How to Improve Chipping Touch and Feel for Distance

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

It may seem hard to improve your chipping touch and feel for distance control around the greens. Of course, chipping touch in golf can be improved through practice. But there are important keys that you should understand before you go out there and start to practice your chipping.

 

Roll it as much as Possible

One of the most important basics in chipping is that you should try to roll the ball as much as possible on the greens instead of hitting it high to get the ball close to the pins. Next time you get the chance to practice your chipping, I want you to grab your golf ball with your right hand if you are right-handed player. And then, I want you to throw the ball with your right hand and try get it close to the pin.

 

You should try to throw it high in the air or try to roll the ball on the green. And I like you to find out which way is the best to get the ball close to the pin. In most cases, players would feel easier to roll the ball instead of throwing it high in the air to get the ball close to the pin. In chipping, you should do the same thing and try to roll it as much as possible. If there are lots of room between the edge of the green and the pin, instead of using your sand wedge, you should use irons with less loft like your 8 iron.

 

Use Your Right Hand to Improve Touch

In golf, you grip the club with both hands. But I think each hand has a differemt role when hitting shots or putting. When it comes to feel or touch, your dominant hand does the better job. So if you are right handed palyer, you might improve your chipping touch by focusing on your right hand.

 

When doing so, I like you to focus on your right index finger and your right thumb and hit the ball. These two finders are very good at improving your touch and feel for distance. If it's a short chipping shot, you can extend   your right index finger along the shaft and try to hit your chipping. It may feel strang at first, but this grip may improve your touch dramatically.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/short-game/chipping-touch.htm

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How to Grip a Putter: Types of Putter Grip

Unlike the regular grip for irons and woods, you will see more types of putting grip.

There are:

1. Reverse-overlap
2. Cross handed
3. Split-handed
4. The claw
5. The psycho
6. Palm facing
7. The pencil
8. Ten finger

You can use any of them that suit you. Pick a grip that will give you feel for the putter face. Today, I will talk to you about how to hold it with reverse-overlap grip. I will also give you some of the important keys to think about other types of grips as well.

Reverse-overlap

This grip is the most popular grip when putting. The difference between the overlap grip and the reverse-overlap grip are 3 things.

1. Left forefinger

With reverse-overlap grip, your left forefinger is laid accross the fingers of the right hand. Your right pinkie does not have overlap left fingers.

2. More in the fingers

Most of pros hold their putter more in the palms than in their fingers. Annika Sorenstam said she holds the grip so that it "runs diagonally through her left hand, between the heel and thumb pads, so that its butt end points up her left forearm." But Tiger Woods said that the middle handlle of the putter runs under the butt end of his left hand. This means that he holds little more in the fingers than most pros with reverse-overlap grip.

I like the way Tiger holds the putter because it will give you more feel if you hold it more in the fingers. The advantage of holding it more in the palms is that your putting stroke will be more stable. I don't say which type of grip is correct. Pick the one you are comfortable with. But in general, holding it more in the fingers is good for long putts. Gripping it more in the palms is good for short putts. So if you lack distance control with your putter, you might want to hold it more in the fingers for extra feel.

3. Flat part of the grip

When you look at the putter grips, there is a flat part on top of the grip. It is designed to rest your thumbs. With putting, not too much people talk about weak grip or hook grip because putting grips are designed with a flat part on top. But I personally think that there should be a strong grip for putting. In fact, I hold the putter with stronger grip than most golfers. My thumbs are rested little right of center on the putter grip. By changing it to stronger grip, I started to hold more putts.

But I don't recomend this to everyone. Some golfers do well with conventional type of grip. However, if you miss lots of putt to right or pull it left, you might want to try stronger grip.

Cross Handed Grip

With cross handed grip, your left hand will be lower than your right. This type of grip will limit extra wrist movement during the putting stroke. I think this grip is good for short putts. Some golfers do well with long putts as well. I tried this type of grip for a few months. But I stopped using this grip because I thought it didn't give me enough feel for the putter face. But it might work for you. If you don't like short putts, you might want to try cros handed grip.

Ten-Finger Grip

I personally like this grip. It gives me extra feel for the putter head and face. Feel is really important for putting. And I think it's better to hold it with all of your fingers for feel.

