Drill Bits: Masters Edition

The putting instructor to 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson has a tip for you, too.

Indeed, for the latest entry in our Drill Bits series, PutterZone.com turned to Pat O’Brien, instructor to Zach Johnson as well as Vaughn Taylor. Who better to consult on the eve of the 2008 Masters?

Drill Bits is currently focusing on “silent killers,” the sneakiest ailments that can wreak havoc on your putting game. One such ailment is poor posture, and O’Brien is at the forefront of preaching proper posture as essential to successful putting.

Over time, it’s easy for any golfer to start falling prey to hunching over the ball when putting, lurching from the waist instead bending at the hips—a posture issue exacerbated by the fact that so many of us spend countless hours hunched over a computer keyboard or steering wheel. This can unwittingly cramp your putting style, causing undiagnosed performance issues and considerable frustration.

For this reason, O’Brien recommends that you learn to bend crisply from the hips, not the waist, to achieve a more athletic putting posture. When we queried him on the subject, he responded:

“Posture to me is one of the key elements to consistent putting. When your lead arm is hanging freely from your side, you can make a natural, arcing stroke. The simplest way to get there is to stand tall and relaxed. Let your hands tell your body where to go—the further they travel, the more you will feel a slight bend from your hips. Picture yourself shaking hands with a small child—your hands tell your body where to go, not vice versa. This is the correct sequence to achieve that athletic but relaxed posture that you see with great putters like Tiger Woods, Vaughn Taylor and Zach Johnson.”

Note that the hip bend recommended by O’Brien isn’t extreme, but rather a slight, comfortable tilt.

In addition to being a teaching professional, O’Brien is also a consultant to SeeMore Putter Company, which recently released a DVD titled Pat O’Brien on Putting. The DVD offers O’Brien’s insights into grip, alignment and setup as well as posture. It can be purchased on SeeMore's web site, where you can also view in-depth articles featuring O'Brien's methods.

P.S. Click here to enter PutterZone.com’s exclusive drawing to win a $325 SeeMore mFGP putter. Click here to read PutterZone.com's earlier interview with Pat O’Brien.

Drill Bits: Your Game's Silent Killers

Like the human body, your putting game can suffer from a variety of silent killers that erode performance and elevate scores.

These silent killers are the little things that can creep into your game unnoticed, at the risk of becoming habitual, not unlike hypertension or high cholesterol.

For the next three weeks, PutterZone.com’s Drill Bits series will focus on some of the sneakiest ailments, starting with putter deceleration…

As teaching professional Ed Weathers once wrote in Golf Digest: “The most common putting mistake I see the average club player make is this: Taking the putter blade back too far and then decelerating coming into the ball.”

It’s very easy to fall prey to deceleration, especially on shorter putts. Have you ever missed an easy four-foot putt and wondered what the heck just happened? Most likely, deceleration happened. When you decelerate your putter into impact, you randomize your results. Your tempo becomes jerky or yippy, distorting your angle of impact.

Deceleration is an easy habit to form, but also an easy habit to break. Awareness is a big first step. A good next step is to simply practice some four-foot putts and drills from the vantage of this awareness.

Establish the true distance you need to take the putter head back in order to make a smooth, natural acceleration into the ball, and for the ball to firmly reach the cup (it doesn’t take much from four feet!). Then, place another ball just beyond that distance point, and make some more practice putts without touching that second ball with the back of your putter.

This simple drill will help you synchronize your takeaway with the length of your putt while imparting the sensation of smooth acceleration into the ball.

Drill Bits: Sink Putts with Good Posture

Keeping your chin up is not only a good life strategy, it’s also helpful on the putting green. In fact, good posture as well as a positive mental attitude will aid your ability to sink those crucial putts.

Posture is often overlooked in putting, perhaps because the act of putting can look cramped and unnatural. Many golfers grew up watching Jack Nicklaus hunched over the ball, left foot splayed open, elbows tight against his body. No one would argue with the results, but it never looked terribly comfortable.

Today, however, more and more teaching professionals advocate an athletic mindset when it comes to putting, inclusive of good posture—bend at the hips, not at the waist; keep your spine straight when bending, not rounded; keep your chin off your chest.

Good posture in general will help you strike a proper putting posture, which is why the following stretch from Golf Rx: A 15-Minute-A-Day Core Program for More Yards and Less Pain can help you find the cup:

“Hold a club over your head with both arms extended wide. Bend to one side as far as your range of motion will allow, making sure to keep both elbows straight and your head centered, or equidistant from both arms. Hold for a count of five deep breaths in and out, and then return to the starting position. Repeat on the other side. You’ll feel a good stretch in your obliques, and you’ll also reap the benefits of improved posture.”

