Putting Myths Exposed - #1 The Long Follow Through
THE FAULT
You must extend the putter down the line to accelerate sufficiently in to the ball to get it to the hole…
Fact: If you follow this advice, your putting will only get worse and will encourage other problems within the stroke that cause more issues than just loss of distance control.
What you need to firstly understand is why you are struggling to get the ball to the hole, so I would like you to consider the following:
Have you shortened your putter but not altered the head weight, and now it feels lighter?
No matter how long your backswing is, do you still leave putts short?
Can you equally hit putts long as well as short?
Do you constantly miss putts on the low side?
I agree that all of the above may well create an acceleration related issue, but my question is why? Rather than just hit at the ball harder and risk over-accelerating after impact, which ultimately results in the ugly long follow through, think about the following:
Is your backswing too long for the length of putt, therefore you decelerate & quit on it, requiring you to consequently "chase after it"
Is your backswing too short not allowing enough power to be developed and therefore requiring you to attempt a hit at the ball
You swing back too slowly and again rely on more of a hit than a swing to generate the energy required to get the ball "close" to the hole
Or do you swing back too quickly (albeit a good length backswing) but need to decelerate to control the putter head speed
As you can see, there are many different ways to control the acceleration of the putter, but there is only one truly effective way to ensure you achieve consistent & controllable acceleration through out the stroke!
THE FIX
When you are next practicing your putting on the carpet at home, or on the putting green try the following exercise:
Work on creating better symmetry between your length of backswing & follow through (you could place tee-pegs down equidistant from the ball) and roll some putts down the line and see how far they go. This drill will help you establish how far your putts roll from a given length of stroke, now simply shorten or lengthen depending on the putt length.
The varying length of stroke will generate different putter head speeds required to vary the pace of the putt, but make sure your tempo isn’t too slow, otherwise you will feel like you have to "overswing" or "hit" at the ball to get it to the hole.
Bonus Tip: If facing a slippery down-hill putt, don’t worry about hitting it softly, just make a shorter backswing whilst imagining you are hitting a much shorter putt, trust your line and let the slope do the work!
