==================================================== Newsletter - Issue 39 Date 10/31/07 ==================================================== ==================================================== TCT Quick Tips - Play Smart ==================================================== You can always make up one shot. Forget the career recovery shot, take the double bogie - or worse - out of play and play a normal shot. Make a putt, it's easier than the 175 yard high hook over the trees. ==================================================== Golf Tip : Make More Short Putts ==================================================== Here's a foolproof setup for making a very high percentage of short putts in the 3 foot range: 1. Make your clubface square to the hole. Method: during practice, use yardsticks as putting rails/guides towards the target, and make sure that your clubface is square to them. In play, make sure that your clubface is square to the target line on your ball. (Hint - draw a target alignment line on your ball.) 2. Make sure your head is over the ball. Method: during practice, after you are set up, drop a ball from your back eye position and note where it falls; adjust accordingly. 3. Rock your putter straight back 6 inches, then rock it forward and follow through at least 12 inches. Make small adjustments for your natural tempo, but keep the 1 to 2 ratio - it ensures acceleration through the ball. It should be a firm stroke, so if the putt breaks, allow for less break than you would for a slower lag putt. The 6 inch takeaway and 12 inch follow through is how far your putterface should travel, make adjustments for the size of your putterhead. Use a pendulum stroke, all arms and shoulders, straight back and through, no other moving body parts. Method - Outdoor practice: put a dime on the ground where the ball would be and put a loose tee in the ground 6 inches back, and another tee 12 inches forward. Practice your stroke, stop your putter at the back tee, nick/hit the dime on the stroke, and stop your putter at the forward tee. Use yardsticks as rails to define your target line, and keep the putterhead between the rails. After you get a feel for the stroke distance, practice actually making straight 3 foot putts, and continue to use the yardsticks. Hear the ball drop into the hole, don't watch it drop. Method - Indoor practice: put a dime on the ground where the ball would be and lay a clubhead cover on the floor 6 inches back, and another 12 inches forward. Practice your stroke, stop your putter at the back cover, nick/hit the dime on the stroke, and stop your putter at the forward cover. Use yardsticks as rails to define your target line, and keep the putterhead between the rails. 4. Make sure that the putterface is still square to the target line at the finish. This is critical to your short putting success. Method: this might fly in the face of other advice you have read in the past, but it works. Allow your eyes to see the putterface going through the ball and following through with a square clubface. Don't watch it going back, just through impact and on the follow through. Please note: THIS IS EYES ONLY, keep your head and body still. Practice this eye-only movement, and you will not jerk and turn your body, which is a main culprit for missing short putts. In play, make sure that you execute the eye movement during your practice stroke as well as during the actual stroke. When you actually putt, hear the ball drop into the hole, don't watch it drop. If you practice and putt this way for those short putts, you have my TCT Guarantee that you will make many, many more of them.