The 2010 golf season saw so many incredible and outstanding performances including Phil Mickleson's win at Augusta and Martin Kaymer winning his first major at the USPGA Championship. But for me THE performance so far in 2010 has come from Rory McIlroy at Quail Hollow where a stunning weekend performance of 66, 62 blew the field away; it was truly a captivating performance to watch.
McIlroys' performance over the final 18 holes was in a word awesome, there 350 plus yard drives splitting fairways, 5 irons from 200+ yards to 5 feet and of course some great putts.
READING GAMES
It was in respect of his putting that McIlroy gave away perhaps one of THE secrets of great putting in his post round interview. These interviews are fascinating to listen to as often the player can accurately reflect on their mindset and memory of the day. In McIlroy's case he said:
"I was just seeing my shots and hitting it and seeing the line of putts really well and everything was going in. It was one of those days where everything went right."
So what can we learn from this insight on McIlroy's putting? How important could this information be to you?
How would seeing the line of your putt and/or improving your green reading affect your performances on the greens?
On the face of it seeing your line more clearly would result in golfers holing more putts more often.....as long as they can read the putt correctly!
A great drill that will help in seeing your line more clearly and green reading is what I like to call the DOT DRILL. All too often golfers tend to just think of putts as a 'bit off the right' or 'an inch off the left'. With this drill you will quite literally SEE YOUR LINE!
Next time you visit the putting green I would like you to take a ball, about a dozen ball markers and find yourself a medium length putt; now:
*Place your ball on the green and read your putt; now rather than seeing it as 'an inch outside the left' we are going to enhance your awareness of the path and SEE YOUR LINE in the manner that McIlroy described
*Firstly decide where you ball will enter the hole and place a ball marker down at this point
*Working your way back from this 1st marker to the ball, place ball markers about 10 to 20 centimetres apart
*Now re-read your putt and check that you are happy with your markers which represent the line of your putt...this may take sometime!
*One of the beauties of this exercise is that once you have completed the task you can test your line and see if you have read the putt correctly. Not only this but you can also test your stroke and see if you have the ability to send the ball on the line you have read at the right speed.
Would seeing the line of your putts in this detail improve your putting? I believe that in almost every case the answer would be YES.
Use this drill over the coming weeks and I guarantee that you will not only improve your ability to read the green but you will also see the line of your putts with a clarity you have not enjoyed before.
Green Reading - Can You See The Line?READING GAMES
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