Improve your stroke, strike and start line in putting with Sam Truman.

Most golfers are culprits of not practising their putting enough or at all. Therefore, I’m going to give you some quick and simple ways to assess and to improve your putting. You won’t need any fancy equipment or technology for these drills. You’ll be able to find most of the equipment in your golf bag or at home.

POSTURE For a lot of golfers, issues in their strokes tend to start from a poor start position. They struggle to move the putter in a functional way because the body is either miss-aligned to the target or is in a position/posture whereby they can’t move the upper chest and arms independently.

Here’s a drill which will help you find a nice balanced posture over the ball that will allow the putter to work freely in the stroke.

Balance beam drill – Place your foot evenly across the balance beam and roll from heel to toe to find the point where you can hover. Whilst standing up straight hold the putter in front of you so that your elbows rest against the side of your ribcage and the shaft is parallel to the floor. Softly flex forwards until the putter hits the floor. Try to stay in that balance point the whole way down.

ASSESS ROLL If we can’t get the golf ball rolling properly on the floor with our putter it becomes very difficult to control how far the ball travels. As golfers we can be very quick to criticise greens if they’re not in the best condition. The truth is that most golfers do not roll the ball effectively enough therefore when the green surface isn’t as good their putting performance drops dramatically.

The simple drill to assess how well

you roll it is to use your phone camera (ideally in slow motion mode). Place it directly ahead of you on the floor (pictured), just in front of the start line of the ball. Use a half and half ball (or colour half the ball in) and place a ruler on the floor. Position the ball so the line points vertically and your task is to get one full rotation of the ball by the end of the ruler.

STRIKE TEST If we can strike putts out the middle of the face we will be able to control pace more effectively and we will be able to start the ball on line more frequently. A simple drill to assess how you’re striking your putts is to attach two rubber bands to the putter. Place them evenly either side of the sweet spot with enough room for the ball to be able to strike the face. See how many putts in a row you can hit without bumping into one of the elastic bands.

STROKE LENGTH Players who typically control pace really well often have a really nice balanced matched up stroke. This would mean that the backstroke and through stroke lengths are very similar. This means that it’s more likely for them to be able to get the putter travelling at a nice consistent speed through impact. Imagine, if your putter doesn’t travel back very far but your follow through is really long, this can cause a lot of acceleration through the ball. Therefore, it may go unexpectedly too far. Here’s a drill to train how to match up your stroke length. Place three tees either side of the ball evenly spaced out (as pictured). Your job is to mirror the stroke to the three different stroke lengths represented by the tees. If your rhythm and tempo stay the same and the stroke length doesn’t change then the balls should finish in a nice tight grouping.

GATE DRILLS The simplest drill in concept but often the most useful (and sometimes the most stressful). Simply place a gate or a set of tees in front of the putter (12 inches ahead) and try to get the ball starting through the gate without hitting the sides. Try this on straight putts and also try it on breaking putts. It will quickly show you your tendency on whether you push or pull putts.

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