Justin Thomas revealed something interesting after his RBC Heritage victory last weekend: That he went to his friend and Ryder Cup teammate Xander Schauffele for a putting lesson earlier this season.
Lots of people seized on that story because, yes, it is interesting. But more interesting was what Xander said to JT. Or, rather, didn't say to him:
"I was talking to him about this process and how he reads greens and how he sees things; his practice and everything. He would kind of ask something and I was like, 'yeah, I used to do that.' And then he was like, 'well, how about something like this. Like, I used to use the string line.'
The more I was talking, I'm like, I don't do any of the things that I used to do in my best putting years. 2017-18, I was very, very regimented of the things that I did, and how he said it is because I had a home base and I had no home base. I had things that I did, but it was a very vague bag of things and there was no consistency to it.
JT continues:
"I feel like I used to have a very good home base of fundamentals and things that I did. So honestly, while he helped, it was more of the questions he asked me that made me realize that I'm trying basically too hard and I'm trying too many different things. It's a serious, serious, serious skill to continue to work on the things that you do really well and not doing it differently, and I think that's been more of what it is. I have my fundamentals and things that I do and checkpoints, and I'm sticking to them."
Lots there, but two things especially stuck with me.
1. Have a 'home base'
What does JT mean when he says he used to have a "home base" for his putting? It means, quite simply, that he had the slate of go-to drills, that reinforced the same slate of basics, that he would do every time he practiced. Some examples:
- Using a putting mat to make sure your eyes are in the same spot
- Going through a grip checklist
- Using a mirror to check your posture
- Checking youralignment with sticks
- Using tees or other gate drills to square your clubface
- Checking your ball position to make sure it's not moving around
Your home base may also be a swing drill of some sort, like Aaron Rai standing on a stick to check his balance at setup. Ludvig Aberg's coach, Hans Larsson, calls this stuff "brushing your teeth." You do it every day because it's good for you, and it stops small problems from creeping up in your golf swing—and then turning into big problems.
2. Balance your practice
The second, really insightful thing that JT says here is when he says it's a "serious, serious skill" to work on the same things every day, day after day. Why? Because quite simply, doing them for hours every day can be really boring. It's not that things like brushing your teeth is difficult. It's just not fun, and requires discipline to do it day after day.
Which is why on this stuff, balancing out your practice sessions is hugely important. My colleague Sam Weinman has written about this a lot recently, but as tour players' Masters practice data suggests: Reserve the start of your practice sessions for your home base drills, and the latter part of your sessions for challenging yourself by playing different skill-based games.
You can learn more about that here...
In short, the lesson in JT's words here is to balance out your practice sessions, like you would a meal. Eat your vegetables every day for good health, then add in some tasty stuff for balance and general joy. To play your best golf, you can't have too much of one or the other.