Since I began my comeback to the game this year, one thing I’ve noticed is that my putting stroke is very sloppy. I catch a lot of putts flush and a lot off center, but there’s not really a tendency one way or another.

My belief is that a good putting stroke involves a simple pendulum motion that originates at the shoulders. There should be no breakdown of the hands or any kind of motion in the body’s core or legs. The grip should be extremely light, but stable.

Though I practice a fair amount, I’ve not been able to groove a consistent stroke. It’s been improving some, but not to the degree that I’d like.

As I thought about it some on the putting green last night, I wondered if my basic stability didn’t have something to do with it. I’m working out a lot, but I’ve struggled with stability in the full swing because of my long layoff, and frankly it was never that great to begin with.

I started to experiment to see if I could improve things.

What I discovered was that when I consciously engaged my abdominal muscles, my consistency immediately improved. I felt more stable and stroked putts better. I won’t say that I’m “cured”, but it’s simply one improvement in what will prove to be a long string of them.

Now a few words of warning: tension is a killer in golf, in all the different swings. The last thing you want to do is tense up your body, especially your hands, arms, or shoulders. I simply contracted my abs (or sucked in the gut, if you prefer) and immediately felt a more stable core. That stability helped to even out my stroke, most likely by stopping a little bit of sway in my core that I wasn’t able to detect. You have to be able to find that contraction without introducing tension outside your core.

If you’re inconsistent with the putter, give it a try and see if it helps.

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