Putting: Stroke Up!

Putting is sometimes called the game within the game. Because it is all about touch and feel and not strength, as in hitting long drives, it is the part of the game that everyone should be able to do and do it well. Unfortunately, that is not the case for many players, from tour professionals to high handicappers and every level of golfer in between. In fact, many golfers has been brought to their knees and near insanity by missing one too many putts. Let'€™s look at the aspect of what I think is the best way to stroke the ball for getting the optimal roll on the ball that will make more putts.

Jack, one of my students, is one of the best putters I have ever seen. I played with him after lessons a number of times and was amazed at how good a putter he was — EVERY time we played. He could '€œroll the rock'€ like a wizard, rolling long lag putts up to gimmies, and making more putts in the 5 to 15 foot range that defied the odds and his misses scared the hole. After about five times playing with him I couldn'€™t help myself and had to ask him his secret. I had to ask him at least 10 times before he said '€“ it was something between a statement and question '€“ '€œYou'€™re serious. You really want to know?'€ I answered that I was serious as can be and my putting, or lack of it certainly, was proof that I wanted to know. With that hurdle completed, Jack gave me the answer. Top spin/over spin! You have to make the forward stroke go up. Just like the '€œswing up'€ in the PPGS.

Jack went on to say that was the key. When you have over spin, the ball rolls truer, holds the line better and rolls out better, especially on the long lag putts. And, best of all, with top/over spin, that means the ball is rolling and tumbling end over end downward in its forward movement. What this means is it helps and increases the odds that putts on the lip will tumble downward into the cup rather than spin off the lip.

Jack took me to the putting green and had me use range balls with the stripe because he wanted to show me a pure end over/top spin putt by rolling a putt hitting the stripe. This is done by placing the stripe on the ball set as a vertical equator to the green. When hit with a stroke that produces top/over spin the stripe will roll perfectly all the way, with the stripe staying vertical rolling end over end. We all know what this is like from seeing Tiger'€™s infamous putt on the 72nd hole of the 2008 US Open. We have all seen that putt probably a thousand times. You just watch and can see his vertical line on his ball roll perfectly true, staying vertical, despite hitting all those bounces, and drop in off the right lip that tied him with Rocco Mediate and got him into the playoff, which Tiger won the next day.

The stroke key is to make sure you catch the ball below the equator and that the putter is rising or swinging up in the forward swing, just like the PPGS. My problem was I was keeping the stroke too low, sort of pushing the ball forward. In fact, I had my hands and shaft too forward, and lifted the putter too much in the backstroke and stayed too low after impact. So my stroke was high to low and it needed to be low to high.

To give me a good image of up-stroking and catching the ball below the equator, Jack took one of the range balls and placed it down with the stripe now as a parallel equator to the ground. My drill was to putt with the stroke low in the takeaway and stroke up, catching the ball below the equator to produce the top/over spin. This parallel equator stripe really shows the below the equator impact.

The next drill he gave me was, I believe without doubt, the best for grooving the '€œstroke up'€ putting stroke. He stuck a tee into the ground down to the cap, where it V'€™s out to hold the ball, and placed a ball on it which had it teed up around 3/8 of an inch off the ground. He placed the stripe in the vertical equator position and had me stroke up, hitting putts from around 3 '€“ 4 feet. A good up stroke hit the ball off the tee and it landed and rolled into the cup keeping the equator vertical, which was proof the ball was rolling end over end with top/over spin. The teed up ball drill really works and is awesome to work on stroking up.

Putts hit with top/over spin roll true and have the look of being on top of the grass as compared to putts with side spin that look like they are digging or tracking into the grass. It is sort of the look of the puck in the air hockey game.

The good news is I immediately got '€œrolling the rock'€ much better and making many more short putts, especially putts in the 6 to 10 foot range. That'€™s where you make more birdies and especially those round saving pars.

So, like the PPGS where we '€œswing up'€ to the T '€“ Finish, the key to Peak Performance Putting is to '€œstroke up,'€ hitting the ball to produce top/over spin. What works for the long game works for the putting game.

The Surge!