Over the years, I have always been a pretty decent putter.  I typically have a lot of confidence and putts out in the 6-10 foot range are very makeable for me.  At least I always believe they are, even though I don’t make them all.

Around seven years ago, I read Dave Pelz’s Putting Bible for the first time, and that kind of revolutionized my putting game.  I adopted the pure in-line square (PILS) putting stroke, and I learned a lot of things about why we miss putts, why we make putts, and how to learn how to make more putts.  I saw immediate improvement in my putting, even though I had never really struggled to begin with. I learned the value of simplicity and the importance of  a repeatable putting stroke.

Fast forward to this season, and as my ball striking began to improve from the last few years and I began to hit more greens in regulation, I started to notice that I was three-putting a lot more than I had in previous years.  Certainly, some of this was due to the fact that, because I was hitting greens, my first putts have been much longer than they would be when chipping on from a few yards off the green. I knew that I really needed to work on lag putting, just because I wasn’t used to putting from longer distances.

It was something more, though, because I started to miss 5-footers with more regularity. I could also feel that I wasn’t striking as many putts on the sweet spot of the putter face.  This, obviously, makes distance control very erratic.

After devoting some extra time to practice putting, I noticed that I wasn’t really improving much.  I wasn’t really making better contact, and I wasn’t making many more 5-footers.  I also started to notice that I would pull a putt left and then hit another one from the same spot and then push it right.  I had first suspected that my reads were bad, but at that point, I knew I was making compensations in my stroke.

I thought back to my reading of Dave Pelz’s Putting Bible, and recalled Pelz pointing out the importance of good training aids.  One of his that I’ve planned on getting for quite a while is called “Elk’s Key®”.  It’s an alignment aid he designed with Steve Elkington, hence “Elk’s Key” instead of “Pelz’s Key”.

As you can see to the right, it has a series of mirrors and lines to aid in keeping your eyes over the ball, to help with the the alignment of your putter face and just as importantly, the alignment of your shoulders.  It’s very important that the shoulders be square to the aim line when putting.  Otherwise, it’s impossible to swing squarely to the line in a pure pendulum motion, without making some sort of compensations.

That’s exactly what I was doing.

Shortly after Elk’s Key arrived, I went out to the driving range, set it up, and as soon as I looked down at the mirrors, I could tell right away that my eyes were well inside the aim line and my shoulders were significantly open.  If you look at the photo, notice the white line running directly above the shoulders.  When I set up to Elk’s Key, my left shoulder was well below the line meaning that my shoulders were aimed well left of my intended aim line.

Obviously, my next step was to properly align myself using Elk’s Key.  I had set it up on a relatively level spot to a hole about 10 feet away.  I took my stance, square to my intended aim line with the ball a couple of inches in front of center, as Pelz recommends.

The fun part happened as I went about squaring my shoulders to the line and getting my eyes over the ball properly.  I kid you not, it felt like a game of Twister.  With my eyes over the line, my shoulders square, and the putter face square to the aim line, it felt so very, very strange.

That’s a big sign that things were seriously amiss.  In golf, when doing the right thing feels wrong, it means you’ve been doing the wrong thing for way too long.  That rhyming axiom was unintentional, though appropriate.  Feel free to use it yourself. It has a ring to it.

I began to hit some putts from Elk’s Key, each time twisting and wobbling to find the right position like a newborn calf, trying to walk for the first time.

Immediately, I noticed something cool:  I was missing putts to the right, but they were all hitting the exact same spot and I was making very solid, repeatable contact. Fortunately, this was only happening because I hadn’t aligned Elk’s Key to account for enough break in the putt.

After aligning Elk’s Key again, I then lipped out the next putt.  It ringed around the hole and everything.  Wanting to make sure it wasn’t a problem with my stroke, I putted again and lipped out again.  Then, I did it a third and forth time.

I finally got to the point where I was aligned so perfectly, that my PILS stroke was allowed to function as intended, and I was putting over the same exact spot, time and time again.

After another adjustment to Elk’s Key, I started draining ten-footers like they were tap-ins.  I was only missing when I made errors with the length of the back swing, meaning the pace of the putt was off.  When I took the same length back swing every time, I made the putt just about every time.

Before I fixed my setup, I shudder to think what compensations I was making simply to get the ball to go anywhere near the hole.  Certainly, with my shoulders open, and attempting to hit a pure-pendulum motion originating from the shoulders, my putter would want to travel from outside the aim line to inside.  I would have had to make subconscious adjustments to the putter face during the stroke to have a chance to make anything.

