With the par-5 9th hole at True Blue Golf Club as the setting, Charlie Rymer’s here to offer a tip for how to conquer the fear of that “in between” putt – the one that’s not quite a “gimme,” yet can still be tricky if you’re not careful in how to approach it. Charlie’s got a drill to help you out with this scenario!
Charlie Rymer:
Okay, so I’ve managed to hit it in here close at No. 9 for birdie. And this is a distance, it makes folks a little bit nervous. It’s not quite a gimme, and it’s definitely not a sure thing. So let’s talk about a tip that will help you not only with putts in close like this, but really all putts.
I think what happens is a lot of people, their eyes start to wonder. They lose their eye discipline, they get a little bit jumpy. The putter can flutter.
So a great drill – you can do this at home, you can do it on a putting green before you play golf – is to use two golf balls, set up over the ball. My head and my eyes are going downward, but what I’m trying to do with my peripheral vision is find that golf ball that I just sat down, and all I’m going to do is hit putts, one ball to the other across that green. I locate the white of that golf ball and I just bang it. And what that does is that calms everything down, and when I get over the actual putt, I find the white of the cup liner and just bang it in.
So use your peripheral vision to find something white and you can hit putts six, seven, eight, nine feet out with your head down, but by locating that far golf ball with your peripheral vision and just focus on banging it. If you do that, I guarantee you it will help you be better on the greens!