GOLF TIP
SQUARE UP TO HOLE MORE PUTTS By DEVAN BONEBRAKE realize it might be humbling watching PGA TOUR players compete these days, knowing it’s not very likely you’ll be able to hit the ball 370 yards like Bryson DeChambeau or compress the ball like Dustin Johnson, or even move the ball right and left like Bubba Watson. However, there is a skill all great players have that is achievable by amateurs and it relates intrinsically to your scoring. Every golfer can learn to strike putts consistently square in the middle of the putter face. The more consistently you can strike your putts squarely, the more distance control you’ll have coupled with better direction and a higher rate of conversion on your putts. Think about the last time you practiced on the putting green. Did some balls stop one foot short, some go four or five feet long and some miss way right while others missed left? That’s not uncommon, but you would be surprised how easily you can get a tighter dispersion and hole more putts simply by focusing on putting with a square face.
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When I’m working with a golfer on their putting, I really focus on alignment first because where they set up the putter face is going to critically impact where the ball goes. Then, more than anything else, I want them to use their stroke to return the club face to the exact same point where it started. A super-simple drill involves setting two balls side by side on the green and line up with one toward the toe and one toward the heel. If they roll essentially the same direction and distance, the putter face was square. If the lead or trail ball goes significantly farther than the other, you want to practice keeping the face square and probably practicing with even more precise feedback. To that point, I like a device like working with the new Goal Post putting aid from Swing Align (www.swingtrainer.com/products/goal-post). It trains you to putt with the putter face square. If you come through the impact zone with the putter too open or closed, you’re not going to clear the posts that are positioned out in front of the heel and toe of the putter. That instant
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feedback might be frustrating at first, but once you start putting on more of a square path, you’ll see the rewards in the form of better roll, putts that stay true to their intended line and even improved distance control, which is critical to your putting success. You can do drills by simply putting with the Goal Post attached to your putter from three feet, then then six feet, then 10 and so on until you’re really comfortable with using a smooth, a stroke that applies a square strike on the ball. Another nice thing about the Goal Post is that it comes with an attachable Alignment Rod that sits above (and perfectly perpendicular to) your putter face. You can use that to know exactly where your putter is aimed at all times. Again, proper feedback is going to help you train better aim and a squarer stroke. One way to know you can trust your stroke is to hit putts over varying lengths to measure your ability to control distance. I like putting a rod three feet past the hole and two more rods that meet the first road at each end. This creates a shape that looks a little like a roof top, so I call this the attic drill. If you can keep your putts rolling roughly the same pace and inside the “attic” formed by the rods, your pace is making good progress. Makeable length putts should finish about 18 inches past the hole and longer putts are rolling well if they stop 18 inches to three feet past the cup on your misses.
DEVAN BONEBRAKE Director of Instruction at Rolling Hills Country Club, Owner of Southern California Golf Academy Golf Digest “Best Young Teacher” Golf Digest “Best in State”