Don't Get Too Technical

When I started to get serious with golf, I read all the books and magazines about golf. I watched lots of videos about golf swing.  recorded all the golf tournaments. I also had a few teachers. By the funny thing is that I was putting much better without those knowledge. When I was teenager, I was good at putting. But with all those knowledge, I was worrying more about how to stroke the putter. But I fnally realized that the feel is more important than techniques. So whatever you do for putting, focus on your feel. When you choose putting grip, pick the one that will give you better feel for the putter face.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/short-game/how-to-grip-putter.htm

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Putting Grip: Extend Your Right Index Finger

There are many types of putting grip. I don't think there is one correct putting grip for every golfer. The important thing is to find the one that works best for you. Today, I would like to share the putting grip that works best for me among all the putting grips I tried during the last 20 years. But my putting grip might suit some players but might not work for others because every golfer is different. However, I find that my grip gives me more feel for that putt. I improved my distance control and started holding more putts than ever.

 

Like Holding the Kitchen Knife?

I was wondering how could I putt with more feel. And I thought it's important to use more of my right hand for more feel. So I started to think how I could take advantage of my right hand for putting and thought about using the kitchen knife.

 

My wife cooks for me, so I don't use the kitchen knife so often. But on her birthday, I usually cook something for her. When I hold the kitchen knife, I extend my right index finger on the blunt edge of a knife.

 

So I thought I should try the same thing and extend my right index finger down the right side of the grip. When I putt with this grip, I try to focus on my right index finger. My right imdex finger mirrors the putter face. I started to hold more and more putts when I switched to this new grip. I started to hold more and more putts when I switched to this new grip. I was controlling the distance much better than ever.

 

It was like putting with my right index finger. My left hand grip is little strong. I use reverse-overlap or ten-finger grip for putting. I find that the ten-finger grip gives me more feel. But some players do well with reverse-overlap grip. So choose the one that works best for you. I really think that there should be strong grip for putting like a regular grip. The putter grip has a flat part that tells you to put both thumbs on it. The flat part of a putter grip is telling every player to hold the putter the same way. But that may be too weak for some players.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/short-game/putting-grip.htm

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How to Putt it Straight

For putting, you don't usually hook the ball or slice the ball on purpose. So the most important thing is to hit it straight. It sounds easy, but it's not true most amateurs. They struggle to hit it straight. So even ef they read green perfectly, there is good chance that they will miss it.  So how can I putt it straight? Let's start with short putts.

 

To practice short putts, you should draw a line from the ball to the hole. There is training equipment that let you do that. You can practice at home as well. You can buy putting mats or use the line on your carpet. At address, set your putter face perpendicular to the line from the ball to the hole. The angle of the putter face determines which may the ball goes. The angle of the putter face is more important than the path of your putter head.

 

So focus on your putter face angle. At impact, make sure your putter face faces the hole. Dave Pelz said that the face angle determines 83% of the starting line while path direction determines 17%. So he says square face is five times more important than swing path. Don't try to guide the ball to the hole. Don't even worry about where the ball goes. Just focus on your putter face. You will do much better this way.

 

Hold Your Finish

When Dave Palz was younger, he had a chance to play with Jack Nicklaus. Pelz had no chance against Nicklaus even on the greens. When Jack was putting, Pelz noticed that Jack was holding his finish. Jack was seeing the ball roll toward the hole while holding his finish. That's a good way to avoid peeking too soon.

 

Hit putts with Your Sand Wedge

It's a good drill to hit putts with your sand wedge. When you set up, hover your sand wedge above the ground and hit the ball with the leading edge of the club. It's hard to hit it straight with leading edge of the sand wedge. You have to focus on the angle of leading edge when you hit it. When you switch your sand wedge with a putter, focus on the face angle of the putter.

 

The Secret to Rolling it Straight

The research was done to find out how pros were putting. Among the results they found, it was interesting to see that the pros were adding 1.7 degree to the loft at impact. This means that they are hitting the ball slightly past the lowest point of the swing. If you hit down on the ball when putting, the ball tends to bounce off the line.

 

But if you hit it slightly on the upswing, your ball has a good chance to stay on the line. Some pros hit it slightly on the downswing, but they seem to use putters with more loft than normal.

 

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

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The 6 Keys and Drills to Hitting Short Putts

What is the most important thing in short putts? If you are confident about short putts, you are going to score better. On the fairway, you don't feel like you need to hit it close to the pin because you can putt well. So short putts are important if you want to score better. But most of the amateurs don't do so well with short putts.

 

Commitment is the Key

Brad Faxon was known as being one of the best putter's on the PGA Tour. When he lines up a putt, he picks up the line. He said he trusts first instinct. Once he picks out the line, he commits to that line. After he sets up, he looks at the hole twice and hits it. The worst thing it to doubt your decision. Once you start wondering in your mind, you will likely to miss a putt. Notice that Brad is more focused on the process than the putting stroke or technique.

