The post Jack Nicklaus reveals the secrets to fearless putting appeared first on Golf.

The post Jack Nicklaus reveals the secrets to fearless putting appeared first on Golf.

Good golf requires great mental discipline, and no element of the sport requires more mental fortitude than putting. When you’ve got confidence on the greens, the cup begins to look like a basketball hoop. But when you’re struggling, it can feel like trying to putt into a thimble.

Just about every tournament victory ends on the greens. Whether it’s a 15-footer to clip your opponent by one, or a two-putt to close out a dominant victory, it all ends on the greens.

That in mind, it’s crucial that you can handle your nerves with your wand in hand. If you’ve got sweaty palms and shaky hands standing over the ball, it’s tough to sink a putt. To be a great putter, you must be fearless.

There may be no more undaunted putter in the history of the game than Jack Nicklaus. Over the course of his legendary career, the Golden Bear won 18 major titles — and much of that success can be attributed to excellent pressure putting.

In 1994, Nicklaus joined GOLF Magazine to share some tips on becoming a fearless putter. You can check them out below.

Jack Nicklaus’ tips for fearless putting

The common wisdom is that putting ability declines with age. The analysts point to great champions whose green skills deteriorated late in their careers. Some of the great champions themselves have blamed inferior putting for making them less competitive as they grew older.

Well, it hasn’t happened to me so far. And I don’t see any reason why it ever should, as long as my competitive fires keep burning fiercely.

Granted, I haven’t putted these past few years quite as well as I did at my peak, but that had nothing to do with “nerves,” or vision problems, or declining mechanical skills, or any of the usual excuses for age-related inferior green work.

The only reason I putted a little less well than I used to was the extra pressure I subjected myself to as a result of hitting fewer greens in regulation and not getting the ball as close to the hole as in my best years. Whereas once I knew I only had to make a certain percentage of putts to win, during the long, lean spell I increasingly felt I needed to make everything I looked at to have any chance. However, had my tee-to-green skills matched those of my peak years, I’m certain my putting would have been equally good.

It’s in your head

If you think the above statement is further proof of the old adage that putting is all in the mind, you’re dead right. Believe you can knock them in the hole and you’ll knock ’em in. Believe you can’t and you won’t.

When I started on the Tour in 1962, there were a lot of what you might call “real men” out there who had come up the hard way and who, deep down, seemed to look upon putting as sort of a sissified part of the game. It was macho to be a great “shotmaker”-to crush out big drives, drill long-irons tight to the hole, draw and fade the ball at will-but a little wimpish to make low scores mostly with the short stick. Many of those players’ putting skills declined severely as they aged. I believe their attitude had a big bearing on that.

To become and remain a good putter, you have to accept putting’s huge role in golf, you have to like putting, and you have to want to do it very well.

A couple of statistics might help you with all of those challenges. The last time I checked, 43 percent of the strokes expended on the PGA Tour were putts. “Par” for players making a good living out there was under 30 putts per round.

The fear factor

“Boy,” you’ll hear on any golf tour in the world, “that guy is an unbelievable putter! He’s absolutely the best out here!”

Being a get-along person, I just smile to myself at such comments, but what I really want is to ask, “What’s he won?”

There are many great strokers of the ball in tournament golf. But players who can get the ball into the hole time after time after time when it matters the most — when you’re either going to win or lose right now — are a much rarer species. 

They, of course, are the top winners.

Last year’s Masters champion Bernhard Langer is perhaps the best current example of the dif-ference between a “wonderful putter” in the technical sense and a player with great ability to get the ball in the hole when it matters. At least twice, Bernhard has suffered from the yips about as badly as a golfer can, resulting in an ungainly-looking technique worked out by and unique unto himself. But, year after year, he’s also one of the winningest golfers in the world.

What’s at play here, of course, is the fear factor.

Because putting is the most precision-oriented, most delicate, and most decisive act in golf, fear of losing— or, even more commonly, fear of winning — grabs tightest and most destructively on the greens.

Instruction

Thus the best putters aren’t, as so many people seem to suppose, the finest technicians or the smoothest strokers. The best putters are the golfers who, over and over and over, make the putts they absolutely have to make in order to win the game’s top tournaments — Bob Jones, Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Ray Floyd, Seve Ballesteros, and Nick Faldo.

Did they all have wonderful putting techniques? No, sir. Did they all have strong, steady stomachs, steady nerves and great hearts? You bet! And that’s what made them great putters.

Learn from your mistakes

Are those qualities of courage and resolve innate gifts, or can they be acquired? Although some will do better than others, I believe anyone can build up his inner resources by learning from his mistakes.

One of the best examples of a golfer doing that is Tom Watson. When he was very young, Tom had the chance to win a number of major championships but lost them all down the stretch. He was accused of choking, but what he lacked was experience and self-insight, not guts.

Many people in Tom’s situation would have accepted second-best and gone on performing at that level. Watson was made of sterner stuff. Each time he failed he thought hard about why, then tried the next time he got into a winning position to feed off what he had learned about himself and his game. Most of the mistakes were in the management of his tee-to-green play, but some, like over-aggression or under-aggression under pressure, were in his putting. When he’d finally put all the pieces of the puzzle together, his confidence had grown to a point where, especially on the greens, he believed he couldn’t fail. And, of course, he then became the best player in the world for a decade or more.

The chief reaction among amateurs to poor putting, it seems to me, is exasperation, combined with a sort of vague hope that, by some kind of mini-miracle, it will all have gotten better by the next time they play. Without analyzing and learning from their mistakes, I doubt that it ever will.

Are those qualities of courage and resolve innate gifts, or can they be acquired? Although some will do better than others, I believe anyone can build up his inner resources by learning from his mistakes.

One of the best examples of a golfer doing that is Tom Watson. When he was very young, Tom had the chance to win a number of major championships but lost them all down the stretch. He was accused of choking, but what he lacked was experience and self-insight, not guts.

Many people in Tom’s situation would have accepted second-best and gone on performing at that level. Watson was made of sterner stuff. Each time he failed he thought hard about why, then tried the next time he got into a winning position to feed off what he had learned about himself and his game. Most of the mistakes were in the management of his tee-to-green play, but some, like over-aggression or under-aggression under pressure, were in his putting. When he’d finally put all the pieces of the puzzle together, his confidence had grown to a point where, especially on the greens, he believed he couldn’t fail. And, of course, he then became the best player in the world for a decade or more.

The chief reaction among amateurs to poor putting, it seems to me, is exasperation, combined with a sort of vague hope that, by some kind of mini-miracle, it will all have gotten better by the next time they play. Without analyzing and learning from their mistakes, I doubt that it ever will.

Because the advice about the basic techniques of putting is sp readily available from so many sources, my focus here will be on what long experience has taught me are the most crucial factors in accurately rolling a golf ball across a green.

Grip

So long as they allow you to swing the face of the putter squarely through the ball traveling directly along your intended target line at impact, the mechanics of your putting grip are immaterial. Experiment until you achieve comfort, repeatability, and effectiveness. When you do, even if your grip looks “funny” to others, stick with it. Silence any nay-sayers by mentioning Langer.

More important than the configuration of your hands on the putter is the pressure in them. Whether you hold the putter tightly, loosely, or somewhere in between is of much less consequence than equalizing the pressure in each hand, then sustaining the same amount of pressure throughout the stroke.

News

Change your grip pressure and most likely you involuntarily change both the pace and the path of the putter head. Grip tight at address then ease up during the stroke and you’ll tend to over-accelerate the putterhead and pull the ball left. Hold loosely at address then tighten during the stroke and you’ll tend to decelerate and shove the putterhead and the ball to the right. Even if you avoid major errors of speed and line, you will be less consistent than you’d like on the greens.

Achieving equal grip pressure in both hands at address, then sustaining it throughout the stroke, has been a putting key of mine for many years. If you’re not already using it, I think it could have a beneficial effect on your green work.

Setup

As with grip mechanics, I think how you arrange your- self at address for putting is, with a couple of exceptions, pretty inconsequential, so long as it promotes swinging the face of the putter squarely through the ball and direct- ly along your intended target line at impact. Being comfortable and stress-free, or well balanced, over the ball will help you achieve that. The exceptions concern your eye-line at address.

Most good putters over the years have set up with their eyes either directly over the ball, which also posi- tions them over the intended starting line of the putt, or, as in my case, behind the ball but still over the target line. The reason for this is, when the eyes are positioned to the inside of the target line, there’s a tendency to stroke excessively from in-to-out and push the ball; and, conversely, to stroke from out-to-in and pull putts when the eyes are positioned beyond the target line.

Your other equally important optical goal should be to set your eyes parallel to the putt’s starting line, rather than angled to its right or left through an inclination or canting of the head at address. Even though you’ll hear or read less about this factor than the previous one, in my experience it can have an equal bearing on how you stroke the ball. Align your eyes right of the target line and you’ll tend to stroke too much from inside to out and push putts. Align your eyes left of the target line and you’ll risk doing the opposite-pull putts by swinging the putter head from out to in.

I recommend that, as I do, you constantly check both of these important optical elements in practice. And you should certainly look to them first whenever, for no obvious reason, you begin missing more than your share of putts.

Stroke

Over the years I’ve tried every kind of putting stroke known to man, but have always gone back to the technique that felt the most natural to me, and with which I was most successful from my earliest golf days. If I’m right in believing that most other top players have followed the same pattern, then the lesson is clear: Find out through trial and error what works best for you as a unique individual, then stay with it.

There are basically three ways to stroke a golf ball with a putter. One is with a swinging of the arms, hands, and putter as a single unit motivated by a back-and-through rocking motion of the shoulders while everything else stays relatively still. Another is with hinging and unhinging of the wrists, while as in the shoulder stroke, the rest of the body stays comparatively still. The third, which always in the end has worked best for me, involves a combination of the other two techniques.

I can describe my stroking action fairly simply. A slight targetward motion or forward-pressing of my hands serves as a “trigger” for backward swinging of my arms, combined with some hinging or cocking of my wrists, the amount in each case depending on the length of the putt.

A slight forward-press of my hands serves as a “trigger” for my backswing, combined with some hinging to cocking of my wrists, the amount in each case depending on the length of the putt. 

On shorter putts, from the end of the backswing I simply pull the butterhead through the ball with my hands and forearms with very little or no release of my wrists.

On longer putts, the distinct hitting motion of my right hand causes my left wrist to “break” or hinge targetward a little bit after impact. I believe this breaking of the left wrist through or after impact to be less than ideal theo- retically, but have gone along with it because fighting it does more harm than good to my sense of “touch.”

Why do I keep coming back to this method? I’ve always believed that golfers putt best when they are able to “feel the ball to the hole.” Although it can badly frustrate me at times, the action I’ve described lets me do that more often and better than any of the others I’ve tried.

You need to find the type of stroke that does the same for you.

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There’s nothing like some good conversation in the grill room after the round. It’s where you and your playing partners debrief on the day that was. The highs and lows. The good shots and bad. The birdies and bogeys.

A common refrain comes up often in these conversations. “If only I had …” Golf is easy when you analyze it in retrospect. If everyone had a few mulligans every round, the game would be a heck of a lot simpler. Alas, mulligans are not a part of the rules of golf and we must live with the outcome of every shot.

Luckily for you, dear reader, there are some ways to get those bad shots back. All it takes is limiting the number of times you throw away shots during the round.

Back in 2009, former U.S. Open winner Geoff Ogilvy joined GOLF Magazine to share some of his secrets for cleaning things up on the margins. Follow them and you’ll shave five strokes off your handicap in no time. Check it out below.

Shave 5 strokes off your handicap

If you had your A-game every round, golf would be easy. We all post low scores when we’re splitting fairways, hitting pure irons and draining long putts. But what makes you a really good player — and a tough-to-beat opponent — how you play when you’ve left your A-game (and is maybe even your B-game) at home.

When you’re not playing well, the worst thing to do is to try to hit perfect shots. Save the perfect shots for when you feel perfect. On days like this, you need to recognize what you still can do, and then use that to get the ball from tee to hole. You don’t need to hit perfect shots to win — if you’re missing right, aim left and let it cut. That shot will feel more doable, and that’s the name of the game when it feels like nothing’s working.

