Lesson Tee
How To Make The Important Putts
It's more than just having a good stroke
High Side: Amateurs miss the majority of putts on the low side. Stay high, and give your ball a chance.
Yes, you have to hit putts solidly and with the face square to be consistent on the greens. But a reliable, technically sound stroke is only one piece of the putting puzzle.
The only way to take advantage of good technique is to be able to read greens accurately and aim the putter correctly. Then you can get the ball going on the right line. Start by looking at the entire green before channeling your attention to your putt. Imagine dumping a big bucket of water on the green. What direction would that water run off? That's going to tell you a lot about what your ball will do.
Another trick is to identify the nearest straight putt to the one you have. The farther you are from the straight putt, the more your putt is going to break. As a rule, play a little more break than you think; most putts miss low.
Speed is even more important than line: Try to roll the ball so it dies in the hole. The cup is more forgiving when the ball is rolling slowly.
HANK HANEY, a Golf Digest Teaching Professional, runs the Hank Haney International Junior Golf Academy in Hilton Head.
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THE NEW MASTERS PROTOTYPE
I used to think the prototypical Masters champion was a long-driving, right-to-left player who could hit the ball high. But with all the changes to the course -- and to equipment -- I now think there's a new model. The left-hander.
Lefties have won four of the last eight Masters (Mike Weir in 2003 and Phil Mickelson in 2004, '06 and '10). Augusta is actually a very tight golf course now, and all the extra length and control-killing rough makes it hard for even the biggest hitters to automatically reach the par 5s in two. New drivers have made it much easier to cut the ball and still hit it a long way. A high, hard cut is the ideal tee shot on Nos. 2, 5, 9 and 13 -- if you're left-handed.
Because of this advantage for lefties -- and because shots near the green are so important -- it's no surprise that Mickelson is the favorite again this year.
- Keywords:
- Instruction,
- Hank Haney,
- lesson tee,
- putting,
- Golf Digest,
- instruction,
- reading greens,
- reading putts
