its roll as it cozies up to the target, as you mentally preview the movie of the putt.

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
PuttingZone.com
Golf's most advanced and comprehensive putting instruction.

Geoff,

Your advice worked. I tried it out on my last two practice sessions and let gravity bring the putter back to impact. This corrected the problem since I was "hitting" at the ball and not trusting it. Many thanks. It never ceases to surprise me how quickly we get out of sync and how much the small adjustments impact our results.

Regarding the Pelz 17 inch advice, I agree. We need to train ourselves to putt to the target, not at some undefined point. This confuses the brain and our nervous system. I am firmly convinced that the core of you teaching is correct in that the brain/nervous system tells us how hard to hit the putt. We need to stay out of our own way. See above.

Thanks again and best wishes

Joe