If you start planning and executing shots — no matter what shots they are — your confidence will come back, and you may very well find that your game comes back with it. Here’s how to make those mid-round fixes to your drives, iron shots, chips and putts that will get even your shakiest round back on track.

Driving: Find a swing that works

Goal: Hit one less drive out of bounds
Save: Two strokes

The most important thing to do when you can’t find the fairway is find a driver swing that will get you back on track and eliminate the chances of really losing one left or right. If I’m hitting my driver horribly, I’ll throttle back to my 3-wood or 2-iron. Another great mid-round fix is to simply choke down on the club an inch. It’s amazing how much easier it is to control your drives if you do this. The lower ball flight will feel more controllable, especially when you’ve been hitting it all over the place. Finally, if you’re missing to one side or the other, plan for it. My main miss is right, so if I’m having a tough day, I’ll aim to the left edge of the fairway and let it come back.

Approach: Manage your misses

Goal: Hit one more green
Save: One stroke

Approach Shots

Ona good day, you can go after any pin. But when you’re not feeling it, it’s crazy to go after difficult pin placements. The key is to miss on the correct side of the hole so you can land the ball on the green and not waste a stroke chipping or pitching from the rough or sand. Move your target area to the fat side of the hole. If the pin is to the right, like it is here, miss it left. If the pin is short, miss it long.

Take a tip from how Tour pros play the biggest tournaments. In a U.S. Open, you need to manage your misses. You can get up and down from the correct side of the hole, but the firmness of the greens and thickness of the rough make it impossible to get up and down from the wrong side. Augusta National is the same. You can get up and down all day from under the hole, but it’s impossible when you’re above it.

You’ll know how the ball will react on the greens after the first couple of holes. If I’m playing well, I’ll aim about 10 feet to the left of the hole. If it’s “one of those days,” I aim away from trouble. Rule No. 1 on a bad day is to take double-bogey out of play. Determine your landing area based on how confident you are. No matter how well I’m playing, I never go right at the pin: 10 feet left is pretty good.

Short game: Get it rolling

Goal: Get up-and-down one more time
Save: One stroke

If you have a solid short game, you can rescue a lot of bad drives and approaches. The key to chipping is to get the ball rolling as soon as you can. Look at the lie: If the ball is sitting down deep in the grass, use a more lofted club. If the lie is tight, you want less loft.

Also, don’t try to spin your chips; you’ll get better roll with less spin. If you’re hitting them fat, avoid the temptation to move the ball back in your stance. The reason you’re hitting it fat is that the angle you’re bringing the club down on is too steep, and this causes the clubhead to hit the ground first. With the ball back, you’re just going to come in even steeper.

Putting: Trust your instincts

Goal: One less three-putt
Save: One stroke

Putting

When I was younger, Ian Baker Finch told me that when you’re not putting well, you should stop reading greens. That’s an exaggeration, but if you stop overanalyzing the greens, your mind will instinctively know what to do. The important thing is to keep it simple. Trying just makes it worse. If I’m not having a good day on the greens, I don’t think about my mechanics, and I try not to over-read the greens. Instead, I just line up in a comfortable position that lets me feel like the ball is going to go in. The more I do by instinct, the better I putt.

Amateurs should tap into their instincts more instead of doing what they’re told is the “right thing.” I can’t tell you how I know a putt feels right; I just know it does. Your feet will feel the slope better than your eyes. Stand over the ball and line up so that the putt feels right. If it feels wrong, step away and start over.

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Power off the tee is an irreplaceable skill in golf. When you can hit the ball longer than your competitors, you are at an immediate advantage.

This fact has been true for as long as golf has been played. One example? The Golden Bear, Jack Nicklaus.

While it is true that Nicklaus could do everything well on the course, one of his greatest skills early in his career was his power off the tee. When he arrived on the scene in the 1960s, he played golf in a way that few had ever seen before.

Nicklaus’ dynamic power was a huge factor in establishing him as a near unstoppable force in the 60s and 70s. Over the course of those two decades, the Golden Bear won 15 of his 18 career major titles — and it all started with his prolific skill off the tee.

Back in 1968, GOLF Magazine highlighted the keys for Nicklaus’ power, which you can read below.

Jack’s power key

Jack Nicklaus is one of the best golfers anywhere at any type of shot you want to name, although his versatility is sometimes almost forgotten. Ask a fan to describe Nicklaus’s game in one word, and every time that word comes back loud and clear — power.

This is because no one consistently hits the ball farther than Jack, and therefore he has become recognized as the longest hitter in golf today. Although he is a big fellow, standing 5-feet 11-inches and weighing over 200 pounds, the secret to Nicklaus’s length lies more in his great swing, perfect timing and tremendous power generated from his hips and legs. A study of the Nicklaus swing is truly a study of power — but also a study of precision action and complete utilization of the body for the best possible performance.

Putting

Jack uses an upright stance and begins his swing with a great coiling of his shoulders and hips. In the recoil, he moves the left side out of the way very early, with perfect timing, to unleash the massive power in his body.

Coming into the ball, Jack drives his right elbow tightly against his right side, delaying the wrist break until the hands have reached hip level. A big source of strength is in the knees, and especially the right knee. His entire lower body — the hips, knees and feet — all work together to generate power and a fluid swing, but the knees serve as the focal point or coordinator of the swing.

In looking at Nicklaus’s swing, one sees that as the club comes back the left knee turns in toward the right and the right knee becomes the critical part of the entire swing. It is locked into position throughout the swing, as it must be, and the knee then works as the brace around which the body coils.

This firmness helps build up power and also makes it impossible to sway off the ball, thereby losing power.

Nicklaus’s strength is released by pushing off the right foot, causing the hips, knee and foot to all thrust forward, into and through the swing. The right knee turns directly toward the target after impact and on the follow-through, and thereby pushes the entire body and all its power in the direction the ball is being hit.

It’s the Nicklaus method — one with proven success both in distance and accuracy — and it certainly involves a lot more than simple brute strength.

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The post Ben Crenshaw: These are my 5 ‘musts’ for great putting appeared first on Golf.

The post Ben Crenshaw: These are my 5 ‘musts’ for great putting appeared first on Golf.

