Water Down Your Putting

Greg Ellis
Great Golf Academy
Goodyear, AZ
gellisdog@cox.net

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I was listening to the radio the other day and heard a great golf tip that I thought would be great to share this month. Paul Azinger, one of the best putters on the PGA TOUR, was the player who revealed this great tip. Try this and watch how many more putts you will make when you are playing with your friends.

Get a bottle of water and place it on the putting green. Hit a few putts from five feet at a hole first and see how many you make. Now, hit five footers at the water bottle and see how many times you hit the bottle. My bet is you will hit it more often than making putts at the hole. Now back up to six feet and hit to the water bottle. Try to hit the bottle 50 times in a row and then move back to ten feet. Try to hit the bottle 25 times in a row. You will be amazed at how many times you hit the bottle.

Now, go back to hitting putts at the hole but imagine that the water bottle is the hole. Visualize the hole being above ground.  Go through the same distances you just did with the putts to the bottle and watch how many more putts you make. This is remarkable!

Additionally, if you want to really start making more putts from longer distances, use a five gallon paint bucket. Putt from twenty, twenty-five, thirty and forty feet. Putt at the bucket. It is easy to hit the bucket. So, why can’t we hit the hole like this? It’s easy, we are trying harder to make the putt go in the hole than trying to hit the bottle or bucket.

So, the next time you are trying to make a putt for the big dough think of the hole as the water bottle. It will become automatic and you will be a better putter for it.

Be sure to tune in to the Bunker to Bunker Golf Show every Saturday morning from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. or on ArizonaSports now at 98.7 fm or on the internet at www.arizonasports.com for more tips and updates on all of the week’s golfing news in the Valley and around the world. Join Greg, Jim Hill, and Marty Monaghan for a comprehensive look at the golf world for the week.