February 2012 Archives

It was a great weekend of golf.  A six-way playoff for the Australian Master's, Lee Westwood dueling down the stretch in Dubai, Corey Pavin looking for his first win on the Champions Tour and of course, the much anticipated duel between Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods.

All four events were decided by the putter.  Two of the girls struggled on the 18th when they had a chance to avoid a playoff.  Lee Westwood hit the ball incredibly well in the desert but couldn't buy a putt.  Peter Senior struggled all day with the putter before falling to Pavin in a playoff.  Of course the Pebble Beach Pro-Am was a putting disaster for some and a bonanza for others.  Charlie Wi four putted the first green before making a bunch of putts after it was too late.  Tiger Woods hit the ball well enough to make the match-up with Mickelson exciting.  However, he made next to nothing in addition to missing a few short ones.  Mickelson on the other hand made putts from all over the Monterey Peninsula.  35 and 40 foot putts for par, 40 footer for eagle....

In my opinion, Phil putted so well because he was concerned with rolling the ball more than making the ball go in the hole.  We have all seen him miss a few short putts to knock himself out of contention.  Yesterday, he was rolling the ball on a line and allowing the ball to go in the hole.  Nothing was banging against the back of the hole.  If you watch the highlights, you will see that all of the putts he made were perfect speed.  If they had not gone in they would not have rolled more than a foot past the hole.

The next time you are standing over a four  footer with a bit of break, resist the urge to bang it at the hole with a "take the break out of it" mentality.  Remember, the faster the ball is moving the smaller the hole becomes.  A putt that would roll 3 feet past the hole effectively makes the hole only half as big.  Tiger's birdie attempt on the 18th green ran more than 5 feet past the hole.  Any putt traveling that fast cannot go in even if it hits dead center in the middle of the hole!

If there is break in a putt, allow for the break and hit the putt at a speed that will only allow the ball to roll 6 or 12 inches past the hole.  Most often the player that tries to jam the ball into the hole is the one that doesn't trust how much break the putt will have.  If this applies to you, learn how to precisely read greens.  Knowing the Aimpoint Green Reading System will allow you to have the confidence of knowing how much a putt will break.  When you know your read is correct, the trust is much easier to have and you can roll putts in the hole like Phil did yesterday.

I don't want to startle you but golf season is less than two months away!  It won't be long until handicap computers start accepting scores, and the trees will start to bloom.  What have you done to make your golf more fun in 2012?

The time to get better is now.  Any athlete playing a seasonal sport understands that the time to refine, improve or make wholesale changes to the motions they rely on is NOT during their season.  If you want to make 2012 the best year of your golf career, do not wait until late March to get a tune up.  Start today to make significant and lasting improvements to your golf swing and putting stroke.

Over the winter you can really get into making changes.  You can get your golf swing analyzed via video or 3-D Motion.  We can diagnose your putting stroke using a computer analysis.  You can find out if your body has the mobility and stability to perform the golf swing you are trying to make.  Once you have a clear understanding of what you are doing, we can get a plan in place to address these issues.

The key is to do it now.  In the winter you have an opportunity to work on these changes without the interruption of your normal weekly game.