Putting is a crucial element of golf — and if you want to become a good player, you’d better learn how to make it a strength. Dead-eye putters can turn bogeys into pars, and pars into birdies. When you’re rolling the ball well on the greens, you’re never truly out of the hole.

Just like in the full swing, everyone has their own unique flare when it comes to putting. Some focus on the mechanics of the stroke, while others rely more on feel. There’s no hard-and-fast rule for what you should do. All that matters is that you feel comfortable over the ball.

Well, that’s mostly true. According to two-time Masters champ Ben Crenshaw, you can use any style you want on the greens — but make sure your style fits within these five “musts.”

5 putting ‘musts’, be Ben Crenshaw

If there’s one certain thing about putting, it’s that it’s an individual business. The great putters have used every conceivable type of grip, stance and stroke. They’ve used shoulder-and-arm strokes, with very little wrist, very wristy strokes, and everything between. They’ve used slow, pendulum strokes and fast, shorter strokes, and again, everything in between.

Are there, then, any rules at all in putting? Yes, I think there are. Although you have great latitude in building your style, you should follow the principles I’ll spell out here.

1. Keep your shoulders over the putt

A lot of instruction in recent years says in effect that in putting your eyes should be over the ball. However, great putters such as Isao Aoki and Fuzzy Zoeller have proved that it’s not a “must” — Aoki’s ball is much farther from his body than a line vertically downward from his eyes. Zoeller putts the same way to a lesser extent, and in checking myself, I’ve found that my eyes are slightly “inside” the ball. What is a “must” is to have the upper part of your back more or less horizontal. This position gives you the swing path you need in putting. Although the putter will still swing to the inside going back and back inside after impact, it will follow a path much closer to “‘straight back and straight through’’ than if you were to stand as erectly as for a full shot. How much you lean over the ball is a personal choice, and varies from players such as Jack Nicklaus and Hubert Green who crouch down, to golfers like myself who stand more erect.

2. Putt like you swing

I think all the great putters have treated the putting stroke as a miniature golf swing. They naturally formed putting strokes that had the same relative length, tempo and style as their full swings. For example. Billy Casper has a closed-to-open type putting stroke; it is fairly short and has a brisk tempo. His full swings have the same characteristics. On the other hand, I have a longer, more deliberate stroke, with the putter face remaining square to the shoulders as I swing back and through. My full swings have the same characteristics. Tom Watson has a very fast tempo in his full swings and the same tempo in his putting stroke. Then there’s Arnold Palmer — he almost forces the ball into the hole on the green and he uses the same method in his full swings. The most notable example, perhaps, was Bobby Locke. He aimed far to the right of target with his full shots and then hooked the ball back from a very closed stance. In putting, he also adopted a closed stance and hit the ball very much from inside to out. Some people swear he even hooked his putts!

To put the thought another way, it’s not a good idea to adopt a putting style that is completely different from your full swings. If you do, it can ‘‘leak’’ into your full swings with poor results. For example, if I were to adopt Billy Casper’s style, | might find myself working the blade from closed to open in my full swings or just plain swinging too “short” and fast. That would be against my natural tendencies. Everyone has a tempo and timing that is theirs naturally. If you deviate from these, the stroke simply won’t work. Equally well, I could be in deep trouble if I decided that I would emulate Locke’s closed alignment. Before I knew it, I could be aiming to the right of target on my full shots and snap hooking myself right off the course!

The bottom line is that you’ve got to know yourself. You should study your own mental and physical makeups and the characteristics of your full swing. Ask yourself: Am I slow and deliberate or quick and nervous? Do I have a long or short swing? Do I favor a square alignment or am I more comfortable slightly open or closed? Do I swing the club from open to closed, closed to open or keep the club square? Based on the answers to these questions, you can develop a method of putting that is compatible with your full swing.

3. Keep your thumbs on top

There is tremendous freedom of choice with regard to the putting grip. You can use the regular overlap, reverse overlap, cross-handed, split-handed and so on. But one attribute is common to nearly every good putting grip—the thumbs lie straight down the top of the grip. Most often this “thumbs on the top” position is used because the player wants to keep the palms facing each other so that the hands work together during the stroke. He finds it helps him keep the clubface square. I do this myself. However, even if you study the good putters who turn the palms outward as Jack Nicklaus does (to reduce wristiness), you will still find that the pads of their thumbs are on the top of the grip. Why? Because with the thumbs on top you have better feel — you can feel the hit and guide the putter more easily.

Putting

The thumbs of each hand are the “feelers.” If you were going to feel the texture of some cloth, you would support the cloth with your forefinger, but feel the cloth by rubbing it with your thumb. If you were reaching into your pocket to take out a dime for a local call, your trusty thumb would distinguish between the dime and the other small change in your pocket. The thumb also plays the major role in writing and other delicate tasks. In putting, where one of the primary requirements is touch, it makes sense to place the thumbs directly on top of the grip, so that they can bring maximum feel to the job at hand.

4. Guard against the three-putt

It is obvious that all good putters have repeating strokes, and that the touch that develops from that stroke is a major factor in their success. However, I think there are two other factors that help the good putter get down in two putts or less practically all the time. 

First, all good putters are adept at reading greens and know how the various types of grasses, slopes and grains influence the putt. They’ve also trained themselves to observe those details before they strike the putt, not afterward with 20-20 hindsight. That’s why I think it’s a good idea to practice reading putts on the practice green; it’s just as important as grooving your stroke. The other factor is the “lag versus charge” question. More often than not, a fine putter will guard against a three putt by lagging the longer putts up around the hole, rather than charging. 

Bobby Jones and Bobby Locke were “lag” putters in their day, and so is Nicklaus. I am, too. As Jones said: “The good putter is simply the man who can keep coming close, within a foot of the hole; he holes more putts because the greater the number that come close, the greater number that will likely go in.”

However, how does one explain such bold putters as Palmer, Watson or Andy Bean, who consistently putt several feet past the hole? I think the answer lies in knowing yourself. If *‘come-backers” hold no terror for you, if you know you can make them, then you can afford to go for the hole. But if you’re not confident on short putts, I think you’ll be more consistent and hole more putts, if you’re content to leave the longer putts close.

