Putting for glory

OVER the past few days, it has been great to sit back and reflect on Awali Golf Club’s Festival of Golf.

The event ran seamlessly from start to finish thanks to the hard work of the committee, sponsors and people who took the time out to volunteer as helpers.

A huge amount of credit must also be given to club historian and official photographer Onny Martin for his time and skill in producing thousands of excellent photographs that we will be able to enjoy for a long time to come.

Whilst scanning through some of the action shots, I was delighted to see some of my clients applying the correct technique and the philosophy that we have been working towards. Sadly, however, Onny’s photographs have also caught some of them red-handed when it comes to putting technique!

The most common and destructive putting fault is to let the lower hand on the grip (normally one’s dominant hand), flick from underneath in an effort to ‘hit’ the putt. It causes inconsistent striking and distance control.

As we know, the shoulders should rock back and through to power the stroke. Let’s discuss a useful drill that you can practice to identify the muscles that you should be using in your stroke.

Leave your putter in your bag, assume your putting posture and place your palms together so that your arms and shoulders form a triangle shape. Now, without moving your hands, use your shoulders to move the triangle back and forth in a putting motion.

You should be able to identify muscles that are moving the triangle either in the front of your shoulders or more commonly, in the back of your shoulders. You should also notice that it is very easy to keep your hands completely still when you do this.

Next, grip your putter and assume the same posture. Forget about a ball and focus on utilising the same muscles to power your stroke.

If you do it correctly, you should be able to keep your hands very quiet and produce a smooth, accelerating stroke through the ball – not at the ball. Work on this technique and you will see a vast improvement in the quality of your strikes and distance control.

For more information on this topic or to find out about the golf coaching services offered at Awali Golf Club, call 39761873 or visit www.awaligolfclub.com.

Good luck and happy golfing!