MASTERS SPECIAL - Explained: The secret to putting on quick greens at The Masters

PGA Professional Barney Puttick on how to hole more putts when the greens start to speed up and some fundamentals to get right.

A big thing is grip pressure. When we panic we start gripping it too firm. We still like to look at some of the great putters at Augusta, like Ben Crenshaw and Seve Ballesteros, and they would say that they almost wanted the putter to feel heavy so they can feel it. By gripping it too tight it feels like you are just swinging the shaft rather than the head.

And they were putting with the old grip. The modern grips make it a lot easier to grip it lighter and this is huge on quick greens.

It’s never a bad idea to hold the putter out at arm’s length in front of you and, whatever that pressure is needed to hold it, that gives you a good idea. Too tight and you can feel it, too loose and it will feel like it’s going to waft all over the place. Hold it out in front of you and then lower it with that feeling, call it 4 or 5/10.

Another big thing is to try and get your palms facing one another with the thumbs pointing down. You are making sure that you’re trying to roll it rather than hit it. If there is more hit than rolling it then inevitably the hands outpace the forearms, with all the good putters the hands and forearms are blended together and that left wrist never breaks down through impact. If you look at  pictures of Crenshaw, with that old-fashioned, slightly open stance, have a look at the back of his left hand.

With sloping greens we need to come back to the simple thought that every putt is a straight one. Once we’ve decided on our line, we have to concentrate on hitting that line square. A lot of amateurs tend to try and steer it in and inevitably miss it on the amateur side.

Another essential is to swing the putter back and through the same distance and create that pendulum movement that all the great putters have. What I see a lot of is too long and then slow down, the greats will have the putter finishing high and through and there’s no question of it decelerating.

If you have, say, a 15-foot putt, I personally like to pick a spot just in front of the ball as this is a really good way of keeping your eyes focused over the impact area. One big fault is the eyes darting to the hole too quick and the spot, an inch or two in front of the ball, can be particularly useful on the short ones.

My big thing when coaching putting is to improve a player’s impact and to real learn how to strike it. The classic Tiger Woods drill of having two tee pegs the width of a putter is brilliant, not just for holing out, but also for stroke building in terms of getting that square, solid contact. And if you can do that, then your judgment of distance will be so much better.