5. Stay steady

A final principle common to all fine putters of the modern era is steadiness. They keep the head and lower body still. And this applies whether they are wrist putters, such as Palmer, Casper and Doug Ford, or arm and shoulder putters, such as Bob Charles and Watson. I fall in the “arm and shoulder” category, and I don’t permit any head or leg movement, even on long putts. I just lengthen the stroke to send the ball a farther distance.

However, I have to admit that one great putter doesn’t fit this picture, and that was Bobby Jones. Jones putted from a very narrow stance, and there was pronounced leg movement in Jones’ longer putts. And Jones himself said he could feel the leg movement in his putting stroke on the shortest putts, even though this movement was not discernible from photographs. Jones simply believed that you should permit leg movements to take place as needed, but warned against excessive movement.

In essence, Jones putted in the same fashion as he swung on full shots, using the whole body, rather than just parts of it. Which method should you use? Well, if you buy the thought that the “best” method is the one that’s used most commonly on the Tour, then I think today there’s no doubt that you should use a ‘‘shoulder and arm’’ style, with no wrist or just a little wrist. However, if you can’t get any feel or control out of this style, then experiment with a more wristy style or even the Jones’ style.

About the last style, I will add this thought: If you try it, keep your head steady over the ball. Jones never swayed in putting, and neither should you.

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The post Johnny Miller shares his secrets for making more putts appeared first on Golf.

Johnny Miller is best known for three things: being an elite ball striker, that Oakmont 63 and for his legendary broadcasting career. Ball striking might’ve been Miller’s calling card during his playing career, but he made his fair share of putts, too. You don’t win multiple major championships without some excellent putting days.

We’ve covered Miller’s ball-striking keys in Timeless Tips before, so today we are diving into the archives to look back at his putting tips. Back in 1975, Miller shared some of his secrets on the greens with GOLF Magazine, and you can read all about them below.

Johnny Miller’s putting keys

Everything I do in my putting method is for one purpose: To produce solid contact between the ball and the putter face. Anytime you hit the ball solidly, you can count on it staying on line. Putts hit on the heel or the toe are the ones that miss. To develop a solid strike, you must first develop a solid stroke.

If you had a straight-in, four-foot putt, would you try to push the putter head down a line to the hole or would you lead your hands through to the hole? If you answered, the putter head, you are likely an erratic putter because you use too much wrist. Anytime you push the putter head down the line, the right hand is playing a dominant role. When you lead both hands through to the hole, both hands are playing an equal role. Let’s talk first about the hands, which I think are the key to consistency.

Very few golfers lead their hands through to the hole. They become obsessed with the blade of the putter. They concentrate on pushing the putter head along a line, shutting it, opening it or keeping it square; the putter head becomes the focal point of most players’ attention. Unfortunately that attention is wasted, for if there is any fault, it will be at the other end of the putter, in the hands. The putter, being an extension of your hands can only do what your hands allow it to do.

Once I have lined the putter blade up, I forget all about it. My hands, like the putter face, are set dead square to the hole by means of what I call the palm-to-palm grip. So you understand fully, place your hands on either side of the grip, palms facing, and make sure the putter is square to your intended line. Now place your hands on the grip so that your thumbs run straight down the middle. This immediately sets both your palms dead “square” to the putter face.

As to the actual grip, I recommend a reverse overlapping. In my case, I overlap my left index finger down the first three fingers of my right hand. The only reason it’s not all four fingers is because I have a slight separation between my index finger and the next on my right hand. I’ve found this grip to be the most successful because it places all fingers of my right hand on the club. And most of the sensitivity is in the right hand.

Putting

Most of the grip pressure should be applied in the left hand, and the right hand simply rests on the club. You especially should feel the back three fingers of your left hand gripping firmly. This will create an even balance between the two hands and prevent the left hand from breaking down or getting wristy. Beware, however, of gripping too hard with both hands, a very common fault, as this restricts the over-all stroke.

The putting stance you assume should be as natural as possible. Anytime you position your elbows away from your body, like a chicken’s wings, you’re inhibiting the movement of your arms and shoulders; the stroke can’t be fluid. I advocate having the elbows a comfortable distance from the body where they can work freely.

Let’s now look at some other important fundamentals that lead to solid striking. Then we’ll talk a little bit about the stroke.

If you study Jack Nicklaus when he putts, you’ll notice that: 1. He stands slightly open. 2. He plays the ball off his left heel. 3. His eyes are over the ball. These factors, I think, account for Jack’s consistent putting stroke.

I also recommend standing slightly open. It gives you a better ball-to-hole perspective; you can gauge distance better. With the ball forward you can retain a clearer picture of the line along which you want the ball to travel. And finally, positioning your eyes over the ball allows you to sight directly down the intended line of putt.

I personally don’t believe that either hand plays a dominant role in the stroke. Both play an equal part. As a result of the one-piece stroke, the shoulders will rotate slightly, but not consciously. As I said earlier in the article, the less movement in the wrists the better. In the followthrough you want to develop a positive feeling of leading your hands through to the hole. Remember: If your hands go through to the hole, the putter head will too.

Overall, try to keep your stroke as smooth as possible. As an aid, I recommend to you a mental tempo gimmick I have found very useful. This is a simple One-Two count that keeps my mind on the stroke and off the disruptive thoughts that can creep in and destroy my chances of making the putt. The whole backswing is the count of One, and the stroke and follow-through is Two. The count is based on the speed of the stroke as I see it in my mind. First determine your natural tempo, apply the count to it, and follow that rhythm during the stroke. This will give you a nice flowing action and not a jerky, hesitant stroke. When under stress my caddie, Andy Martinez, is always reminding me of the count.

Putting

I’ve never been much of a spot putter. In other words, I don’t pick a spot between the ball and the hole to line up to. Spot putting can drain concentration, because you have to keep checking to make sure you’re lined up with the right spot. And if you lose the spot, you can waste a lot of mental effort trying to relocate it. Instead, I visualize the line from the ball to the hole, set my blade the approximate degree left or right of the hole, then just lead my hands down the line. This method is so much simpler and keeps your mind free to concentrate on distance.

While we’re on the subject of visualization; you must see the successful outcome of any putt you stand over, in your own mind, regardless of how long the putt may be. If you program a positive thought, you’ll get a positive result. Actually “see” the ball falling right into the hole!

