In this video, PGA Professional Katie Dawkins explains how to improve your distance control on the greens.
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00:00 (golf club snaps)
00:02 Hi, I'm Katie Dawkins.
00:05 I am an advanced PGA professional,
00:07 and I'm here today at West Hill Golf Club
00:10 on the beautiful greens that they have here
00:12 to help you work out how to better judge distance
00:15 on the green.
00:16 So how do I get this ball close to that hole?
00:19 If you could guarantee that you never took any more
00:22 than two putts on every single green,
00:24 my goodness, how many shots would you save every round?
00:27 I would say a lot of golfers are creeping into
00:30 that double figures mark.
00:31 So if putting's gonna save you lots of shots,
00:34 and especially getting that first putt close,
00:37 then why is it that people turn up for lessons
00:38 and want to go on the range?
00:40 Everyone needs to put a little bit more time
00:42 into working on their putting game.
00:44 Here are a couple of tips just to help you
00:46 with that judging of distance on the greens.
00:48 So how do I get a ball from about here
00:50 on the edge of the green to there?
00:52 One of the easiest ways to get a feel
00:54 for how much stroke to give it
00:56 would be to roll it there.
00:57 So if I am gonna roll a ball to that flag,
01:00 say it was for a million pounds prize money,
01:03 I'm not gonna stand here and give it a thumb
01:05 like this with my arm.
01:06 I'm not gonna give it quite a jerky sort of shot.
01:09 Yet this is how some people putt.
01:11 Some people will stand here and smack the ball
01:15 to get it close to the hole.
01:16 It's very hard to know how much hit to give it.
01:19 You're better off taking the hit out
01:21 and working on different length strokes
01:23 for different length putts.
01:25 A really great way, especially if you have
01:27 a demon hole on the course that really bugs you,
01:29 perhaps you three or four putted,
01:31 heaven forbid, the last time you played it,
01:33 but a really good way is to stand on that green
01:36 out on the course when no one else is around,
01:38 roll a few balls to that hole
01:40 from different spots on the green.
01:42 (gentle music)
01:44 What you'll find from that is you start
01:53 to get a bit of an idea of how much swing
01:55 with the arm to give it, then drop a ball down there
01:58 and have a putt from that same spot.
02:01 What that's gonna do is it's gonna start
02:02 to give you a nice amount of feel
02:05 for how much stroke you need
02:07 for that particular length putt.
02:09 It'll also give you a feel for how the upslopes
02:11 and the downslopes and how the conditions
02:13 are gonna affect you that day.
02:16 If you were going to play a different course
02:18 and you were on the putting green, for example,
02:20 a really good drill will be to stand there
02:23 and have in your head, almost like a metronome,
02:25 a rhythm, a one, two, a tick, tock.
02:28 So if you're standing over the shot,
02:30 it's tick, tock, tick, tock.
02:34 If it's a little putt, it's little tick, tock,
02:37 and if it's a big putt, it's a bigger tick, tock.
02:40 But the rhythm stays the same.
02:42 That way you're working on length of stroke
02:44 to determine the distance your ball goes.
02:47 As with when I roll a ball with my arm,
02:49 there's always a little bit more follow through
02:51 than there is backswing.
02:53 So bear that in mind.
02:55 It's a smooth acceleration, and give it a go.
02:58 So this is a part of the game
02:59 that players just don't practise enough.
03:00 So all you need to do is go out
03:02 and work out how you control distance.
03:05 There's no textbook way of doing this.
03:07 It's just down to practise and putting some time in.
03:10 You put some work in on the greens,
03:12 and your game will thank you for it.
03:13 (upbeat music)
03:16 (upbeat music)
03:19 (gentle music)
03:21 ♪ Ooh ♪