Throughout that practice session, I alternated hitting three balls from Elk’s Key and then three from somewhere else around the same hole from about the same distance out.  I was amazed at the number of putts I was sinking from that distance.

Since then, I’ve felt a little more confident out on the course, but am not putting significantly better yet, because I haven’t had adequate time to work on grooving the correct setup.  When I stand over a putt, I still feel awkward, but I’m also hitting the ball more solidly, so I know I’m moving in the right direction.

Over the next couple of weeks, I hope to get a number of putting practice sessions in so I can get the setup properly grooved.  Given the way I’m hitting the ball, I estimate that I’m losing 5 strokes per round on the greens. Last time out, I had two three-putts and not a single one-putt, despite a number of realistic chances.

It became abundantly clear to me throughout this learning experience just how important setup is in putting.  It’s almost hard to believe given some of the odd, quirky, putting strokes that some of the greatest players in history have used. Keep in mind, though, that those are the best of the best.  The rest of us just three-putt way too much.

It’s difficult, if not impossible, to be a great putter without attaining as much consistency as possible in the putting stroke.  Many of the greats did it with impeccable timing and skill.  We mere mortals need to seek consistency through simplicity. The PILS stroke is the most simple, repeatable technique out there, in my mind, but it’s not going to do much good without a proper, consistent setup.

This also brings up the importance of training aids.  In his Putting Bible, Dave Pelz implores the reader to use training aids, if not his, then any that work.  Learning what we should do during a putt, or chip, or drive is easy.  Knowing that we are actually doing it is not so simple.  This is where training aids save the day.  In my case, Elk’s Key pointed me in the right direction.

The moral of the story is, proper setup is critical for good putting, and a good training aid will help you get there.

The Downhill Lie: A Hacker’s Return to a Ruinous Sport, by Carl Hiaasen, is a look at his return to the game of golf after having sworn it off in 1973.  After 32 years, and a couple of chance encounters, he ended up back on the course and, before long, was plunged headlong into golf again.

The Downhill Lie is a humorous account of the year and a half following Hiaasen’s return to golf, the “ruinous sport” that it is. From an innocent 9-holes with a friend that culminated with a big member-guest tournament, his return was filled with ups and downs and, frankly, more downs.

I won’t tell you whether he decided to stick with golf at the end of the journey, but I will say that he experienced some nice personal revelations.

The Good

• Hiaasen has a great writing style and is really funny.  There were several parts in the book that actually triggered laugh-out-loud moments for me.
• Players that have been playing golf long enough will personally identify with every success that Hiaasen enjoyed and every setback that he faced.  It’s got the feeling of a train wreck.  You’ll want to turn away because of the uncomfortable familiarity with your own game, but you won’t.
• I love the cover photo (above).

The Bad

• Hiaasen gave up golf for 32 years.  What’s wrong with this guy?

Conclusion

As hard as it is to understand why someone would give up golf cold for 32 years, it’s easy to understand his frustration.  Hiaasen’s humorous style is sprinkled with just enough bitterness, dejection, and despair to make his tale compelling.  We can all identify with parts of it.

I got a number of laughs from the book and tore through it pretty quickly. It was a fun read and I highly recommend it.

Sand play has been one of those things I haven’t been working on much this season because honestly, despite my struggles earlier, I just don’t hit in the sand that much.  It seems counter-intuitive until you realize that I was hitting the ball so poorly that I wasn’t even close enough to the greens to get in green-side bunkers.

Now, things are coming together and my misses are putting me in a lot more green-side and fairway bunkers.

I used to be a fairly decent sand player, but I noticed as I began to hit from more sand this year, that I had lost my way.  Suddenly, I was facing routine bunker shots that I was blasting way over the green because I was catching them almost cleanly.  I’d “adjust” and hit another one for practice and would skull it over the green.

Something was very wrong.

I like to use Dave Pelz’s recommended bunker shot technique from his Short Game Bible.  I’ve had a lot of success with that over the years and discussed it at length a while back.

It wasn’t until I saw a bunker play tip somewhere recommending a “quiet lower body” that I began to see where I was going wrong.  This year, I’ve been working extensively on weight transfer and have become more active in my hips and legs during the down swing.

Unfortunately, this kind of leg action is a killer for bunker shots.

Consider the setup for a moment: set up with the ball opposite the left heel with the left foot flared open (not perpendicular to the aim line), open the club face, and aim left of the target. We set up with the ball opposite the left heel because we have no intention of actually striking it.  Our object is to splash the sand a couple of inches behind the ball. The ball floats out on a cushion of sand.  Angels rejoice.

