Hey, Performance Golfers, Matt Walter here
at Vanderbilt Legends Club. Today, I want you to forget everything you
learned about putting because, more than likely, it's dead wrong. And that may sound kind of preposterous to
you. You may think I'm a little arrogant by saying
that, but I'll tell you this right now, I've fixed so many common phrases, and I swear,
if you guys keep saying it for me, it's just going to help me become a better coach because
I get more players in, about hearing this "straight down the line" or "keep your wrists
still" and all the other verbiage that I hear that are one-line tips that just aren't true. So, what I mean by that is, the golf swing
with the putter is way more complex than trying to keep it straight, and keeping it straight-back
and straight-through, or the fact that, you know, you're supposed to keep your hands still
and make it like a pendulum. The problem becomes, the putting stroke isn't
a pendulum. It's not fixed right here at the top of the
putter and gravity doing the rest of the work. That's not how the putter works. So, we have to understand that what we're
swinging here is very similar to that of a golf swing. We have multiple joints that we're using to
move and influence the putter. Your hand is moving in three dimensions, hopefully
your elbow's only moving in and out, and your shoulder is another three-dimensional joint. So, we have to understand that these are tools
to utilize and control club face. Now, here's what I mean by all this. It's really difficult to make a straight-back/straight-through
stroke when the putter sits on a plane that's not straight up and down. The shaft would have to sit almost vertically,
if not vertically, to have a traditional straight-back/straight-through. I wouldn't even say 'traditional'. I would just say, this is the only way for
it to go, is straight-back/straight-through, but even then, it's not operating on a pendulum
because we can't keep it fixed in the same place. It's going to move side-to-side with some
linear motion. So, Michelle Wie is about as close as you
can get to having a straight-back/straight-through, but that's because she's a table-top looking
like putter. So, we have to be able to understand that,
because it sits on this plane, the putter has to arc, just like the full swing has to
travel an arc in the golf swing. So, what I'm going to give you today is a
drill that's going to help you get out of that mentality of trying to keep everything
firm and stiff because you just don't have to. And so, one of my biggest arguments to my
players about it is, if I took your hands out and they just became clubs that melted
onto the golf club and you weren't allowed to use your arms and hands and everything,
just had to stay really still, the problem is, you're taking out the main thing that
we use for feel. Our ten fingers is what produces feel, so
if you're struggling with distance control, for example, you're probably not getting the
most out of your hands to influence the putter, to feel the momentum of the putter head, the
speed of the putter head, the closure of the club face. It's really hard to close a club face by manipulating
my body, and the feel of my shoulders and my lats and all of that can't control a club
face. It can influence it, but it can't control
the club face as well as my right hand can, or my left hand can. So, what I would encourage you to do is try
this little drill. It's very similar to the pitching one I did
with the right hand only, but there's two ways to do it. If you're a traditional grip putter, I would
tell you to feel that right hand stay in the same place, and let it flex and extend to
create an arc. So, what I mean by that is, you want your
hand to try and extend, like you're doing a push-up, and flex without influencing it
with some supination and pronation, or without any deviation in the wrist. So, we want to see it go side to side. So, what we're going to do is, we're going
to get set up. You can hold your elbow against your rib cage,
so you don't have a lot of this happening, and we're just going to work on using our
right hand in the stroke. And so, the goal here is to keep that flex
and extension, where that's the only feel we have without any twisting motion. Now, if you're a left-hand-low type of player,
you can try it with your left hand, and it's a very similar feeling. You're trying to get flex. Now it's the other way. Now it's flex and extend instead of extend
and flex. So, you're set up here, and now you're going
to flex your hand in and extend it to the target, and this is going to control the club
face a lot better than trying to rock your shoulders. Another key thing about this is, important
variables to your putting, is that your hips stay still, and your noggin stays relatively
still. If we can keep those two things not moving
all over the place, it is a lot easier to control the club with our arms. If I lock out my hands, it's really hard for
me to not move my head, and especially as I start to create momentum, my head's going
to counter-swivel to where my hands go. If my hands go forward, my head will go back. If my hands go back, my head will go forward. But, if I soften everything up and I let my
arms and my hands swing freely, it's going to require some shoulder motion, some elbow
motion, some wrist motion. If I let all that start to happen, I can keep
my head a lot more stable through impact, which is going to produce a lot better results. Now, you might be asking, "Why the ruler?" The ruler's here because it's a great drill,
that if you can get the ball rolling down the ruler for the first four feet, the rest
of the putt's a lot easier. And so, what I would do is, you can work on
this at home, or set it up so that the edge of the cup is right at the end of the ruler,
and work on rolling the ball four feet down the ruler. And if the ball can start down the ruler consistently,
you're controlling the club face, so it becomes a lot simpler task of knowing where you're
lined up and if the ball's starting on your line. And I'd be willing to bet, the better some
of you get at using your arms and your hands in the putting stroke, there's a lot better
opportunity that you'll be able to make and hole more putts. So, let's give it one last try. Aw, left it on the edge. So, forget everything you've learned. Work on extending and flexing your right hand,
or flexing and extending your left hand, and work on letting your arms soften up so that
you can move the putter on a much better plane that arcs around your body, and ignore anybody
that tells you to go straight-back/straight-through because, physically, you can't do it and it's
actually harder. So, with that, I hope you liked the video. Leave us a comment. Subscribe to the channel. If you leave a comment with a question, I'll
be the one answering it for you, so that way, I can help you get better with your putting
stroke. And I look forward to making another video
for you guys shortly.
