Good Thing a Cup Is There

I made a major change to my putting technique recently. This has really helped me hole out in two or one putts more often than three or more.

Before, I held the putter at the end of the grip, which forced me to bend my arms so I could still get my eyes on top of the ball as much as possible.

Now, I choke down on the putter grip, which allows my arms to hang straight down, and I can still get my eyes over the ball. The extra length past my grip allows a nice counter-weighting feel which gives me a sense of more stability as I swing my arms like a pendulum during the putting stroke.

 

I made this change after observing Seri's putting posture. She is one of the best putters I have ever seen in person and has a greens-reading technique which I still don't understand. It involves estimating yardages and doing mental mathematical calculations for each 4 inches of grade change or something. These correspond to the number of inches she takes back the putter on the backswing. It figures she'd have a complex formula for reading greens, since her husband is a nuclear physicist. Then again, hubby and I just played golf with them over the weekend, and Seri's husband seems to be more of a "feel" putter, like me. That is, if I'm not feelin' it, I don't putt well.

Anyway, Seri putts by choking down almost to the metal shaft, with straight arms and eyes over the ball. She also anchors her putter on her belly. Not that she uses a belly putter, but she has a rubber suction cup at the end of her grip that she uses to retrieve balls from the cup. This attachment is a couple inches long, and Seri is petite enough that it effectively turns her regular length putter into a belly putter if she bends over just a bit.

When it comes to belly putting, though, I side with the traditionalists who feel that anchoring the club on the body somehow violates the spirit of fair play. Whether or not a ruling against belly putters ever becomes official, I will probably stay away from them. I mean, the size of my belly varies from week to week, so developing a consistent putting technique based on something that varies with the amount of potato chips I have eaten on any given day seems rather imprudent, dontcha think?