PUTTING
Tips from Tiger Woods - Part I
Excerpts from the book How I Play Golf by Tiger Woods
06/27/2002
INTRODUCTION
I have been infatuated with the game of golf since my pop first put a
club in my hands when I was a toddler. I was an only child, and the club
and ball became my playmates.
That feeling of solitude and self-reliance enhanced the game's
attraction for me and endures today. I suspect that is true of most
people who have succumbed to the lure of the game.
Golf affords you supreme independence. The cliché about the game being
you against the golf course is only partly true. Ultimately, it is you
against yourself. It always comes down to how well you know yourself, your
ability, your limitations and the confidence you have in your ability to
execute under pressure that is mostly self-created. Ultimately, you must
have the heart and head to play a shot and the courage to accept the
consequences.
Sometimes the game comes so easily you can hardly believe it.
Sometimes it seems so difficult you wonder whether the effort is worth
it. It took me awhile to understand why some days you have it and others
you don't. Fact is, every day your body feels a little different, and
golf is such a finite game that a little off can translate into a lot.
Success in golf is finding equilibrium, accepting the fact that it is
a game of ups and downs and learning something every time you tee it up.
I hope the tips I offer here will help you discover your game – one
that is powerful yet precise, consistent yet exciting, impervious to
pressure yet yielding large doses of fun. After all, that's the real
reason we play.
The more I examine putting, the more fascinating it becomes. That's why
I practice it so much.
I enjoy the process of altering my stroke a little when it gets out of
kilter. I like the challenge of improving my touch, and the feeling I
sometimes get when I know I can lag a fast, double-breaking 40-footer to
within a foot of the hole – or else hole it.
There is, and always will be, room for improvement. The goal, even if it
isn't realistic, is to putt my very best every day.
All-American grip
The putting stroke is not a very complicated action. My hands move only a
foot at most in either direction. My arms and body move even less. So the
biggest priority in gripping the club is to establish a feeling of
sensitivity, comfort and relaxation.
My reverse-overlap putting grip – with the left forefinger laid across
the fingers of the right hand – is conventional in almost every way. The
one difference is that the handle of the putter runs under the butt of
my left hand. Most players like the handle running straight up the palm
so the club shaft is parallel to the left forearm. This unique aspect of
my grip gives me a little extra feel and freedom in my wrists when I
need it.
Grip pressure
I once asked Ben Crenshaw, who may be the greatest putter of all time, how
tightly he held the putter. Ben said he gripped his putter so lightly it
almost fell from his hands:
"The lighter you hold it, the better you'll be able to feel the weight
of the putter head at the other end of the shaft."
After hearing that, I committed myself to easing my grip pressure – and
it really paid off. On a scale of 1 to 10, my grip pressure is about a
5. That may be tighter than Ben holds his putter, but it's pretty light
for me and I do have an increased sense of feel.
If you're having trouble on lag putts, or if your speed isn't right on
shorter, breaking putts, or if you feel you're manipulating the putter,
check your grip pressure.
Better feel
A great way to improve your feel is to putt with your eyes closed. After
each putt, try to guess how far the ball rolled. This is the best drill
for distance control.
Perfect your posture
I believe in standing fairly tall at address. That enables me to see the
overall line to the hole better than when I'm stooped over. What's more,
it allows my arms to hang in a loose, comfortable manner, which reduces
tension. My arms also have more room to swing back and forth through the
stroke.
Focus on your eyes
The position of your eyes relative to the ball and the putting line is
crucial.
Ideally, I want my eyes directly over the ball at address. It indicates
I'm standing the proper distance from the ball, my posture is good and I
have a dependable view of the line I want the ball to roll on.
If I err, it's better to position my eyes slightly inside the line. If
my head is perched out beyond the ball, I'll pull a lot of putts to the
left or else have to manipulate the putter head during the stroke to
make it track on line.
Same routine
A good putting stroke requires smooth rhythm and a steady, repeating pace.
One of the secrets to accomplishing that is to do everything smoothly and
repetitively.
