Putt Like Tiger

In August 1996, I attended the Western Amateur and watched Tiger Woods play a couple of rounds. This was one of the last amateur events he played in before turning pro.
Not only was I in awe of his ball striking, but I was also amazed at how solid his putting was. Granted, he didn’t make that many putts, but it seemed like every putt, no matter what the length, had a chance to go in the hole.

After about nine holes of watching him, I told myself that I was going to putt like Tiger the next time I played. I didn’t really know how he was putting or what he was thinking about while he was putting, but at least I was going to try to putt the way it looked like Tiger was trying to putt.What was most noticeable was how firm he was with his left wrist and arm. There was no breakdown at all, nor was there any rotating of the putter-face after impact. It was square-to-square in a very one-piece motion.

I also noticed how he kept the distance between his arms very constant. He held the triangle perfectly intact from the beginning of the stroke until the end. It was rock solid.

So what did I do when I began putting this way? Well, I started making all kinds of putts. I focused on keeping my left wrist and arm firm through the stroke, with my putter face going directly at the hole. It was much more of an accelerating stroke through the ball, as opposed to just "wishing" it in the hole.

Before then I was decelerating coming into the ball and breaking down with my left wrist. This caused my putter-face to shut slightly and resulted in many pulled putts. But once I became more solid and firm, my putter face remained square through the ball and the putts started to fall.

If you think that you are getting sloppy with your stoke through the impact zone, then this is a great putting method to try.

Set up to the putt as usual. You don’t need to forward press with your hands or do anything different with your ball position. On your through-stroke, feel your left arm, wrist, and putter-face stay square and accelerate through the ball. They don’t have to be perfectly straight up and down, but make sure they stay solid through the hitting area. Also, your putter grip should travel through the ball and past your pant zipper. Some people stop their hands at their zipper and continue the club. This will either add loft to the putter, which prevents a nice roll on the ball, or, like in my case, it will close the putter-face and result in pulls.

So be like Tiger and keep everything moving through the ball firmly and in one-piece. If you do, you will start making more putts.