How important is putting in becoming a top player?   It is commonly described as the biggest decider in tournament victories on top tours.  It is often the tour professionals that putt best who take home big paychecks and move up in rankings.  Conversely, putting dramatically hurts scoring when at a low level.  Players will not get the most from their rounds.  Players can’t take advantage of good ball striking and short games if they commonly miss putts.  If you were to ask any top player how important putting is to scoring, you would be overwhelmed by the emphasis put on putting.

The similarities and differences in great putters became my guide in determining the important elements of putting.  I had to interact with countless individuals in the golf industry while traveling throughout the country.

My instructional approach to putting came from numerous sources, these sources include many professionals, players, and teachers.  Out of these individuals, a few had a tremendous impact on the way I teach putting.  These individuals are Carl Welty, James Sieckmann, Mike Shannon, Dave Stockton, Marius Filmalter, Stan Utley, and Dave Pelz.  These seven individuals spend significant amounts of time working with players on putting. Although these teachers have different styles towards teaching putting, they all have valuable knowledge.  To them, thank you.

In my putting instruction, I help players identify which movements are important for their putting, and which can be left alone.  I use some tools in my putting instruction to help obtain information about students’ putting stroke.  I commonly use a video camera and other analyzing technology to help identify overall stroke consistency and variables occurring in the student’s putting stroke.  These tools help me make a recommendation on the type of putter that best suits the player’s stroke tendencies. I also heavily analyze the student’s ability in the areas of green reading, distance control, putting routine, and practice habits.  These areas have just as much importance as the putting stroke itself.  Without strength in all of these areas, obtaining a high level of putting is very difficult.  For these reasons, I commonly give putting lessons that take around 3 hours.  In these 3 hours, the student will gain information about all areas of their putting and will leave with a game plan for putting improvement.