JULY TIP

Struggling to hole those nasty 3 foot putts? Most people answer yes emphatically! The good news is that we have a couple of small tips that may help..

First things first lets have a look at the task and compare the relative skill required? You stood on the tee with a club 44 inches long with only 10 degrees of loft.

You swung this weapon at around 90mph and hit a tiny ball 200 metres down the centre of a fairway. In fact you did it with ease and thought how much you loved the game as you watched the ball sail through the air, 10 minutes later you are standing over a shot that is making you hate the game.... the dreaded 3 foot putt!

I think you get the point, as far as motor skills go the tee shot is a lot harder, at least physically!

Why does the 3 foot putt give us so much grief then? In my opinion I would like to give you a few things to help with this, golf is made of up physical, technical, tactical and mental elements, in that order. So lets look at how they relate to putting.

Physical - It is easy to complete the task, my 2 year daughter can putt and her 66 year old grandfather can even do it! (not Jack the other one... Jack is still learning) so the physical requirements are not huge.

Technical - I want to give you one thought. When you are hitting these three foot putts I want you to not see the ball go in, I want you to hear it. To assist with this close your eye closest to the hole (left eye for right handers)

Tactical - When you are putting on the practice green I want you to practice to a tee, if you can hit a tee you will easily be able to hit the hole!

Mental - When you are standing over the putt ask your self are you thinking about holing the putt, or not missing! Firstly I want you to always think about holing putts. Then your job is to go through your routine and pick a target as small as a tee and listen to hear the ball drop.

Putting is easy, just listen for the ball, if you see it go in you have cheated! Let me know how you get on