Retief Goosen's Secret to Putting

Retief Goosen won U.S.  in 2001 and 2004. He has been known as a great putter who has a smooth putting stroke. Players with smooth putting stroke have the advantage on fast greens. That may be the reason whey he won the U.S. Open twice. One day, Jim Flick teacher of Jack Nicklaus, asked Retief Goosen if there is a secret to his smooth putting action. Retief Goosen showed Jim Flick his special putter that he practices with it. This putter had the normal putter head but also had a very whippy shaft.

 

If you take this putter back quickly, the sahft bends dramatically and makes  it very hard to hit the putt on your intended line. To hit the putt with this putter, you have to make a smooth putting stroke with a consistent pace back and through. Even if you don't have this kind of special putter, you can pretend your putter shaft is very flexible. This image will help you putt better.

 

The Clubface Angle is more Important than the Path

The clubface angle is much more important than the path of your clubhead when it comes to putting. You can have a wrong path but can still make the putt if the clubface angle is square. (There was a research done to prove this). So you have to pay attention to the clubface during the stroke. If you do this, your putting stroke naturally becomes slower because you can control your putter much better with slower stroke than a quick stroke. When you feel like you are missing lots of putts, try to slow down your stroke and pay more attention to the putter face.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/short-game/putt-goosen.htm