Geoff,

For putts that break significantly, what do you look at for the 4 seconds after making the neck turn? On straight putts its the hole but on breaking putts the neck turn puts you looking outside the hole.

On breaking putts, I recommend that the golfer identify a target spot near the hole on the fall-line that serves as both the line of the putt at the start and imaginatively as the spot where the putt ends. This connects line and touch for breaking putts. The trick is that the golfer knows the ball will not actually roll straight all the way to the target spot, as he fully intends for the ball to break into the hole with the right delivery speed. So "intending" to roll the ball straight all the way at and to the target spot is a bit fanciful. The golfer just has to "pretend" that the surface is flat and level from ball to target spot and putt AS IF the ball really will roll straight and come to its end at the target spot (or shortly right beyond).

The main business of the putt is to putt straight the correct distance so the ball will take the break appropriately and end up inside the cup. The selection of the target makes this possible because of the way touch underlies the initial visualization of the path and the way the fall-line works with gravity so that putting at and to the fall-line gives the same touch as the visualized path requires. If the visualization "sees" the ball curling down into the cup with X revolutions per second at the front lip, then the intention is to deliver the ball to the target spot as well with X revolutions per second (as if the putt were straight).

With respect to the 4 seconds, the purpose f this for straight putts is to allow the brain to absorb the posture of the head and face fully turned to the target, as this is a special angle of the neck that informs the instincts about the distance to the hole as sensed by the body-in-space. So it serves the same purpose on breaking putts when the target is outside the hole. The golfer should imagine that the target spot is a "ghost hole" and let the full neck angle be absorbed by the instincts for a brief moment before continuing with the routine. The intention is to appreciate where the golfer is, where the destination for the roll is, and the relationship between the two for purposes of rolling the ball straight all the way to the target spot "as if" the putt were straight and the target spot were a hole.

Cheers!

Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
PuttingZone.com
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Hi Geoff,

Are you recommending that one look at the hole for 4 seconds? I had not heard this here before.

Regards,
David

Looking at the hole for 4 seconds is an old Billy Mayfair tip in one of the magazines from the late 1980s or early 1990s. He didn't recall it when I asked him about it in the late 1990s.

I have talked about how this focusing on the space of the hole for a minimal time (more than 2, less than 5 seconds) helps allow the brain to "sort thru" the visual and physical information it has (under quiet working conditions of still body and eyes), and this sorted spatial awareness helps the movement planning and execution. In general, this can be a helpful tip on almost any putt, long or short, but it does cause a potential conflict in the case of breaking putts because there is a "two-mindedness" afoot: 1. roll the ball on the real surface so it curves into the hole with good entry speed; and 2. aim the ball straight at a target and putt straight with the imagined expectation that the ball will roll straight and arrive and stop at the target destination.

Actually, you can do BOTH if you want to. First see the real curve into the hole, look at the hole for about 4 seconds, and then shift focus to the target spot near the hole as a "ghost hole" for the imaginary straight putt at the target, and look at this "ghost hole" for about 4 seconds with the intention of rolling the ball just there.

It's a helpful brain tactic. Not terribly different from a realtime visualization of the intended putt or shot.

Cheers!

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

Visit the new PuttingZone Blog for podcasts of putting tips:
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