If you watch any top professional, you’ ll notice that he has a certain pattern of addressing the ball. The pattern is machine-like. I, too, have my own pattern. First I look at the putt from behind and do all my visualization. Then I step up to the ball. Initially I place my feet together, then I spread the right foot out, so my stance is about shoulder width. I take one look at the hole, then look back at the putter to check my alignment. (Andy Martinez also kneels directly behind me and tells me when I’ve got it on line.) Then a second look at the cup, to get a feeling of the distance, and the moment I look back at the ball I draw the putter back. Two looks — that’s the most I ever take.

What purpose does the system serve? Anytime you’re systematic you’re being positive; your mind is on making the putt and not on other things. Program positive action into your mind and, again, the results will be positive.

Paul Runyan, one of the greatest putters ever, used to spend several hours a day on the putting green listening to the sound the ball made coming off the putter head. He used to program his mind to absorb the feeling of solid contact — so that it became a habit. When applying the thoughts I have outlined to your own stroke, I suggest you also try to hit the ball solid every time. In doing so, though, make sure your attention is on your hands and not the putter head.

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The post 20 pro-approved power tips to hit the ball farther appeared first on Golf.

Analytics have changed the way golf is played over the last decade — and it’s taught us one crucial fact: hitting the ball farther leads to lower scores. With that fact in mind, golfers of all skill levels have made gaining distance off the tee a central goal.

But if you think wanting to hit the ball farther is a new phenomenon, think again. As long as the game has been played, golfers have been searching for ways to blast the ball past their playing partners.

We’ve run plenty of features on gaining distance in the pages of GOLF Magazine, and one such instance came in March of 1991. In that issue, we polled 20 pros on their simplest tips for hitting the ball farther off the tee. You can check them out below.

20 pro-approved power tips

The golfer wielding the big stick is always thinking about the big hit, and he’ll do almost anything to achieve it. This attitude fits right in with The New Basics, which explained that distance is desirable, and not only for the psyche: Scientific studies show the best chance for low scores follow shots that are a few yards longer, even if they’re also a few yards off the fairway.

But don’t just tee it high and jump out of your socks, say the game’s longest hitters. These players all concentrate on a simple swing thought when they want to hit the long ball. They shared their best thoughts with us.

1. Greg Norman, two-time major champion

“Tee it so at least half the ball is above the clubface to catch it on the upswing.”

2. Sandy Lyle, two-time major champion

“Grip the club firmly, not grimly.”

3. Fred Couples, 1992 Masters champion

“Keep your eyes intently focused on the back of the ball from address until impact.”

4. Andy Bean, 11-time PGA Tour winner

“Take the club back low and straight to promote a wide arc.”

5. JoAnne Carter, 43-time LPGA Tour winner

“Begin the backswing with a quick weight shift to the right side and the left knee working inward immediately.”

6. Mike Dunaway, Long Drive professional

“Think of your right leg as an axis and coil around it on the backswing.”

7. Mark Calcavecchia, 1989 Champion Golfer of the year

“Let the left heel lift to promote a bigger turn.”

8. Ken Venturi, 1964 U.S. Open winner

“Shift your weight to your right side then swing your hands as high as you can above your head to create the maximum swing arc.”

9. Ben Crenshaw, two-time Masters champion

Driving

“Pause at the top to get everything together before starting down.”

10. Scott DeCandia, long-drive champion

“Power comes from an arm-hand whip created by shifting the hips laterally at the start of the downswing.”

11. Seve Ballesteros, five-time major winner

“Trigger the downswing by firing the right side, simultaneously pushing the right instep inward and downward.”

12. Joey Sindelar, seven-time PGA Tour winner

“Hold back the release of the right hand as long as possible.”

13. Lee Trevino, six-time major champion

“Keep your clubhead moving down the target line longer by extending the left arm away from the body on the downswing.”

14. Curtis Strange, two-time U.S. Open champion

“On the downswing, keep the right shoulder from dipping and extend the right arm and clubshaft toward the target in the follow through.”

15. Dan Pohl, 1981 PGA Tour driving distance leader

“Keep the upper body behind the ball at impact.”

16. Chi Chi Rodriguez, eight-time PGA Tour winner

“Hit against a firm left side.”

17. Kathy Whitworth, all-time winningest LPGA Tour player

“Tell yourself to let the club do the work.”

18. Tom Purtzer, 1990 PGA Tour driving distance leader

“Maintain a steady head position as you coil and uncoil around your spine.”

19. Arnold Palmer, seven-time major champion

“Maintain a steady head position as you coil and uncoil around the spine.”

20. Jack Nicklaus, 18-time major champion

“Hit the ball as hard as possible while still swinging the club rhythmically.”

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Ernie Els might have the smoothest swing in all of golf. If you watch him take a few hacks, you’ll be tempted to ask yourself if he’s even trying. But don’t mistake that nonchalance for ineffectiveness — Els is one of the greatest players of his generation.

In his prime, there were few golfers who could match up with Els. With 19 PGA Tour wins and four major titles (all coming during Tiger Woods‘ dominance), the Big Easy put together a hall-of-fame career.

Back in 2011 when Els was officially inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, he joined GOLF Magazine to share some of his best secrets for elite ball striking. Check ’em out below.

Ernie’s 5 ball-striking secrets

It’s hard to believe that I won the U.S. Open — my second major — at Congressional Country Club so long ago. A lot has changed since then, including my swing, but one thing that hasn’t changed is my reliance on the key moves that got me my Tour card in the first place, and ultimately 64 wins worldwide.

Like any professional — golfer, banker, politician, movie director, whatever — you continue to adapt yet stay true to your base ideals. For me, these are the fundamentals of address and taking the club back and through without concern for intricate positions or angles — my best swing secrets. I’m still going strong after two decades on the pro tours, so I must be doing something right.

1. Take an athletic stance

I know, I know — you’ve had it up to here hearing about the importance of address. Sorry, friends, but success starts here, especially with your driver. Every Tour pro — every one! — practices his or her setup religiously. The secret here is to be fundamentally sound yet still feel relaxed and ready to tap your innate sense of athleticism. Copy my setup keys and you’ll be in a good place to do just that.

