Improve your putting skills with Sam Truman

IMPROVE YOUR PUTTING SKILLS

How to improve your key putting skills in the comfort of your own home this winter with PGA Professional Sam Truman.

As the nights draw in and the weather becomes unpredictable, being able to still refine parts of your game over the winter becomes a tricky task. I’m going to give you some ways of working on your putting indoors during the winter months. I’ll be giving you tips to monitor how you stand to the ball to allow the putter to move freely and some drills to challenge some of your key skills in putting, start line and pace control.

POSTURE Being able to stand to the ball effectively in putting is often overlooked but should never be underestimated. Nailing a few key points will help the putter move more freely allowing you to produce a more repetitive and effective stroke.

We’re going to focus on three key check points: balance, head & neck position and forearm position.

BALANCE Creating a great balanced posture enables the top half of the body to softly fold over the ball and the arms can then hang and glide across the front of the ribcage. Using an alignment stick or blow up balance beam you can assess where you balance point is through your feet.

HEAD & NECK POSITION With the balance point allowing you to fold over the ball properly you can then set your head neck into a position which allows your top half to be isolated in its movement. Try to get the front of your face to feel as matched to the floor as possible. Often enabled by a slight tuck of the chin to your chest; this will allow your eye line to sit over the ball. You can also use a putting mirror to check and monitor this position.

FOREARM POSITION Now you have your body in a suitable position and your head position is fixed you can then get the putter and the arms into a place whereby they can move with freedom and consistency. Using the image below as a reference, try to get the putter shaft and forearms in line with the shaft and the butt of the club will be pointing at the bottom of your ribcage. The forearms should be level whereby if you had an alignment stick laid across them it would be pointing

in the same direction as your foot line. Try to rest the inside of your bicep gently across the front of your chest on both arms.

START LINE AND PACE CONTROL Using a carpet or putting mat indoors you can then refine two of the key skills for your putting. Use a simple gate drill with anything you have lying around the house. Place a gate 12-18 inches in front of the ball directly in line with the direction of play. Play around with different sizes of gate and aim to reduce the size of the gap over time.

Try to then get the ball going through the gate but get the ball to travel different distances. Use a simple ladder drill to see how many balls you can consecutively hit from back to front on your carpet or mat without going past the previous ball.

The combination of these posture checkpoints and drills will enrich your indoor putting practice over the winter months and will help you enter into the spring and summer months with a new more effective putting stroke.

Sam Truman is a PGA Professional based at The Surrey Golf Lab, Reigate Hill Golf Club and is regarded as one of the best young performance coaches in the region. Current roles include: • Performance Coach – Hugh Marr Golf • Surrey Boys (U12’s & U14’s) and Girls (U18’s) County Coach • Elite Academy Coach for

Whitgift School Under the tutorship of European Tour Coach Hugh Marr, Sam prides himself in providing the best holistic coaching experiences for his players. Sam works with all levels of golfers from the young aspiring junior all the way up to European tour professionals. Sam is able to provide clients with access to the most up to date golf coaching technology at one of the best practice facilities in the UK Clients are exposed to Trackman club and ball tracking and also the SAM Putt Lab Analysis System in the new indoor putting studio. For more information follow Sam on: @SamTrumanGolf @SamTrumanGolf E: SamTrumanGolf@gmail.com