The setup should really be what dictates the outcome of the shot.  Why?  Think what happens when you drive your legs with an aggressive hip turn.  One of two things probably happens.

You will either:

1. Allow your upper-body to shift to the left before impact, meaning the bottom of your swing arc moves left, as well.  Instead of hitting two inches behind the ball, you’ll hit much closer, and possibly even make flush contact with the ball – exactly the thing you don’t want to do. Or,
2. Tilt more to the right, as you might with a driver, where you’re trying to keep your head behind the ball and hit it with a slightly ascending blow.  This has the effect of moving your sternum to the right a little, and thus the low point of your swing moves right, as well.  From there, you can either hit it really fat, possibly not even getting it out of the bunker, or strike it on the upswing, skulling it across the green.

Those outcomes are really unacceptable for consistent bunker play.

Once I realized I was driving to the left and was letting my upper body move left (and then doing the opposite when I tried to avoid that), it was a simple matter to fix.  I did nothing more than to take the drive out of my legs and make them more quiet.  “Passive” might be a description that’s easier to understand.

I want the feeling of my legs being more passive during the swing, like my upper body is doing most of the work, especially my arms.  I like to feel like my lower body is acting more like it does during a putt or chip than what it does for, say, a driver.  Of course, my legs will be a little more active than during a putt where they are still, but it’s the imagery I go with to make it clear in my mind that I want to keep the low point of my swing in the same spot during shots from the sand and not drive my legs to the left.

The problem, really, is not that I was trying to add power to my sand swing by driving my legs.  It was a mental compensation resulting from playing the ball opposite my left heel with a sand wedge in my hands.  Try that from the turf and you had better drive your weight left or you’re going to skull or top the ball every time because it will be well left of the low point of the swing.

The key is to realize that we’re striving to hit a couple of inches behind the ball and to trust that will happen with the proper set up without subconsciously driving the lower body through the ball.

Part of the equation is consistent setup and key to that is consistent ball position.  Once you get the feeling of keeping your lower body passive and stable in the sand, learn where your natural point of entry into the sand is, and play the ball a couple of inches forward of that.

I’ll be adding more sand work to my normal practice routine to make sure I groove these things.  Keep your lower body passive and groove a consistent setup and I know you’ll improve your ability to play from the sand just like I did.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a progress update.

I’ve had some kind of muscle inflammation below and around the back of my hip, toward my backside.  It all started over a month ago when, during a lesson, my pro had me make a change in my stance.  Previously, I would address the ball with my left foot flared slightly toward the target, maybe 20-30 degrees.  He thought (and I agree) that it was keeping me from getting as much hip turn as I needed on the back swing, and then was making the hips turn a little too far too quickly during the down swing.

When I changed that foot position, my ball striking got a little better right away.  Unfortunately, very soon after doing that, I started to get that muscle soreness.  Undoubtedly, the muscles in that area of my body were not ready for the stretching they would get with my foot more square during the swing.

It got to the point where I took off a couple of weeks to let it heal, and when I came back, it was still causing soreness.  I’ve been working on stretching out that area, and have also reduced the number of practice balls I’m hitting.  Instead of hitting 200-300 in a session, I keep it down to 100 or less.  This has actually let me play and practice with the discomfort and it seems to actually be lessening as time goes on.

Beyond that, my game is starting to click right now, with the exception of putting, which has taken a step backward.  Last time out, I carded a 42 that included 4 (!) three-putts.  That’s off the charts for me.  Putting has been the strongest part of my game for a while. I’m not too worried, though.  Some time on the practice green will iron that out.  Then I’ll be getting down into the 30’s.  That’s a place I haven’t been in a few years.

It hit 7 greens in regulation during that round, which is a stat that has been completely turning around for me.  I’m giving myself a chance to score, but the putter just isn’t doing it right now.

Earlier in the year, I was working on my takeaway, and I think I’ve gotten that to a good place.  My normal club distances have returned and I’m hitting the ball very solidly.

One thing that has started to return that I’ve been without for the last two years is the ability to really make shots.  My natural shot has been somewhat of a draw recently, but I’m finally able to start to produce fades on command again. I’m also hitting other types of shots, as well, high and low, for instance.

It has completely changed my game.  For much of the last two years, being on the course has been about trying to keep the ball on the same hole and out of trouble.  Now, it’s about position.  It’s about hitting shots that make sense, and not just about advancing the ball.  I’m more able to play the game like a chess match.  Course management matters again.

