Diamond Author
To make a birdie, you have to make that birdie putt. Now it's true that you had to put the ball in the fairway and stick your approach shot right up to the hole, but without that putt, those two shots don't mean much. Here's how to seal the deal.
You sink birdie putts by having the right attitude about them. If you're good enough to be thinking about turning pars into birdies, I'll assume you've been around long enough that you know how to read greens and have a reliable stroke that gets the ball going along your intended line at your intended speed.
To turn you into a birdie-hunting putter, I'll suggest two technical adjustments before I get into what you really need to know how to do.
The first technical adjustment is that you need to be able to have the ball approach the hole at the same speed every time you putt. That way you'll always know which line to select, because as we know, speed determines line, and when you're certain of your speed you've so much as found your line.
The second adjustment is in the way you read greens. If you're not doing this already, pay close attention to what the green is doing six feet away from the hole and in. Because the ball will be rolling slower there, any breaks will have a greater affect on the ball. Get up close. You can't see what you need to see from twenty feet away.
Now for the attitude change that I mentioned. You need to believe that you are fully capable of getting this putt in the hole. More than that, believe that there is only one place the ball can go, and that is in the hole. Feel that this putt is sunk with certainty and actually hitting it in is a formality.
I want you to feel as certain from fifteen feet as you do from six inches. This is what confidence means. It is not a matter of being "really sure" that you can sink the putt. It is being so sure that the idea of making or missing never comes up. It's only about hitting the putt and taking it out of the hole.
When you walk, are you nervous that maybe your right foot won't take the next step after your left foot does? If you're 14 months old, maybe. But right now, how to walk, or maybe what could happen if you do it wrong, never enter your mind. Those ideas don't even exist anymore.
That's how I want you to feel over that birdie putt. Redefine putting as: Hit it, take it out of the hole. Period.
I know you've had that feeling on the course at one time or another. Go the practice green and recall that feeling. Now hit ten putts of different distances and break, with that feeling in mind as you hit each one. Whether the putt goes in or not is of no importance. Just work on recalling that feeling at will.
Practice that feeling, pull it out on the course, and those birdies will be yours.
About this Author
Bob Jones is a golf researcher who can show you the reason why you don't strike the ball as consistently as you would like to. It's a little thing, and anyone learn to do it right, in just minutes, right at home. Find out what it is right here.
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