Back to basics now

Last week, golf’s governing bodies decided to ban the use of ‘anchoring’ when putting from 2016.

Simply put, this means that a player may not anchor the club directly, where the club or gripping hand is in contact with their body or indirectly, where the player holds a forearm in contact with any part of the body to increase stability.

This means that some of the world’s top players (and recent major champions) such as Ernie Els, Keegan Bradley and Webb Simpson will have to get back to basics!

Let’s discuss a few things that you should consider in order to improve your putting.

The Grip: Whereas I do believe that there is one ‘correct’ grip for the long game, I feel that there are a number of different grips that you can use in putting.

The key is to find out which one works for you and trust it. Regardless of if you choose left hand above the right, right hand above the left or a two thump grip, you need to ensure that your shoulders and forearms remain parallel to the target line.

A good grip though is to make sure that your thumbs are both sitting on the ‘flat’ of the grip and your grip pressure is very light, roughly three out of ten!

The Stroke: The goal of our putting stroke is to use the big muscles in our shoulders to rock the club back and through the ball.
 
Ideally, there should be no contribution from the wrists and we should be trying to stroke through the ball, not hit the ball!

If you do tend to flick your wrists at the ball when putting, you might like to try David Leadbetter’s water bottle drill.

The Drill: Take an empty water bottle and place it underneath the top of your right arm so it is tucked against the side of your chest. Make some practice strokes ensuring that you keep the water bottle in place by maintaining the pressure and connection between your torso and upper arms.

You should find that you feel much less contribution from your wrists and that you feel the top of your upper body controlling the stroke.

Having the big muscles in control will definitely help the next time you face a testy downhill knee knocker you need to hole to break your handicap!

For more information on this topic or to find out more about the golf coaching services offered at Awali Golf Club, please contact me on 39761873. Good luck and happy golfing!