I had a couple requests to talk about putting.  I posted a blog about a month ago about what objectives to have while putting different lengths, and another quick tip about how I hit short putts, but I haven't really talked about the putting stroke itself.

There's good reason for that, though:  Putting is the most personal part of the game.  I've seen people with absolutely horrible-looking strokes make putts from all over the golf course.  And vice-versa.  But if you really want to be a great putter, then you need to really decide what kind of putting stroke you want to develop.

And again, like I said in my recent chipping blog, I'll bet this is an area of the game that many people feel comfortable with.  You might say, "Well, I only three-putt about three times a round, the rest are usually two-putts.  Not bad."  And that's true!  It's not bad.  But here's a revealing thought...if you turned those 3 three-putts into two-putts, and maybe 3 of those two-putts into one-putts, that's six strokes.  Six strokes is a BIG deal.  That's the difference between a 95 and a 101, a 77 or an 83, a 69 or a 75.  If you're one of those who just wishes they could break (insert score here), then spend more time on your putting.  The PGA Tour average putts per round is 29.  Most amateurs are around 37 or 38.  Better amateurs can manage 31 or 32 most days (I myself take about 33 on a normal day).  As you can see, there's work to be done here!

So to develop a good stroke, you first and foremost need to decide what kind of stroke you want to have.  To me, there are two parts to a putting stroke:  1) the method used to move the putter, and 2) the path the putter travels on relative to the target line.  In my experience playing with friends and acquaintances, most people just putt the ball with little specific thought as to how.  But being aware of your putting stroke can mean the difference between having a great scoring day or an awful one.

So let's talk about the method used to putt the ball.  I've noticed three main methods:  Wrist putting, shoulder putting, and combination putting.  Wrist putting is a stroke in which the arms remain stationary, and the player simply hinges his or her wrists back and forth to make the stroke.  This was the most prevalent way to swing the putter during the 40s and 50s and up through the 60s.  The reasons it was so widely used was that 1) the older greens were more shaggy and bumpy, and the wrist "slap" helped to get the ball to the hole, and 2) many older putters, especially hickory-shafted ones, were heavier and harder to move--at the speed required to roll the ball across those shaggier greens, anyway--with an arm/shoulder stroke.  The best wrist putter to ever play the game (in my opinion) was Arnold Palmer.
     Shoulder putting became more popular as greens tended to get faster, and too much wrist action often led to inconsistent putting (although Arnie never had a problem).  A shoulder stroke is one in which the wrists remain stationary, and the putter is moved simply by a rotation of the shoulders back and through. 
     These days, the most common way to putt is a combination of the two.  The putter is brought back by a rotation of the shoulders, and then after impact the wrists release slightly to finish the stroke.  Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and a host of others all use this technique.

Okay, so now for the putter path.  I believe there are two ways to swing the putter in relation to the target line:  straight back and through or inside-to-inside.  Both methods have been used by many golfers successfully.  The only thing that matters for your game is which method helps you have a square face at the point of impact.

So go to the putting green and decide which method + putter path seems to fit your game the best.  And here's a hint:  You might come up with something different.  This part of the game, like I said, is completely personal.  Lee Trevino, for example, lined up to the left on most of his putts, and actually hit a "push" to the right, just like his full swings.  This eliminated any misses to the left...and knowing that your miss will always be in one direction is a big advantage.  And Lee certainly won his share of majors!

Now, there are two other keys I think I should talk about that I feel are fundamental to putting regardless of what stroke you have.  The first is that your eyes should always be directly over the ball-target line.  Many people crouch too far over, and their eyes end up outside the target line.  For a right-handed player, this means the line he or she sees to the hole is actually pointing too far to the left, and therefore the tendency will be to pull the putt.  Less commonly, you'll see the opposite: a player stands too upright, and their eyes are inside the target line, therefore causing the player to push the ball out to the right.  Get your eyes right over the target line, and you'll see things more clearly, and you'll start draining more putts!

The second key has to do with your right (left for leftys) hand.  I'm going to assume most people here use a standard putting grip, that being the reverse-overlap grip.  Some people are afraid of their right hand becoming too dominant during the stroke and use underhand grips, claw grips, belly putters, and what have you, in order to get the right hand to stop turning the club over too much.  This is fine, and many people have putted phenomenally with these methods.  But I think putting is such a feel-based part of the game, and I feel like I lose a lot of that feel when I take the right hand out of the picture in that way.  What I think helps more than anything is a simple visualization as to how to use the right hand to hit the ball--keep in mind, I'm speaking from a standard putting grip point-of-view.  This may or may not work with other grips.
     Think about this.  Say you needed to push a heavy box across a table with your right hand.  What part of your hand would you use?  I think you would have to say your palm.  And your palm would be facing exactly the direction you wanted to push the box.  Why not apply this to your putting stroke?  When you take your grip, make sure your right palm is dead square to the target.  Now, on the through-stroke, simply push the ball with your right palm, directly where you want it to go--the same way you would push that box.  If you have your right palm square to your target line, and you push the ball with your right palm toward the target, it's very hard to miss.

Whew!  That's a lot of stuff.  I didn't think I would have that much to say!  Try this stuff out and let me know what you think.