Putting Technique Of A Legend

Surge has said that putting is a completely different game to the rest of golf and he is absolutely right.
My putting was doing very badly until I followed a tip of Terry Medley´s to align my putter with only my right hand, while standing at approx 45° to the aiming line so that I am actually able to see the target line all the way to the hole.  Then I step into a parallel left stance, place my left hand on the putter and bob´s your uncle !
This improved my short putting enormously.  Again, thank you Terry.

BUT THEN I purchased Surge´s offer of a set of videos by Jack Moore who carefully and in great detail outlined E. Harvie Ward´s secrets for success in putting, together with excellent input from Surge explaining the theory. 
E. Harvie Ward was one of America´s greatest putters (d. 2004 at age 78).
The set has a total of 12 Segments (12 videos) which provide a wealth of information on putting which I strongly recommend.
And BTW Terry´s right hand aiming line is right there in the videos ...!!!

I have now been following the method explained in Jack Moore´s videos and my partners (and also myself !!) can´t believe how my putting has improved from all over the green.
 
Thank you Surge for your daily videos which are a gem and for giving us the opportunity to improve our golf with guidance from experts in the different fields of expertise (E. Harvie Ward and Kenny Knox).

PMG and love every putt ... !!! 

How come my audio is so low on the video today.

Had you there for a minute.  Just thought I would beat the trolls to it.  Now they can take the rest of the night off.

!!!..... I mean :)

I am surprised one of them didn't say, but I only have nickles and quarters. That one track mind and tunnel vision can be a bear sometimes. We've all been guilty at one time or another.

I also wanted to say how much I appreciate your putting out these tapes. You are a real credit to the game. Your handsome son did some great playing in the last tournament. I know you must be very proud of him. I am always pulling for him.

Deep you are Terry. Fun you shall always have. Just watched Yoda on that same link. Inspired I was.

The tip to look ahead of the ball instead of at the ball is more effective than looking at the ball in order to keep your head still. For the most part, and certainly with the better player, it is not the desire to see the result but more that your eyes begin to track a moving object, first the putter head and then the ball. I played professional events for two years and never looked at the ball, only the hole. This is similar to what Anika did and is the most effective way to keep your head totally still. Of course, keeping your head still itself is not the holly grail. keeping the mass underneath it is the real key to success. 

Three things have made me a very good putter over the years. I dont care about your grip or stance. I dont care if your head is over the ball or inside the ball, behind or in front, as everyones body is put together differently. The following is the pre stroke/stroke routine.
1. Plumb the putt. This is not a perfect science as on many courses there is an overriding geographically feature that may influence the putt (especially valleys on mountain or elevated courses) but it is about 80% accurate which is about what you need to succeed. In plumbing, evaluating etc...figure out where maximum point of break is (I call it the APEX point of the putt), which is where most people would line up their putts. That is a huge mistake. To that point, from where the ball rests, is rarely ever a straight putt in and of itself. The knowledge of that point and the break from there to the cup is crucial though. More on that in a moment.2. Stand over the putt and hold the club above the ball and take a series of practice strokes aimed approx inside of that APEX point, all the while staring only at the hole. Each practice stroke should be simply honing in the distance requirement of your actual stroke. Do not look anywhere else but at the hole. Stare at it. After all, this is your target, not the ball. This part of the process should run between 5-10 seconds. Again, straight above the ball.3. When you set down now and ground behind the ball your body will be amazingly comfortable and in line with a point just inside of that APEX, which is vital. now simply place your speed stroke through the ball which will travel into the line from the APEX to the cup. The break from the APEX to the cup will hold your putt with a good degree of error. You will start to see putts as having a fairly large line into which you hit your putts (inside the APEX) making you far more comfortable with a larger margin of error. Your putts will be aggressive and you will make many more putts. Again, the stroke is through the ball. Do not ever think about "hitting" the ball. Its a stroke.4. If you are in a winter location, or even if not, one of the best activities to practice that will help your putting stroke immensely (stroking through the ball) is playing pool. You never hit the cue ball in pool, you stroke through it. A good pool stroke is like a good putting stroke. Stillness in the body, great tempo and hitting through the ball. 

The look on her sister's face, would have been the priceless part.

DJ's schedule Thurs-Sat.
Here's the entire Pro/Amature schedule for all to see;
http://www.attpbgolf.com/ATT-P...
edit: for some reason this link did not paste correctly. You can go to this link by first see the "Notable Celebrity pairings" link above left page and then scroll down to the comment by Golfergal and click on it there.
A fun FYI- DJ will be paired with pro Jim Furyk/Darius Ruker
Darius Ruker is the lead singer/guitarist from Hootie and the Blowfish.
Playing with Jim Furyk may get DJ's group a little more TV time.
Tiger Woods group also tees off at 10:01am PST on the same course- Spy Glass Hill which is rated the most difficult of the three courses. DJ's group tees off at #1 and Tiger's group on #10.
 
You'll notice that the # given after the amatures name is their given handicap.
Sure would love to be in Carmel this week to see all three courses.
We may get to see DJ a little more than usual as he is paired with Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers!! The above listing also gives the actual local tee times Pacific/west coast and the course they will play each day. Fun stuff.

BTW, did you all catch that e mail from Surge with Dave Seeman?

http://www.theswingsurgeon.com...
It's a quicky teaser of the personal online lessons will have available. Can't wait!

Here's the rest of that e mail for those who may not have recieved it;

http://theswingsurgeon.com/gol...

I agree Steve and without a doubt confidence is the variable that allows you to stroke the ball freely without concern for being short or long, too far left or right. What i have focused on over the years in showing people how to putt has been where i see the majority of the mistakes. Putts coming up short from hits at the ball vs. stroking through, and very little, if any, focus on the target, which at the end of the day, is the cup, and the line the putt will take to the cup. Visualizing is important in my routine as all of the practice strokes where i am staring at the cup include the feel of the stroke which sends the ball down the line (although i dont look at the line, i have found the brain gets it pretty damn well if you studied the putt walking up to the green,,,during the general bob etc). I admit this process is less line specific and far more emphasis is placed on slightly more pace to the putt. 

I didn't realize that I was being too casual in lining up the ring until I started to take a few steps back and look at where the ring was pointing.  I couldn't see it from just behind the ball.  I don't putt casually as you seem to think.  I do, now that I think of it, use a method I just learned--I don't pick a  spot in front of the ball.  I use the line formed by the ring and the center white line on my mallet putter.  I find that this physical line is much more useful than the virtual line to the spot.  I learned that I putt real lines much more successfully from my practices in putting chalk lines and flag pole shadows. 

Love the subject of putting and spend more time practicing putting than any other aspect of the game. I have been using the Hindsight putter for a couple of weeks now and really like it. It basically presets a forward press and has a curved roll face that is at 3 degrees regardless of where you put your shaft angle (within reason). The idea is that it will help you hit up on the ball. Same concept as the very advertised overspin putter. It does get it rolling end over end very smoothly and on line. I'm starting to dial in my distances now.
I have enjoyed reading the many putting tips and experiences from todays blog. I'm sure there will be more as putting is a popular subject second only to disscusions on driving and drivers. Though I feel we should discuss putting more often as there is a lot of ideas and good putters that chime in.
My putting is a work in progress but I like how I've been rolling the rock lately.
BTW I have learned alot from both putting video courses offered on this web site.

 That looks like it would be a really interesting foursome to follow: DJ, Aaron Rodgers, Jim Furyk, and Darius Rucker. Too bad they start on Spyglass, so we won't see any tracker information other than raw scores tomorrow.