SETUP KEYS

2. Swing and turn back at the same time

A lot of amateurs see my swing and assume it’s mostly arms because I get the clubhead so high above my head. The truth is that I rarely think about moving my arms at all. I make my best driver swings when I power the club back with my shoulders. Notice here how I’ve started the club back but the clubhead is still almost hugging the ground. You can’t get that by swinging your arms or hinging your wrists to start your backswing.

Of course, your arms will swing back and lift the club up as part of your built-in hitting motion, but thinking more about turning your shoulders will go a long way toward giving you more power while also keeping the club on plane. You must turn your shoulders! A weak shoulder turn is the number-one amateur mistake.

3. Complete your backswing

A lot of people talk about my transition and how it looks so smooth. Honestly, it just sort of happens — making a smooth transition isn’t something I really think about when I swing, although I do know why it happens. Good transitions happen when your body and mind recognize that your backswing is complete and full. If you stop too soon your body senses that you haven’t built enough power into your backswing, and it then speeds up in a jerky rush. The same thing happens when you overextend your backswing: Your body senses that you’re too long and steps on the gas.

Instruction

So how do you know when your backswing is full and complete? For me it’s always been when I feel that my left shoulder has gotten behind the ball. When my turn gets to this point I know it’s time to start back down. No indecision, no hesitation, no rush. If your transition isn’t as smooth as you want it to be, it’s because you never get your left shoulder behind the ball. Most amateurs turn, but hardly any of them turn enough. Spend an entire practice session forgetting about your swing and focusing only on turning your shoulders as far as you can. You’ll be surprised at how much power you get without swinging any harder.

4. Transition by dropping

In addition to making a full and complete backswing, a good way to ensure a smooth transition is to drop your arms immediately from the top without doing anything else. This has been a solid key for me ever since | first picked up a club. Two things to keep in mind: 1) It’s not just your arms that drop, but your arms, hand and shaft; and 2) Everything must drop straight down.  You can get away with dropping your arms and shaft a little behind you, but Bon never in front of you. Although your weight is shifting forward and your hips are turning while you’re doing this, it’s nonetheless a singular move to focus on and practice on its own.

5. Sync your upper and lower halves

There are a lot of moving parts to your motion, especially as you swing down from the top and into impact. A little-known secret is that you can move your upper body and lower body as fast and slow as you want to — as long as you keep them in sync.

I run into trouble when my lower body out-races my upper body, so I constantly strive to keep them working together. Even though my hips are the first to move from the top of my backswing, I want my upper body and my lower body to arrive at impact at the same time. I don’t want to be late with my upper body and hang back too far on my right side, nor do I want to be too early, spinning out with my shoulders and hooking the ball left.

You know you’re doing it correctly if you feel your chest is over the middle of your stance as you strike the ball. Since you tee the ball forward in your stance, keeping your chest over the middle gives you just a little bit of hang back to correctly hit up on the ball and max out your yardage.

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The post Seve Ballesteros’ simple keys for hitting masterful pitch shots appeared first on Golf.

Having a solid short game is a huge asset. When you’re able to get up and down from tough spots, you’re never truly out of a hole.

Perhaps no one in the professional game illustrated this fact better than Seve Ballesteros. Over the course of his career, the five-time major champ got out of many tight jams with his magical short game. Even now several decades later, his wizardry around the greens is the stuff of legend.

If you’re looking to improve your own short game, there’s not a better person to model your technique after than Ballesteros. Back in 1983, he joined GOLF Magazine to share a few of his secrets for solid pitch shots, which you can check out below.

Seve’s pitch-shot basics

Getting your pitching game back in shape at the start of the season is easier than you think, provided you’re organized and keep your approach simple. The swing you use for pitches should be the same one you use for full shots, except for minor technical changes in body alignment and ball position.

It helps to divide your pitches into two categories — long and short. I generally use a pitching wedge for shots from 80 to 110 yards and a sand wedge for shots from 80 yards or less. Your figures may differ from mine, but know your comfortable maximum with each club so that you make the correct club selection.

Long pitch

On long pitch shots, use a slightly open stance, with the ball a little to the right of center, but keep the shoulders square to the target line. The open stance helps reduce the amount of body turn in the backswing. You swing back to about three-quarter length, a definite aid to control. Standing a little open also helps you to clear your hips to the left on the forward swing, even though the swing is shorter than normal.

Short pitch

On short pitches of around 30 yards, set up with the shoulders, the hips and the feet open. Put a little more weight on your left foot. This setup cuts down even more on body action, so essentially your body stays still, and you play the shot mainly with your hands and arms. 

Short Game

After you’ve practiced these “standard” pitch shots from various distances, you’re ready to try several simple variations. The position of the pin on the green often calls for a higher or lower shot than usual, and you should have these shots in your bag.

Tucked pin

Say the pin is tucked behind a bunker on the front of the green, you will need to play a higher than normal shot, one that will land softly and not go too far past the hole. I suggest you increase the effective loft of the club by playing the ball a little farther forward in your stance. Set up with the weight favoring your right foot. On the downswing stay more behind the ball. This way, you keep your weight on the right side and then swing up into a high finish.

It’s worth noting that you must have at least a good lie to play the high pitch. Don’t play the ball forward off a poor lie, because you’ll tend to thin or even to top it. Play the ball back the same as you would for the “standard” pitch to make certain you hit the ball solidly, then allow the ball to finish past the pin.

Green to work with

Another common pin position is the one in which the pin is at the back of the green. This placement calls for a lower shot, one that will run farther than usual and ensure that you will get the ball back to the hole. To play the low pitch, position the ball back of center. This low shot also is useful playing into the wind or trying to keep the ball under control in a crosswind.

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Sure, we’d all love to hit it close to the pin every time we found the green, but unfortunately, that’s just not possible. That’s why it’s essential that you become a competent lag putter.

Being a great putter from distance is hugely beneficial to your scorecard. If you can eliminate three-putts, you’ll be amazed how quickly your scores plummet. Plus, without the stress of grinding over four-footers all day, it makes the game a heck of a lot more enjoyable.

When you face these lengthy putts, it’s important you make a few key adjustments in your stroke to find success. For more on that, we look back to the April 1985 issue of GOLF Magazine where two-time Masters champ Ben Crenshaw shared his secrets.

