Tom Watson's putting woes

Watching Tom putting on Sunday illustrates the ups and downs of playing golf for a living. We all can sympathize with missing short putts under pressure. However his putting problems are caused by his technique.

The young Watson was a very aggressive putter. He would often hit putts four and five feet past the hole. His technique had the face of the putter looking at the target throughout the stroke. To do this, you must manipulate the putter with your hands.

This technique has been used by some very good putter through the years. The best I can remember was Billy Casper. If you watched the replay of the 1960 Masters, you can clearly see Casper closing the face on the back swing and opening the face thorough impact using his hands and wrists. When greens were slower, you had to make a longer stroke with some hand and wrist involvement. This allowed time for the manipulation to take place.

These days green speeds have increased, making the putting strokes shorter with less wrist movement. As the length of the putt increases, Tom has time to make a longer stroke with his manipulation. On the short putts, this movement causes problems.

Most pros let the putter swing which lets the face open on the back swing and close through impact without using the hands. This technique uses the shoulders to rock back and through. A mini full swing. This is much more reliable in pressure situations.

Try putting using only one hand. As you swing the putter watch the natural arc the putter swings on with the face opening going back and closing coming through. No manipulation required.

If I were Tom's coach, I would change the way his hands attach to the putter. It looks like the putter is too much in his fingers. This encourages the hands and wrists to move. Having the putter more in the palms will retard the hand and wrist movement, requiring the shoulders to do more work.

Of course, Watson has had a very successful career using his present method. At this later stage in his life, it is great to see him still compete and win. I would guess he will not change.

Until next time.

Happy New Year

It is very hard to believe it is 2010. Where has the time passed?

An update to my last post. After a few days, my left wrist was sore. In a few more days it hurt. What was going on? My idea to move my left side out of the way on the forward swing was creating more clubhead speed, but my wrist wasn't holding up. Or maybe my wrist wasn't working correctly. I have come to the conclusion my wrist wasn't working correctly.

When I work with a student, it is imperative to have the student understand the way the body works in the golf swing. This movement should not cause pain. Part of the understanding is learning the correct way the arms, wrists, and hands work.

In a proper golf swing, the elbows and wrists always hinge upwards towards your body, much like the action of bringing a drink to your mouth. My old swing* relied on my hands holding on through impact. If I did not hold on through impact, the ball would hook. With the increased clubhead speed, this made my left wrist hurt. Once I figured this out, the wrist doesn't hurt anymore. Nor does the ball go left.

This past Christmas, my daughter got me a Bosu Ball. I had seen them but had never tried one. The Bosu Ball has proven to be very effective. There are several different movements which can be done while standing, sitting, or face down on the ball. I get a really good core workout using the ball. The ball is also good for balance work. This goes really well with the Iron Gym she got for me last Christmas and the Perfect Pushups my son got for me the Christmas before. Who needs to go to a Gym?

Until next time,
Thanks

*My old swing was a closed faced, outside plane, reroute the club inside, and hold on through impact movement.