 

Do Not Look Up

Looking up to see the ball is the common mistake among amateurs and even pros. Payne Stewart who won 3 majors had smae kind of problem when he was playing in the US Open in 1999. On the last day of the tournament, he was making sure he doesn't look up during the putting stroke. He won the US Open for the second time that day.

 

Phil Mickelson's Key to Short Putts

Phil Mickelson said that a square face is much more important than a good path. You can have a perfect path or stroke but miss a putt if the face is not square. On the other hand, even if  your swing path is little off, you can still make the putt if your face is square to the target. So try to focus more on the putter face than stroke or swing path.

 

Accelerate through Impact

Golfers who don't do well on short outts have a few things in common. One of those things is the speed of the putter head through impact. They tend to accelerate clubhead through impact area. You want your clubhead to accelerate through impact, instead.

 

To accelerate your clubhead, make sure your back stroke is shorter than your follow through. On short putts, Phil Micklelson makes sure that his putter head accelerates through impact. To accomplish that, he tries to make a bigger follow through than his backswing. He said that the stroke should break down as 25% back and 75% through, through it varies slightly depending on the length of the putt.

 

Phil Mickelson's Drill for Short Putts

On one reason, Mickelson made 542 out of 544 putts from3 feet. That's almost 100%. But 15 handicapper only mkaes 74% from 3 feet. So average players have lots of rooms for improvement on short putts. The drill Mickelson uses is to make 100 putts in a row from 3 feet. He puts the ball around the hole from 3 feet and tries to make 10 in a row. He does this drill 10 times. Amateurs don't have to make 100 in a row. But you might want to try to sink 10 balls in a row with this drill. After practicing with this drill, you'll be more confident with short putts on the course.

 

No Backswing Drill

Another good drill is to hit putts without taking backswing at all. Here is how you do it. First, set up to the ball. Place your putter behind the ball. Now, without backswing, try to push the ball toward the cup. You can hit putts like this from 3 feet. Try to make 10 in a row. This drill will teach you how you can hit it straight constantly.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/short-game/drill-to-short-putts.htm

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The 6 Keys and Drills to Hitting Long Putts

The biggest difference between high handicappers and low handicappers in putting is a long putt. So it you were to improve your score, you need to work on your long putts. On long putts, distance control is more impotant than hitting it on an intended line.

 

But  most players struggle with distance control. Here is a good drill to gain for distance.

1. Set up to hut long putts

2. Hit putts with your eyes looking at the hole during the swing

 

When you throw something into trash box, you look at the trash box when throwing something to it. But with putting, you keep your eyes on the ball and not look at the hole during the swing. That's because you are using putter instead of throwing it with your hand.

 

But not being able to look at the target might force you to focus on your swing (stroke) or line of a putt. To regain feeling of distance, you should keep looking at the hole during the practice swing. I usually use this drill before I tee off. It gives me good sense of distance control on the day.

 

Feel the Weight of Putter Head

This is one of the most important keys to good distance control. If you grip it too tightly, you should grip it softly with your hands. This will let you feel  the weight of putter head. None of good putters hold on to the grip too tightly.

 

Holding the Grip too much in the palms

For putting, most teachers will tell you to hold your putter more in the palms of your hands. This will limit the movement of your wrists and make the swing more consistent. But if you feel like you can't lag it with this grip try to hold it more in the fingers of your hands for more feel. Also, you might want to try ten-finger grip. Ten finger grip will give you extra feel. Some golfers might do well with overlapping grip for putting as well. Any grip is fine. But make sure you can feel the putter head and putter face with your grip.

 

The Drill for Distance Control

Another good drill for distance control is to putt with your eyes closed. This is simple but very effective drill. Just close your eyes and putt it. Before looking to see the ball, try to guess how far the ball went.

 

Control Distance with Your Right Hand?

Tiger Woods said he controls distance with his right hand. So he often hit putts with his right hand on practice. I once saw his do this drill on the practice green. I saw him make lots of putts with his right only from more than 15 feet or so.

 

Take Advantage of Practice Swing

When putting, most of golfers take practice swings or strokes before putting. To take advantage of your practice swings, hit your putt within 8 seconds after the practice swing. If you take more than 8 seconds, you will lose the feel that you gained with your practice swing. Especially for long putts, practice swing not only serves as a rehearsal but also gives you the sense of distance. But if  you take too much time, you'll start to lose what you gained  from practice stroke.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/short-game/drill-to-long-putts.htm

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How to Hit Breaking Putts

When hitting breaking putts, you need to do the following.

