12 Jan Relaxation vital to make a good putt

It is a great help to be able to simply turn your head while standing over a putt to see straight down the line to the hole. For this, your eyes should be directly over the ball. To find this position, take up your normal putting stance, hold a ball on the bridge of your nose and then drop it. Where the ball lands is where you should play the ball. It is essential to make sure your muscles are free from tension before you make any putt.

Relaxation promotes feel and touch — two vital qualities for making a good putt. If you struggle to achieve this, the following simple exercise might solve the problem. Before you address the ball, rest your putter against your leg and allow your arms to hang freely. Loosely shake your hands a couple of times to relieve any muscle tightness. When it comes to standing over any putt, you should feel nicely relaxed. You must try to extend through the ball while looking to reach maximum speed just after impact.

One of the main reasons we don’t perhaps hit the ball as far as we would like, is because we deliver the power at the wrong stage in the swing. In most cases, an average golfer generates the power too early at the start of the downswing and lunges at the ball with the upper body. However, by the time the club head reaches the ball, it is slowing down and therefore transmits very little power to that little white ball. On the contrary, try to achieve maximum swing speed just after impact. That way, you are certain that the club head will be accelerating as it passes through the hitting area.

Out of Bounds: The following is a typical remark from a caddie making aclear distinction between ‘we’ and ‘him’ — “We made birdie on the seventh and then the silly bugger made a double on the next from nowhere!”