Golfing Weekly Magazine

As mentioned in my last two Golf Tips, I recently attended the "1 Putt Golf School" in Winston Salem run by Tony Piparo and Steve Kaluzne. This week's tip features part 3 of that experience. The first drill is called the "Push Drill" and is designed to help you kinesthetically feel the correct movement of the arms and hands throughout the putting stroke. The overall objective is to allow absolutely no breakdown between the forearm of the leading arm and the putter shaft. This ensures a perfect pendulum stroke. It also helps tremendously with distance control because the hands are completely passive and will not get involved in "hitting" the ball, which causes loss of distance control. This drill takes six weeks to perfect, but you can practice at any time, at the office or at home for just a few minutes a day.
Week 1
Picture #1	Picture #2
Put the putter directly behind the ball as in picture No.1. Without taking the clubhead back, simply push the putter head through, keeping the putter face square and the putter head low to the ground as in picture No.2. You do not need a target, just make sure you feel the upper part of the leading arm controlling this movement - no hands are to be involved at all. Notice that the angle between the leading arm and the shaft has not changed between picture No.1 and picture No.2.

Week 2 This is a similar drill, but you now need a ruler or a yardstick. Place the ball at the 6" mark, and the putter head at the 3" mark, as seen in picture No.3	Picture #3
Picture #4	Now push the putter head through to the 12" mark, again making sure that you feel the upper part of the leading arm controlling the "push" with no breakdown between the forearm and the shaft. The toe of the putter must stay parallel to the ruler, and the putter face must remain square. As you see in picture No.4, I have a "very slight" breakdown myself when I do this drill, and so I will continue to work on the "Push Drill" until I have it perfected.
Week 3 Finally, put all of this together by making a continuous putting stroke, still using the ruler, still taking the putter head back half the distance of the follow through.
Week 4, 5 & 6 are the same as 1, 2 & 3 but with a target. Combining the first two lessons in Issues #15 & #16 of Golfing Weekly with these drills will make you a much better putter than you ever dreamed of!

Next Week: Putting In-Depth - Part 4: Questions & Answers

Mel Sole is a former South African Tour player with about 30 years of teaching experience. He is the co-founder of Ritson-Sole Golf Schools, which is rated one of the 25 best golf schools in the U.S. Mel's home course is Pawleys Plantation in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Other Ritson-Sole Golf Schools are located in Wilmington, N.C., Atlanta, Blue Springs, Mo., Harrisburg, Pa., and San Sebastián de Amola, México. You can visit the Ritson-Sole Website at www.ritson-sole.com.