Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
This week the Royal Golf Club's Head Teaching Professional, Chris Kelby, gives tips on feel of the greens
I love fast greens. As far as I'm concerned, the faster the better, even when they're extremely sloped like they are here at the Royal Golf Club. That's when feel and imagination come into play the most and you don't have to think too much about the stroke.
Light, consistent grip pressure is one of the keys to negotiating lightning-fast greens. A lot of players either grip the putter too tightly from the start or increase grip pressure during the stroke.
Either way, they have trouble controlling pace, which is just as important as line if not more so as the length of the putt increases. I would encourage anyone to vary their grip pressure depending on the speed of the greens.
My grip pressure on an average green might be five on a scale of 1-10 with one being the lightest and 10 the tightest. As the greens get quicker or if I have a tricky fast downhill putt, I would reduce that down to about 3 in order to improve my feel.
Of course any change in pressure should not result in the club being able to twist and change direction in the hands.
Holding the putter with a lighter pressure allows me to release the putter head, a critical factor on super-fast greens whilst retaining the control that you need to get the right speed.
Next time you are out practicing your putting, give it a try and see the difference a light touch can make to your feel on the greens.
