Putting Tip
Putting Tip
Your putting stroke
We often hear of "hitting at the ball" vs "making a pendulum stroke". First let's understand these terms.
A good example of hitting at the ball is to put a tee half way in the ground 3 inches behind a ball on a ten foot putt. To avoid hitting the tee with your putter when trying to get the ball to the hole you would have to make a quick, jabby, pushing hit at the ball.
On the other hand, if you were to make a backstroke long enough so that you could release the putter only between you thumb and index finger so it could swing down by its own gravity and collide with the ball we would call this a pure pendulum stroke.
The best putters in the world are neither pure hitters nor pure pendulum strokers but a blend of the two.
In my opinion the best formula is a 80/20 pendulum/hit ratio on short putts inside 20 feet, depending on the speed of the green, and a 70/30 or 60/40 pendulum/hit ratio as putts get longer.
The reasons for these ratios are that on short putts where power isn't as much a factor, the putter head can be more rhythmically controlled with pendulum to more precisely control the speed of the roll necessary on delicate breaking putts.
On longer putts however, you need a little extra push in the club head to make the ball go further distances and it is a better technique to put a little more hit in the stroke than have to pivot your body to make a bigger stroke and risk an un solid contact with the ball. Think about these ratios as you practice next time at the putting green.