In my ongoing pursuit to drop my handicap I’ve been utilising all of the awesome teaching facilities that we have here at Peter Field Golf Shop. If you’ve not read my previous blog about my last session with Lewis, then check it out here to read about the continuation of my journey on tech.
It’s one of the most common faults that the average golfer is guilty of. Neglecting your putting practise. I myself am no different and I certainly reap the rewards for not getting on the practise green. Streaky would be complimentary when it comes to describing my performance on the greens. And there’s only one place to start when you’re struggling… get a lesson!
Now when you talk about using a launch monitor you tend to think about hitting full shot and analysing spin etc, but it’s just as vital when looking at putting. The margins are as fine as 1 degree on a 10 foot putt so having technology accurately tell us what is happening at impact is invaluable as the human eye simply can’t perform that task. So coming into this lesson I had an open mind, I know there are so many factors in putting that I just wanted a back-to-basics overview so I could get my fundamentals solid.
After hitting a few putts we noticed a couple of things, my miss tended to be left as GC Quad confirmed, however on video we saw that my set up was consistently pointing the putter right of target. This seems to have resulted in me having to generate a pull to get the ball remotely near the target line. So the logical way to address this was sort out my wonky alignment.
Now you wouldn’t think that a golf lesson and a trip to SpecSavers would necessarily have too much in common but eye dominance is a massive factor in putting setup and clearly had an effect on me. When using a laser to look at my alignment it was clear that the face is open at address. I set up right of target because when I set up square my brain tells me the ball will start left. The way we addressed this is predominantly in my stance:
A. Getting my feet wider and the ball further forward to hit up on the ball
B. Having my chest more upright and eyes further over the ball
My current stance has my eyes way inside the ball but when I moved my eyeline to what looked like a couple of balls on the other side, my start line had a marked improvement. A putting mirror allowed me to see my eyeline relative to the ball and make sure I was setting up in a position that would allow me to see the target line better.
Using the technology to inform our decisions and offer simple solutions, it’s just that easy!
If your appetite has been whetted and you’re keen to see what all the fuss is about, then you can book lessons here, or phone the shop on 01603 740979.