Backswing v Follow Through
In this video, PGA Professional Nick Drane talks about how to approach the length of your putting stroke for more consistency on the greens.
Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Hi, my name's Nick Drane,
00:06 PGA professional and master fitting specialist
00:08 here at the Titleist Performance Center at Woburn.
00:11 In this video, we're gonna talk about
00:13 backswing and follow through length in putting.
00:16 A lot of common mistakes I see golfers make
00:18 is the misconception that the putter head
00:20 has to be accelerating into the golf ball.
00:23 This can lead to a few problems,
00:25 primarily distance control.
00:27 Secondary can be that face alignment at impact.
00:30 Are you able to start that golf ball
00:32 on your intended target line?
00:33 To give an example of what I see in a short backswing
00:36 and a long follow through to try and propel the ball
00:38 towards the target can also make it difficult
00:41 to maintain a square club face
00:42 towards your intended target line like so.
00:44 (upbeat music)
00:47 So not only was I struggling for distance control
00:52 on that putt, I actually also pulled it to the left
00:55 as I tried to increase that club head speed into that putt.
00:58 (upbeat music)
01:00 A couple of key fundamentals to help you
01:03 improve your distance control and your putting
01:06 would be to get a good sound setup
01:08 where you hold the putter nicely in the palms of your hands,
01:11 a nice wide base.
01:12 We wanna eliminate any unnecessary wrist movement
01:17 that's gonna give acceleration to that putter head.
01:19 I then gonna use my feet as a bit of a reference
01:22 for a length of stroke.
01:23 So if you watch my backswing, my follow through
01:25 are gonna be very similar in length.
01:27 (upbeat music)
01:29 I'm able to maintain that control of that club face
01:35 and also better control my distance.
01:37 Obviously during a game of golf,
01:39 we're gonna be faced with putts of different lengths.
01:41 The key to being successful with the putting from distance
01:44 is maintaining a very similar length, backswing
01:47 and follow through through keeping a good tempo.
01:50 So each of us have our own rhythm or tempo built in,
01:53 finding what's right for you,
01:55 but just focusing on keeping that backswing
01:57 and follow through very similar in length
02:00 is gonna mean that you're gonna hit
02:01 those longer putts closer
02:02 and causing more two putts rather than three putts.
02:06 A really good drill to help you practice
02:07 your distance control would be to place a tee peg
02:10 at 10, 20 and 30 feet.
02:12 Then take a couple of golf balls,
02:14 practice putting to each tee peg,
02:15 see how close you can maintain that grouping.
02:18 This will really enhance your distance control
02:20 and also give you a feel for where your club face is aiming
02:23 at impact.
02:24 A really good visual to help you focus
02:26 on that club face control
02:27 is to think of a three ball window.
02:29 So we like that club face to be nice and square
02:31 through the three ball window
02:33 with the middle ball being the ball
02:35 that you're gonna impact.
02:36 That is gonna help you start that ball
02:38 on your intended target line.
02:40 The middle ball being my impact ball,
02:42 I'm just looking to keep that putter face nice and square
02:44 to those three golf balls.
02:47 A couple of key things to remember then,
02:49 focus on your distance control
02:50 through having a nice even back swing
02:52 and follow through length.
02:53 And you should see your distance control
02:55 and speed be a lot more consistent and lower your scores.
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