1. Pick a point to aim and set your putter face square to that aim

2. Align your body to your aim line

3. For right-to-left putt, try to roll it in on the right side of the hole

4. For left-to-right, try to roll it in on the left side of the hole

 

Speed of the Putt

The speed of the putt can change the line of a breaking putt. If the ball has more speed, the putt won't break as much. If the ball has less speed, the putt will break more. So try to keep that in mind when hitting breaking putts.

 

Aim at a Spot?

Lots of teachers and pros tell you to pick a spot and try to hit it as if it were straight putt. For right-to-left putt, you may pick a point  2 ball-length right of the hole and putt to that spot.  Some golfers do really well with this method. But for me, I prefer to imagine the whole line of putt and try to roll it on that curving line. You can use either method you want.

 

Advanced Technique

This technique is for advanced players. Some teachers who coach top players on PGA Tour sometimes suggest the technique below. For right-to-left putt, position your ball 1 length right from your normal position. For right-to-left putt, players often miss it to the left of the hole.  On the other hand, for left-to-right putt, players usually miss it to the right of the hole.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/short-game/breaking-putts.htm

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Hands Position with Putting

Ben Crenshaw is known as being one of the best putters of all time. He had the smooth putting stroke. At address. he puts his hand a little forward. This means that his hands are slightly ahead of the ball at address.

 

At impact, he wanted his hands to beat the clubhead to the ball. Tom Watson wasn't putting well when he was a kid. But after he positioned his hands ahead of the ball at address, he started to putt well. So make sure your hands are little bit ahead of the ball at address.

 

The Wrong Way to Set Your Hands

When I tell players that the hands should be a bit forward of the ball. They try to move their hand a bit forward. This is wrong. If you grip the club and move it forward, your putter face will open a bit. This won't help you at all.

 

To position your hands correctly, you need to grip the putter this way.

1. Hold your putter with one hand

2. Position the handle of the putter a bit forward of the ball

3. Then, grip the putter

 

This will position your hands correctly.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/short-game/putting-hands-position.htm

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Cross Handed (Left-Hand Low)Grip

There are players who use cross handed grip when putting. The advantages of this grip are:

 

1. You can restrict extra movement of your wrists

2. It lets you make more consistent stroke on short putts

 

Because you put your left hand low, lots of teachers will say it makes it easier to line up to a putt. But the biggest advantage is that it restricts any excess hand movement during the stroke.

 

Annika Sorenstam used to use both reverse-overlap and cross handed grip. In fact, she won one major each way in 2003. 

 

Short Putt and Long Putt

Annika said that cross handed grip was better suited for hitting short putts. She felt she did better with left-hand low for short putts.

 

But reverse-overlap grip gave her more feel. She said she did better on breaking putts and lag putting with reverse-overlap grip.

 

So she went back and forth with these two grips throughout her career. Arnold Palmer said if he were to start all over again, he would use left hand low grip. Fred Couples uses left hand low grip and makes lots of putts. So you might want to try cross handed grip once in a while.

 

In my opinion, if you are a feel player, you'll do well with reverse-overlap or ten finger grip. If you have too much hand action and miss lots of short putts, you might want to try cross handed grip.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/short-game/cross-handed-grip.htm

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Putt it with Your Dominant Eye

Some teachers will say you can putt better with your dominant eye.

 

You have to find your dominant eye. Make a circle with your hand and look through the circle. Close your rigt eye. If the view changes, right eye is your dominant eye. If the view doesn't change, left eye is your dominant eye.

 

If you find out that your dominant eye is your right, hold the ball right under the dominant eye and drop it. The spot that ball hit on the ground should be your ball position.

 

Pia Nilsson who was Annika Sorenstam's coach said you can see the line better using dominant eye like above.

 

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

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How to Putt on Fast Greens

Tiger Woods is very good at putting on fast greens. Today, let's see how the putts on those greens. Tiger said that they key to putting well on fast greens is grip pressure.

 

On fats greens, he holds the grip lighter and keeps that grip pressure throughout the swing. He said amateurs holt it too tightly or tighten the grip pressure during the swing.

 

Tiger changes his grip pressure depending on the green. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being tightest, his grip is around 5 on regular greens. But on fast greens, his grip is no more than 3.