Since the hip/leg pain started, I hadn’t played much for about a month, though I was still practicing.  Now I’m back at it, and I easily dropped 4-5 strokes off my average 9-hole score, and that’s with a complete meltdown of my putting ability.

I had an eagle opportunity the other night, after getting on with a 5-iron to a narrow (front to back) green from a little over 200 yards.  I had about 12 feet for eagle and missed it, but got the tap-in birdie.  This is the first time in two years that playing a hole like that has been within the realm of possibility for me.

The plan for the short term is just to try and sharpen my putting to eliminate those 3-putts.  Part of that comes from the fact that I’m hitting a lot more greens in regulation, and am faced with long first putts sometimes, but I’m also being faced with birdie putts that I could be making, as well.  Lag putting is obviously off, but so is getting those ten-footers to drop sometimes, like I normally do.

Beyond that, it’s just about time for another lesson.  I’ve already discussed the idea with my pro of doing a playing lesson, so we can really start to identify parts of my game that need the most attention, and put the effort there.  That reminds me – I’ve been meaning to update the stats page, and will do that soon.  I’ve been keeping track, but haven’t had a lot of rounds in the last month, with the muscle thing going on. It’s a start, though, and I’ll keep adding more as the summer progresses.

I had a chance to attend the final round of the 2009 AT&T National at Congressional Country Club yesterday. My brother won us a pair of tickets in a contest at Waggle Room and thankfully, invited me to go.

Given my goals and interests, attending a PGA Tour event is an awesome day for me.  I’m a big fan, but being a student of the game, I can’t help but switch into sponge mode and take in everything I can learn about how golf is played at the highest levels.

I thought I’d share some of the random things I learned and experienced.

Tiger is Amazing

OK, you knew that.  But, I promise you, you can’t fully appreciate how he hits a ball until you see it in person.  Preferably, do it from a position like this:

I wish I could say that Tiger and I are good pals now, but alas, he still has no idea who I am.

My brother and I staked out this position on the 18th tee for about ten groups.  We saw a lot of big names come through, but when Tiger Woods got there, the atmosphere was different. It helped that he was about to win the tournament, but it’s always like that with him. When this shot was taken, Anthony Kim was in the process of drilling a spectator. Too bad he didn’t hang on for the win, but he’s got a lot of potential and a terrific golf swing.

Incidentally, note to the Tour: the marshal there on the right, whose name I regrettably neglected to get, was awesome.  He was kind enough to chat with my brother and I in the long breaks between groups arriving at the tee.  It was great to learn a little about what being a marshal is like and he was just a generally good guy. Not to mention, he was all business when it was showtime.

He also shared a little tidbit of tournament trivia:  on the way to the course during the tournament, Ryan Moore was stuck in traffic and had to abandon his courtesy car and run a mile to the course.  He had time to hit 5 balls on the range and then had to tee off.  Yet, somehow, he was only a few groups from the final pairing on Sunday.  Amazing.

Bad Breaks Aren’t Reserved for Amateurs

It’s easy to think that golfers at that level don’t face the same kind of adversity on the course that we do.

We staked out a spot near the 6th green for a couple of hours and saw maybe the last dozen pairings  pass through.  Of those, at least four players hit into the pond by the green.  It’s quite a long hole, coming in at 518 yards, but the drive is down hill to a fast fairway and the players didn’t have all that long second shots.  Most were under 200 yards.

Jim Furyk is the one that really stands out.  He narrowly missed getting on the green by maybe a yard, but ended up in the water.  He dropped back a ways, maybe 100 yards or so to give him a perfect distance for whichever wedge he hit.  He hit up on the green a little beyond the pin and the ball zipped back right by the pin and into the water again.  We didn’t have a good view, but it looked like it could have passed right over the edge of the hole.

He carded a triple-bogey there and went on to finish +2 for the day.  If he could have gotten a par there, that would have put him at -1 for the day and tied for 3rd in the overall standings.  How many of us could have hung in that well after blowing up like that on the 6th, especially when the second shot into the green seemed perfect, but had just a bit much spin on it?  The difference between us and them is that they recover better from adversity.

Avoiding Adversity Altogether

Not only do tour pros get over bad scores better than we do, but they have a knack for avoiding them in the first place.  From that same vantage point on the 6th hole, we saw Anthony Kim hook his drive into the woods on the left.  It’s already a tough enough hole without doing that.