Golf Rx was authored by Vijay Vad, M.D., a sports medicine specialist and the official physician for the PGA Tour. Billed as “the first golf fitness book based on a clinical study of PGA Tour professionals,” the book not only includes a series of helpful stretches, but also mind-body tips, nutritional advice and more. The paperback version ($16) will be released on March 13.

The above excerpt is reprinted with permission from Gotham Books, a division of the Penguin Group, copyright © 2007 by Vijay Vad, M.D.

Drill Bits: The Curious Way to Sink Putts

Misreading the break is a quick way to break your heart on the putting green.

Indeed, no matter how solid your setup and your stroke, if you don’t adequately ascertain the break, your ball will sail wide and your score will grow.

Reading greens is an acquired skill that improves with experience. The good news is that this skill is easily acquired for those who make an effort to be attentive and aware of their putting environment.

In his excellent intuition-based book Extraordinary Putting, top instructor Fred Shoemaker makes the following observation: “Great green readers are like cats watching a gopher hole. They are alert, awake, fascinated. They watch everybody’s chip, everybody’s putt. They even look at how balls roll on the green from 100 yards. They see it all…They have an ongoing curiosity about what’s happening.”

Here’s one drill that Mr. Shoemaker recommends for heightening your curiosity and awareness on the green:

“Go to the practice green and find putts that have varying amounts of break. Instead of putting, first simply roll balls toward the holes with your hand. Watch the entire length of the break. When you are aware of the quality of attention needed to see accurately, start putting and notice if the quality of your attention—your seeing—changes with the putter in hand. This exercise is an opportunity to train yourself to see the break without the filter of expectation, judgment or hope.”

The above drill was reprinted with the express permission of Fred Shoemaker and Jo Hardy, the authors of Extraordinary Putting. Mr. Shoemaker is the proprietor of Extraordinary Golf, a golf school that “trains the student to be the source of their development.” Extraordinary Golf is based in Carmel Valley and Palm Springs.

Drill Bits: The CD Solution

Proper alignment is essential to successful putting, and it’s not just a matter of where your putter is pointed, but also how your body, extremities and eyes relate to the target.

You want the putter face to be perfectly square, or perpendicular, to the target line, which is the intended path of ball travel.

As for your body, you want your torso, shoulders, legs, feet and forearms to remain in line with the target line. If your shoulders are turned left or right of the target line, or if one foot is ahead of the other in relation to the target line, you are setting yourself up for failure.

Ironically, one facet of alignment that is easy to overlook is eye alignment. You can have everything else in line with the target, but if your head is slightly cocked to the left or right when you address the ball, your eyes may sabotage your stroke.

In his excellent instructional DVD called The Putting Arc Stroke, teaching professional and Putting Arc co-inventor V.J. Trolio offers a simple tip for checking your eye alignment.

Find an old compact disc with a clear reflective surface, then draw a straight line through the middle of it with a Sharpie pen. Place the CD on the ground with the Sharpie line pointing directly toward a chosen target, and address the hole in center of the disc as you would your ball. When you do this, you will see your face reflected in the CD, and you will be able easily to confirm that your eyes are in line, or out of line, with the target line.

For a proper setup, Trolio also recommends that your eyes be either directly over the ball—in which case, the line on the CD will intersect both eyes in your reflection—or an even inch or two inside the ball, where they will be reflected in the bottom half of the CD closest to your feet.

P.S. This alignment drill is easily performed on your living room carpet, but remember to wear shoes when practicing your putting indoors, as you want to replicate the height at which you normally putt.

Drill Bits: Take A Fighting Stance

Putting may be a gentle sport, but it requires a fighting stance.

This concept is something a golf teacher told PutterZone.com many moons ago, reflecting an emphasis on balance that is today reinforced by many leading instructors, including Hank Haney (a.k.a. Tiger Woods’ instructor).

The fact is that a lot of golfers sit back on their heels when putting. Others lean on their toes. Some place more weight on their right foot, some on their left. One way or the other, the result is a physical imbalance that limits your putting potential. It’s very easy to overlook these little tendencies that cause foundational imbalance, especially when so much focus is on the putting stroke itself.

So the next time you’re standing over a putt, imagine yourself taking a fighting stance. If you had to defend your ground for whatever reason, what would be your best posture? A balanced posture, of course, with your weight evenly distributed and feet evenly planted, favoring neither your heels nor your toes, and your knees slightly flexed.

This simple mental exercise will help you establish a foundational balance, freeing the rest of your body to execute the mechanics of the proper putting stroke.

Drill Bits is PutterZone.com’s regular series of simple tips and drills that aim to raise your game. Click here for past Drill Bits.