Here's my pre-putt routine – or the series of things I do before I
actually pull the trigger with the putter. Regardless of your routine,
the key is to perform it exactly the same way every time.
• I take a general view of the putt while standing behind the ball;
• walk to the hole, taking a side view of the line to help determine
slope;
• examine the area around the hole;
• walk back to my ball and crouch behind it, getting the most telling
view of speed and break;
• stand alongside my ball and make two practice strokes;
• move the putter behind the ball and then shift my feet forward.
• take two more looks at the line and hole;
• stroke the putt.
Same pace
My dad always hammered home the idea of swinging the putter back and
through at the same speed. When you see a putting stroke that looks
smooth, it's because the putter is taken back at a slow, even pace and
then swung forward at the same speed.
If I can stroke the ball from start to finish deliberately and with a
sense of rhythm, it's much easier to keep the club head moving along the
proper path and maintain a club face that is square to that path from
start to finish.
Let dominant hand rule
Although both hands are charged with swinging the putter back and through
at an even pace, my dominant hand has a special responsibility. If you're
right-handed, you obviously have better feel in that hand than in your
left. Therefore, you want to instill a sense of pace with that hand
especially, so it won't play too big a role in your putting stroke.
I like to hit putts with my right hand only, making sure I incorporate
the same amount of pace as when I'm putting with both hands. I allow my
right wrist to hinge just a bit on the backstroke and then release a
little through impact.
But I never allow my right wrist to "unhinge" any farther than where I
had it at address. Remember, your hand leads, the club head trails
behind.
Swing path
Once I align the face of the putter square to the target line, the most
important thing is to return the club face to that position at impact. The
best way to do that is to swing the putter straight back and straight
through along the same path.
The straight-back-and-through path is especially important on putts of
five feet or less, where I'm not hitting the ball very hard.
On longer putts, where I'm forced to turn my shoulders more in order to
take the putter back farther, the putter head tends to move to the
inside a little. That's fine; I'd have to separate my arms from my body
too much to keep the putter moving along the straight-back path.
Keys to pure putting
• Make the backstroke and forward stoke the same length.
• Let the shoulders and arms do most of the work. Keep the hands quiet.
• Let your wrists hinge a little – especially on lag putts where you
need a longer stroke and more club head speed to get the ball to the
hole.
• Make the club shaft and left forearm form a straight continuous line
so the putter and arms act as one.
• Keep the head absolutely still.
• No peeking! Control the urge to glance up quickly to see if the ball
is tracking toward the hole. This leads to sloppy contact.
From the book How I Play Golf by Tiger Woods with the editors
of Golf Digest. Text copyright 2001 by ETW Corp. Reprinted by
permission of Warner Books, Inc, NY, NY. All rights reserved.
Distributed by New York Times Special Features.
Reading the greens
Reading greens is a science in that you must take into account physical
factors such as the slope of the green and the type of grass you're
putting on. But it's an art too.
Having competed on courses all over the world, I've experienced
tremendous variations in terrain, weather, agronomy and course
conditioning. They all influence how the ball rolls.
Some rules of thumb:
• Fast early, slow late. Grass grows quickly – enough that the same putt
you hit at 8 a.m can be considerably slower at 5 p.m. There are
exceptions to this rule. When I won the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach,
the greens got quicker as the day wore on. They were damp in the
morning, and therefore slow, but when the wind came up, the greens dried
out and got faster.
• Learn to read grain. Grass tends to grow toward one side or the other.
Study the hole. One side will be shaggier; a ball moving in the
direction of the shaggy side will travel faster than one rolling against
it.
• Wind can matter. A golf ball weighs only a little more than 1 ½
ounces. When the wind blows more than 15 mph, it can influence the ball.
• Balls roll where water drains. If there's a pond near the green, the
ball will favor moving in that direction.
From the book How I Play Golf by Tiger Woods with the editors
of Golf Digest. Text copyright 2001 by ETW Corp. Reprinted by
permission of Warner Books, Inc, NY, NY. All rights reserved.
Distributed by New York Times Special Features.
