Firm Foundations in Putting

Firm Foundations in Putting

One of the most common tips heard around golf is “keep your head still”. I have said previously that in the full swing that this thought can be detrimental to the use of momentum and power that should be one of our aims in the full swing. However when it comes to the putting stroke its one thought that can be very useful. In putting the head movement can be detrimental for two reasons. If we are simply moving the head so we can see then sometimes this movement affects the shoulder and chest alignment resulting in our stroke and putter head coming off line. The other reason the head moves is because there is already excessive body movement in the stroke and so naturally the head movement is just a consequence of this constant re-positioning. One of the reasons this can happen is poor stability in the lower body.

Although many golfers will think about the head, far less will focus on lower body stability. The lower body plays a key role in the full swing in the creation and use of power but in our putting stroke it needs to take on a different role – it needs to give the stroke a firm foundation.

Perhaps a way to visualise this is imagine you have a beach ball stuck between your legs. When you make your stroke focus on the beach ball not moving at all. This will require you keep your feet and legs really solid and not move around your hips and backside muscles. It may also be useful to focus on the fulcrum (definition of a fulcrum is a pivot point around which levers turn) or centre point of your stroke. This point should not move around if your foundations to your stroke are really solid.

By squeezing the beach ball between the legs it will activate the glute muscles which play a big part in stabilizing the body.

Share this Post:
Posted by

Related Posts: