Tiger Putting

I saw an interview with Tiger recently on his thoughts about putting (not his usual "putt to the picture" thing).

He stated that he feels his putting stroke is predominantly right handed.

Makes sense, doesn't it?

If you were to roll a ball with your hand, you'd use your dominant hand and be very good. Ever played lawn bowls? Same thing.

The advice about rocking your shoulders is a fallacy, it would seem, based on Woods' comment.

If he rolls the ball with his right hand, all he has to do is grip the putter in a way that allows his right palm to be facing the target. His shoulders moving is a natural reaction to putting with his right hand, not the other way around.

I'm gonna give it a go as soon as the wind stops blowing my ball off the practice green!

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Yoda: That is why you fail.

Funny that you mention this. Putting across the carpet, I grabbed my wifes LH putter (I'm LH) and started having fantastic feel and control.

I may have to put a LH putter into play this year.

If we follow the bowls analogy then why not putt in the same style as you would bowl the ball i.e. putting one handed and with your body (chest) facing the hole?

I'm sure that at some point in his career Sam Snead adopted this 'side-saddle' type of putting.

I have definately seen a clip of Snead putting facing the hole with a conventional putter with his feet either side of the target line. He did this until the rule change that stopped players straddling the target line when putting. Maybe he side-saddled after that. In any case, I think he reverted back to the recognised way after not too long.

It's certainly an interesting way to look at it.

This certainly gels with something my mate, the ex trainee pro, from my club told me a couple of weeks ago when we were talking about my putting.

He asked me to hit a couple of putts dominant (right for me) hand only and I found line was fine, though pace was erratic. Adding in the non dominant hand after a few putts, and focusing on hands rather than shoulders, saw me lag putting much better than ever I had.

Since then, those 2 3 putts last saturday aside, which I put down to the fact that I was thinking about winning and not holing the putts, I have putted quite well.

I take it one step further myself in that I now think of my days on the tennis court and images of me rolling tennis balls straight along the ground on target lines when returning balls to the other end when I was receiving serve.

One other thought, I'm now of the opinion that by focusing on the shoulders, you in some way hope to take the hands out of your mind when putting, hopefully then there will be no wrist break. For me, now focusing on the hands only, I find I'm more aware of them and I don't break my wrists at all and I'm much more able to control speed.

Cheers


PS... Come to think of it, doesn't one of our fellow forum members (Bill from memory, and all apologoes if I recall incorrectly) here putt "sidesaddle" to the target line, with a broomstick putter...??

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I understand the right hand being the dominant hand in the stroke, Greg Norman used to shake his left hand taking all the tension out before he put it on the putter, but where I get confused is the left hand low, which is the dominant hand? Or with the claw grip? Are these dominant left hand strokes? I don't use these styles but I've hearing to many things about taking the right hand out of the stroke, I know putting is more a feel thing but.

I heard I think it was david toms say the same thing. It was on the golf channel's playing lessons with the pros. He rolled a ball to the hole with his right hand and said now if I take that same feel of throwing the ball and use it in my putting stroke it'll go about the same distance. I tried it and it worked great. Very good for distance control on longer putts and a good way to calm yourself down and stop the jitters and bad thoughts of leaving it way short or hitting it way long.

Very good tip.

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Wood: Nike Sasquatch 3 Wood
Hybrid: Adams Idea Pro 3 I-Wood 20*
Irons: Nike CCI Forged 4-PW
Wedges: 52* Nike SV Tour, 56* Titleist Vokey Spin Milled, 60* Callaway X Forged
Putter: Nike Unitized Neo 34"

Makes sense to me too, i have been told to feel the left hand (lead hand) is the dominant one but Jack Nicklaus used his "piston action" and felt the right hand pushing the putter down the line...