Ben Crenshaw’s lag putting keys

When you have a very long putt, stand taller to the ball. This increases the width of your swing arc so you can develop the extra force necessary to the stroke without swinging faster or using too much wrist action. 

Take a wider stance, which will let you make a longer stroke without moving your head from over the ball. Also, as you’ll see later, there has to be some leg action on long putts. A wider stance allows you to move the legs properly without swaying, a fault that makes a solid hit difficult. 

On an extra long putt, don’t become too line-conscious. What’s more important is the pace of the putt. The more of these putts you can lag to within a foot of the hole, the more you will hole. 

To help you do this, visualize a circle with a four-foot radius around the hole. Then try to make the ball finish within the circle. 

Below is a step-by-step guide for my lag-putting technique.

Backswing

Swing the putter back with the arms. Allow your shoulders to respond to the arm movement so that they turn, taking the club back to the inside. Note that the putter blade opens in relation to the target line. However, this is not something you should try to do; it results naturally from the shoulder turn.

Use just enough wrist action to keep the action fluid. You’ll also find that a little wrist action helps you make a smooth transition from backswing to downswing.

Regarding the length of the backswing, Bobby Jones made a good point when he said always take a backswing that is “long enough.” A long backswing gives you enough force in the swing without your having to change tempo. A consistent tempo on all putts is essential to good touch. A long backswing also gives you a smooth stroke.

The leg action in the backswing is similar to that of a chip shot of the same length. There’s just a little weight shift to the right foot, with the right leg staying firm.

Downswing and impact

On the downswing, key on swinging the arms and club through the ball. The shoulders respond to this action, bringing the club back from the inside to the ball, and then back to the inside in the follow through.

In the same way the turn of the shoulders opened the blade on the backswing, so the turn of the shoulders closes the blade through the ball. At impact, the blade is in the process of closing, so it’s turning very slightly over the ball. I catch the ball a little above the equator, and it starts rolling immediately. If you hit too low on the ball, it skids a long way before starting to roll.

With such a long stroke, you need a little leg action during the forward swing. If you tried to keep your legs still, you would stab at the ball rather than making a smooth stroke. By releasing the right leg to the left, there’s no chance of flipping at the ball with your wrists and pulling the ball left of target.

Follow through

If you compare the length of my follow-through on this putt to the length of the backswing, you’ll see they are mirror images. This is deliberate.

When I’m stroking a putt, I try to feel as if I’m part of a metronome: back on a count of “One,” through on a count of “Two.” This slow, even beat keeps my stroke smooth and rhythmic.

In contrast, if you try to accelerate the putter through the ball, you shorten the backswing and rush the forward swing. On short putts you can sometimes get away with this. But it is fatal on long putts. You lose your natural tempo and your touch, leaving the ball short or past the hole.

A quick summing up. On long putts, stand a little taller and wider. Aim for a four-foot circle. Swing back with the arms and shoulders. Use a “long enough” backswing with just a little wrist. Then swing the arms and shoulders through, letting the right knee release. Keep the swing as smooth as possible with the metronome beat. Then you, too, will hole your share of “monsters.”

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The post How high should you tee the ball up for maximum distance? We found out appeared first on Golf.

The post How high should you tee the ball up for maximum distance? We found out appeared first on Golf.

Everyone wants to hit the ball farther. It makes the game much easier when you’re hitting shorter clubs into greens, and it makes it more fun, too. If you can add 20 yards to your drives, you’ll see the game in a whole new light.

Adding yards to your drives doesn’t have to require speed training or a new fitness routine, though. If you can optimize certain variables with the driver, you can add easy yards to your tee shots.

One of those things is tee height. It might seem trivial, but tee height can have a huge impact on your driving distance.

How much impact? Back in 2006, we at GOLF Magazine ran an experiment to find out. In our June issue from that year, we published our findings, outlining the optimal tee height for maximizing distance with your driver. You can check it out below.

What’s the optimal tee height with driver?

You’re on the tee box of a brutal par-4 and really need to bust one if you’re going to get home in two. What’s your swing key? One thing that you’re probably not thinking about is how high you’ve teed your ball — but you should be. Tweaking your tee heigh, as it turns out, is one of the best — and easiest — adjustments you can make yo pound higher and longer drives.

Keep reading below to find out why.

The study

Who took part

Twenty-seven golfers, aged 25 to 71, with handicaps ranging from scratch to 29. Of the players, 25 typically used a mid-tee height and two preferred a high tee height.

The tee heights

—Low: The top edge of the ball was even with the top edge of the driver, so the entire ball was below the crown.
—Mid: Half the ball above the crown.
—High: The bottom edge of the ball was slightly above the top edge of the clubface so that the entire ball was above the crown.

The experiment

Players were divided into three groups of nine by handicap level: 0-9, 10-19 and 20+. Each golfer hit 10 drives at each tee height, with each group hitting from the three tee heights in varying order to ensure that fatigue and motivation were balanced within each group. Only the best five out of the 10 drives at each tee height were recorded so that mis-hits would not skew the data.

Carry distance was measured by a launch monitor, which also calculated clubhead speed, launch angle, ball speed and spin. Accuracy was also recorded: drives that landed in the fairway (33 yards wide) scored 1; those in the right or left rough (17 yards wide) scored 2; and those that landed beyond the rough scored 3.

The results

Within each of the three handicap levels, carry distance for mid and high tee heights was significantly longer than the low tee height, largely an effect of the higher tees promoting higher launch angles and less spin. The high tee height provided the most distance, giving the players an average of 12 yards more carry per drive than the low tee height.

Inside the numbers

The biggest winners

High-handicappers benefitted the most from the high tee height, picking up an average of 18 yards over their drives with the low tee height.

Long and straight

The increases in carry distance from the low to the mid and high tee heights did not come at the expense of accuracy in terms of hitting the fairway. The table below presents the percentage of tee shots landing in the fairway, rough and beyond the rough as a function of tee height.

Aftermath

Following the experiment, nine out of 27 players planned to change from mid to high tee height. Three of those nine were from the low-handicap group.

Thee tee height study was conducted by GOLF Top 100 Teacher Eric Alpenfels and Bob Christian, Ph.D dean emeritus of the School of Health and Human Performance at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.

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