Keeping your eyes on the prize

Moving or ‘pulling’ the head up during the putting stroke is a major problem for most golfers.
 
Remember your head is attached to your body, so when your head goes so does your stroke. Premature looking or peaking also causes miss-hits, ultimately creating a poor putting stroke which makes the ball start and stay off line.

Here are a few helpful training aids to help you master keeping your head down while putting:
* Keep the eye closest to the hole closed. If you are a right-handed golfer you can train yourself to keep you head down by keeping your left eye closed and vice versa for a left-handed player. Make several practice strokes with the proper eye closed. Address the ball and assure yourself that you are aligned correctly. Before taking the putter back, close your eye again and make a stroke. This training aid enables you to focus on the stroke while keeping your head down and prevents ‘cheating’ with your peripheral vision.

* For a great practice drill, listen for the putt to drop. Surround the hole with eight balls from about 10 feet. Hit each putt while keeping your head down during the stroke and DO NOT look up until you hear the ball go in the hole or you know you have missed the putt. This is especially effective on short putts and will help you gain a better stroke while also giving improved distance control.

* Putt with your eyes closed. Putting with your eyes closed combines the two drills above. This is a great drill to improve feel throughout the stroke. Surround the hole with golf balls about 10 feet away then align yourself to the hole. Once you are ready to make the stroke, close your eyes and make the stroke while listening for the ball to go in the hole. Since you can’t see the ball, there is no need to pick your head up. This provides wonderful training to keep your head still.

After you are comfortable using these drills on the practice green, take what they’ve taught you to the course. I think you’ll like the improvement in your putting game when you can consistently and automatically keep your head still during the putt.

Remember, keeping your head down isn’t just good advice for putting, it will improve the rest of your game, too. The old adage applies to putting as well as your full swing: ‘Look up and see a lousy shot’.