How to visualise your putts better
Nicola Stroud, the head teaching professional at Burnham & Berrow Golf Club, tells you how to picture yourself hitting some better putts.
1) The dustbin lid drill
Everyone has heard the phrase 'just imagine the hole is a dustbin lid'. However, have you ever practised it? And do you really understand its importance? If the answer is no, then you really are missing out.
Place the same colour tees approximately a foot apart in a semi-circle to the back of the hole at a distance you regard as your tap-in distance and make sure one of the tees is directly in line with your ball line.
Standing at a distance that you regard as medium to long, look at the tees and imagine it is a cut out hole (the size you might see at Footgolf). Imagine this is your hole – how much easier would it be if it was the actual size?! Look at the tee peg directly behind the hole, it will look only a couple of inches in diameter from the hole but you know it is at least a foot – this is an error in your perception of the size of your dustbin lid hole and the reason so many putts are left extremely short of the hole.
Get five balls and try to get all five into the dustbin lid. You can bring a couple of tees to the front, however, try to get the balls into the hole or finishing behind – as the old saying goes, 'never up, never in!' and get used to hitting your putts past the hole.
2) 'This hole is massive!' drill
Place a tee peg in the green, then putt a ball from just 2-3 feet to the tee peg, trying to tap the peg or leave the ball resting on it.
After a dozen putts, now putt into a hole from the same distance – now the hole will feel massive compared to the tee peg. To take this drill to the next level, place the tee peg on the middle/back position of the hole so you can focus on that, ensuring you putt more positively to reach the back of the hole.
Like everything else, you have to train yourself to be mentally stronger and to become sharper at visualisation, so try to diarise time to work on these drills and make sure you practise them before each game.
And please remember; quality practice is better than practice that is just going through the motions and don’t forget to focus on these visualisation techniques when you’re on the course too.
Nicola Stroud is an Advanced PGA Professional based at Burnham & Berrow Golf Club in Somerset.
Email: nicola@nicolastroudgolf.com
Instagram: @nicolastroudgolf
Twitter: @nicstroudgolf
Website: http://www.nicolastroudgolf.com/
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