The Perfect Putt

Putting is not simply a skill. More than that, it's an art.

I'll tell you a secret about putting that confounds most newcomers to the game of golf. You don't put- gravity does. And the sooner you learn this, the sooner you'll master the green.

Welcome to the pendulum theory of putting.

In a nutshell, the pendulum theory of putting tells us that putting is not a result of pushing or striking the ball with our club. The force behind the putt does not come from the hands, the arms, the torso, or any part of our bodies, in fact. Instead, we simply have to know how far back to pull the putter and let gravity do the rest of the work for us.

Think of your arms, hands, and putter like the pieces of a pendulum. When you pull a pendulum back and release, it will move forward on its own as a result of gravity. Likewise, none of the force of the forward motion of your putter should be coming from your body. Simply pull back, and release, allowing the putter to fall through the ball at the point of impact, rather than pushing it through yourself.

If you have a short putt, your back swing will be relatively small. If you have a long putt, your back swing will be proportionately longer.

There is no green that is so large that you'll need to muscle the ball from the edge of the rough to the hole. In taking this approach, you'll lose the accuracy necessary to direct the ball to its ultimate destination.

However, your hands will have to control your putter in a way that allows it to fall straight through the ball at the point of impact. To practice using the pendulum theory for straighter putts, try this drill on the practice green or on very short carpet at home:

• Place a long piece of masking tape (10 feet or more, if possible) on the ground.
• Stand at one end of the tape with your toes paralell to it, so that if you were lining up to putt an imaginary ball, it could travel from one end of the tape to the other.
• Practice moving your putter back and forth along the line in a putting motion to develop the muscle memory that will allow you to putt in a straight line. Use the line on the ground as a marker to keep your putter in line with your imaginary target at the other end of the tape.
• Now, place a ball on the tape, and put what you've been practicing to the test. Pull back your putter, and release, allowing your hands and putter to fall effortlessly through the ball. Is it more or less following the tape? At this point, don't worry about distance. Simply practice keeping your putter straight and eliminating the effect of your upper body from the stroke.
• Once you've got that down, take a marker and put numbers 1-10 along the length of the tape, spaced about one foot apart.
• Now, practice bringing the ball to a stop between two predetermined numbers (between 4 and 5, or between 7 and 8). This will help you get a feel for how far you'll have to retract your putter in order to bring it to rest at a predetermined spot.

When you get out onto the practice putting green, do the same thing, but this time without the line, first with short putts into one of the holes, and then with ones from further away.

The result should be more confident, straighter putts that cut the number of strokes you spend after you've accomplished the difficult task of getting the ball on the green in the first place.