 

Most pros' grip is around 3 on regular greens. So Tiger holds it little tighter than normal. If you hold it lighter, it will make it easier to feel the weight of the putter head. The light grip pressure is also good for distance control.

 

If you struggle with long putts, try lighter grip pressure.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/short-game/how-to-putt-fast-green.htm

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Lorena Ochoa's 3 Putting Drills

Lorena Ochoa once said is the game of making birdies. That just shows you how confident she is with putting.

 

Here are 3 putting drill that she uses.

 

1. Stop moving your head

Ask someone to hold your head while you hit your putt. Try to look at the spot below the ball for 2 seconds after hitting the ball.

 

2. Close your eyes

Set up to the ball. Just before you start your backswing, close your eyes and hit the putt. She said by hitting putts with your eyes closed, you will learn distance control.

 

You can also feel the movement of the arms during the stroke. She said the slower the arms move during the putt, the more consistent your putt will be,

 

3. Holding a ball between your knees

Set up to the ball. Now, try to hold basketball, voleyball or something like that between your knees. This will help you limit the lower body movement.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/short-game/lorena-ochoa-putting-drill.htm

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How to Overcome the Yips with Putting

According to the research done by the Mayo Clinic, 33% to 48% of all serious golfers have experienced the yips. Lots ot top players also fought the yips including Johnny Miller, Bernhard Langer, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead.

 

Golfers fighting with the yips in putting are known to have the certain movement in common during the putting stroke. Most of them have rapid eye movement during the putting stroke. This extra movement of the eyeball will restrict you from focusing on the stroke, putter face or other important aspects of putting.

 

To overcome this problem, just close your eyes and hit putts from short distance. You can practice long putts with your eyes close as well. This is the drill that pros use. I think it will help you, too. When you close your eyes, you will start to feel the weight of the putter head, the path of your stroke and more.

 

When putting on the course, try to focus on the things you felt with eyes-closed drill. Focus more on the process than the result. Don't worry. You will do just fine.

 

Focus on Your Putter Face

To beat your yips especially with short putts, you need to focus on your putter face instead of swing path or stroke itself. The face angle determines the direction of the putt. Don't worry about swing path for now and just concentrate on your face angle.

 

Don't even worry about where the ball will go. Just make sure your putter face is perpendicular to the target line at impact. If you find it hard to focus on your face angle. Set up to hit a putt. But before putting it, turn your putter head 90 degrees toward target so that the toe will point directly at the target.

 

Hit puts using the toe of the putter head. Don't use the face. Just focus on rolling the ball straight using the toe of the putter head. This drill was used by Annika Sorenstam. Of course, it's hard to roll it straight using the toe of the clubhead. But this drill will help you focus more on your putter face.

 

Change Your Thinking Pattern

Golfers with the yips have the same kind of thinking pattern. When they face the short putt, they start to thinl "I have to make this." or "I might miss this putt like previous time." As they set up to hit the putt, their muscles become tight. This will prevent them to take a smooth putting stroke. If  you putt like that making the short putt becomes very hard. To overcome the yips, youneed to get out of your thinking pattern.

 

The fastest way to change your thinking pattern is to change your grip. Try a different putting grip. you can try cross-handed grip, ten-finger grip or overlap grip. Any grip is fine as long as you feel awkward when you hold your putter with your new grip.

 

It's important that you feel awkward with your new grip. When you set up to hit your putt, your usual thinking pattern creeps in. But with your new grip, you start to think "this feels really awkward." This will help you change your old thinking pattern.

 

I also suggest  you to use a belly putter. A belly putter will help you take a stable putting stroke and reduce any excess movement of your hands. I think it will work well with the yips as well.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/short-game/how-to-overcome-yips-with-putting.htm

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Putting Stroke and Face Rotation

Have you ever heard the advice "straight back and straight through?" I've seen and heard this advice many times. I think it's a good image to have. It should help you keep your face square through impact. But technically, it can't be done because of the way humans are built.

 

Natural Putting

When putting, you can go with straight back and through or rotational putting stroke. There is no correct answer to this. You should choose what works for you. With rotational putting stroke, putter face opens on the backstroke, squares at impact and closes on the follow through.

 

But some rotational putters have different stroke than the basic one like above. Tiger Woods once said that his stroke path is 1 degree in to out through impact when he is most consistent. So the correct path differs depending on the golfer. To practice the putting stroke, Tiger Woods putts with his right hand only. I remember seeing him putt with his right hand in practice. It almost makes me think that he can make more putts with his right hand only.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/short-game/putting-face-rotation.htm

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