I’ve had a breakthrough on the putting green. Finally!
I can attribute it to Arnie’s 80th birthday celebration. Those old clips of Arnie in his heyday were an inspiration.
They say he was one of the best putters of all time, and yet his stroke was nothing anyone would ever teach. (kinda like his full swing.)
Relative to how most guys putt, Arnie stabbed at the ball. It wasn’t a silky smooth stroke, it was a hit. A thwack. A surly little poke that put nice overspin on the ball and kept it online, despite rough greens. So I decided to forget about my stroke, for once, and just hit the damn thing at the hole.Like Arnie did.
No more worrying about the tick-tock of tempo. No more “straight back and straight through.” No more Dave Pelz. No thinking at all.
Just make contact. Everything after that is out of my control.
It’s amazing how much better that works for me. The long ones are tracking straight at the cup, with uncanny distance control. The short ones are going in, with authority. (Well, not every short one, but a lot more than before.)
I’ve shifted my focus entirely… Away from the mechanics of the stroke. Away from the outcome of the shot. And away from all the tips I’ve read for the last 10 years. It’s a short, quick solution to a long-standing problem called the Yips.