Instead of letting the situation get out of hand by attempting a miracle, he laid up down the fairway to a desired distance, stuffed a wedge, and drained the putt for an amazing par save. It might seem like it on TV, but pros don’t go tee->fairway->green all the time.  Their recovery skills are razor sharp, though, letting them mend bad mistakes by playing on other strengths.

The Spin on Spin

Sometimes I wonder why I don’t spin the ball like the pros do.  After watching Tiger tee off on 18, we started to head to the shuttle because the green was a mob scene, we knew he was a lock to win, and we were facing a long drive home. On the way out, we cut back across the other course at Congressional and eventually back across the 6th hole where we sat earlier for a couple of hours.

By then, the ropes were gone so we walked up the fairway a bit and I couldn’t help noticing how tight and firm it was.

It’s no wonder they spin the ball like that!  It’s like hitting off a range mat!  There was an intermediate cut of rough around the fairway that was about the height of the fairways at my home course.  That also explains why sometimes I feel like I crush a drive but it ends up going 290.  On a fairway like that, I bet I’d get at least 20+ more yards of roll!

Feel that Tempo

Sometimes it doesn’t seem like it, but the tempo of a tour pro’s swing is an amazing thing.  Jim McLean has used the phrase “effortless power versus powerless effort” in the past, and watching these guys, you see effortless power.

I really paid attention to the rhythm that the pros possessed as they hit their drives from my spot on the 18th tee.  Almost none of them looked like they were trying to put “oomph” into the ball. I brought that imagery home with me and as I practiced and played this evening, I really tried to get a sense of that and started hitting the ball much better.

Tempo is something that I’ve been working on for a while.  I have pretty good tempo, but my tendency is to hit a few good shots and then adrenaline kicks in and I crank it up a notch and then everything gets thrown off.  Tonight, I really tried to avoid that and am very, very pleased with the results. I’m going to really put a lot of effort into that area as the season goes on.

One Swing Does NOT Fit All

I’ve known this forever, but it’s interesting to observe in action that there is no cookie-cutter swing at the highest level.  Every player’s swing is distinct.  Some look more “textbook” but many have various idiosyncrasies. The tempo varies, the setup varies.

I’ve heard it said that most players at that level look similar at impact.  Certainly, though, they have an infinite combination of ways to get there.  That should be a lesson to us all that golf is not about mimicking a specific swing, it’s about making shots.  Certainly we want to work out any flaws we may have that cause problems.  But there’s no reason to think there’s one “proper” way for your swing to look.

Attitudes are Like As- … Uh, Nevermind

It’s interesting to see the emotional demeanor of each player as he goes about his job.  Tiger is famous for his determined focus.  In general, you might think that all tour pros are like that, but the working attitudes of pros are as varied as their swings.

Being there gives a much different picture of what happens between shots.  When the TV broadcast skips around from shot to shot to shot, life goes on.  Different pairings have a different rapport with each other.  Some were kind of in their own little worlds.  Some were just chatting away like old pals.  Some horsed around with each other, keeping the mood light.

It was eye-opening to see that you don’t have to exhibit an icy stare to succeed at a high level.  Even Tiger could be seen chatting with David Feherty, Anthony Kim, and keeping it generally light in between shots.  I’m not saying he’s Lee Trevino out there, but he’s doesn’t always walk around looking like he wants to rip out the hearts out of his competition.  He’s serious, but not a machine, even if he happens to play like one.

The Tough Test of a Tour Course

Maybe it’s just me, but while Congressional is a beautiful course, it seems like it would be easier to play than my own home course.  The place is perfectly manicured, the fairways were really wide, and the rough wasn’t that bad most places (except maybe right around the greens), compared to my course, anyway.

I’m not saying I’d  be transformed to a scratch player on a course like that, but I’d like to see how I could do on a similar layout.  It might take me a bit to get used to the speed of the greens, but I bet I could outscore my home course where many of the holes are narrow and ringed with trouble on both sides and where the rough borders on ludicrous.

Then again, maybe not.

Valuable Learning Experience

If you’re a student of the game and have never been to a PGA Tour event, I think you’re missing out on a great learning experience.  Even if you’re not much of a fan, there’s so much that can be learned by watching the best players in the world play the game.

I feel like I learn something every time I go out.  This was only my third event, and was the first time I was there on a Sunday.  The atmosphere is a little different on Sunday, especially since it was a Tiger event and one which he went on to win.

If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend getting out there and watching an event.  You won’t regret it.