by Lori West

The most important scoring club in your bag is the putter. I began using the long putter in 2001. I was hitting more greens in regulation but my scores were not improving.

Speed and direction seemed to be an issue. The long putter allows for more stable contact, with less hand action.  The putter is “anchored” to your chest so it works as a pendulum, keeping your hands less involved, resulting in a more solid stroke. It helped my scoring and calmed my mind. See if it can work for you!

Alignment / Set Up / Execution
► Walk from the ball to the hole to get a feel for the distance, speed and break.

►  Stand behind the ball and pick a spot 3-4 inches in front of the ball as your intermediate target.

► Align the putter face to that spot. 

► Take your stance with feet shoulder width apart. 

► Place the ball slightly forward of center in your stance.

► Anchor the putter to the center of your chest. The left arm will be bent at a 90 degree angle with the left elbow pointing to the hole. The palm of the right hand faces to the hole.

► Look at the hole once to get a feel for the distance. Focus your eyes on a dimple on the back of the ball as you make the stroke.

► Distance control is measured by the length of the backswing. The shorter the backswing the shorter the distance to the hole.

► To achieve a pure pendulum stroke make the backswing and the follow-through the same length.

► Feel the momentum of the putter swinging through the ball to the hole. Impact should be on the upstroke to the ball so it produces a slight top spin, or forward rotation on ball. Ball will appear to “jump” into the hole like a rabbit.

► If you learn to match your follow-through to the backswing, the momentum of the stroke will give you consistent distance control.

► Good putts are the result of perfect speed and direction. Practice makes perfect!