PuttingZone.com
Here's a tip that helps you tune in your putting touch to the green speed. I call it the "core" putt because it comes from the center of your manner of relating to the world, and that's what you need to get in touch with to activate your touch on the green.
The Theory
The idea of the core putt is simple. The biggest problem in finding your touch is that your body's speed is out of sync with the speed your putting gives to the ball, so you don't get the results you want and expect. The answer is not simply to slow down, but to slow down in harmony with the speed of the green. Then you have much better control of the speed of your putts, regardless of distance.
But every putt is different, right? Especially putts of different lengths? No, every putt has the same tempo and total timing regardless of distance, and the trick is to tune your personal tempo in to the specific green and its playing conditions.
Everyone has their own core putt, just the way everyone has a characteristic gait and personality type. You've heard golf psychologists say before that golfers ought to work with and not against their basic personality type in terms of fast swings or leisurely swings. Well, this really isn't the case with putting. There's only one way to have great touch: slow down, partner!
How It Works
To make your core putt, you need to relax and enjoy yourself quietly. You know you are relaxed when you don't have much excess body movement; you stand still patiently without much limb or hand movement or muscle tension, and breathe in a measured, easy pace. If this is a problem for you, it's will be a problem for your putting, too, so find a way.
It also helps to gaze leisurely at the pattern of the grass blades and their sharp shadows. This prepares the mind by giving you a desirably familiar awareness of the character of the green surface in terms of grass type, height, tightness or shagginess, and moisture content - all keys to putt speed.
Then address the ball and make a very simple stroke to nowhere in particular - the simpler the better, as few moving parts as possible - as follows:
• initiate the backstroke with a little pushing off from the left shoulder (for right-handers) rolling back to move the putterhead;
• when you first sense that taking the putterhead back any farther or higher will require some effort on your part by pushing or lifting as you feel the weight of the putterhead, just quit going back and relax;
• now let the putterhead fall back forward through the ball and roll the ball with good level contact just to see how far it will go.
Simple.
You don't want to "hit" the ball; just let the putterhead freefall back through the impact zone. It's as if the putter is a hinged "pet door," and you just move the bottom of the door back out of vertical and then drop it and let it swing gently through the ball. The tempo is about what a baby elephant uses on a lazy day to swing his trunk lightly though the savannah grass.
If you compared amateur putting tempos with pro tempos, you would be struck by how slow the pros' putt strokes are - slow and smooth and steady.
To see your tempo at a similar pace, try the following: relax, stand upright, let your arms hang by your sides, and breathe in through your nose - a good full breath but not especially deep. As you inhale, raise your hands and arms out from your side to a total of about six inches, like expanding a bellows. Then hold your breath for one beat and relax, allowing your arms and hands to sink back to your sides. That's your putting tempo for a smooth, accurate stroke. The Core Putt ought to happen with about this same tempo.
