The Value of a Perfect Putting Stroke
There’s not a golfer alive who thinks they shouldn’t putt better. Even the top pros who make 98% of their putts from 5 feet and in miss from time to time so there is always room for improvement. Now just to be fair, a lot of those putts that figure into the 98% number are tap ins. But you could still conclude these great putters have a near perfect putting stroke.
As well they should. They get paid very well to play the game and have spent thousands of hours working on their strokes. They are far more gifted than the average player, both mentally and physically to reach the level they have.
The average golfer does not have the physical or mental skills to obtain the near perfect stroke of the pros. They also lack the practice time and motivation required to get the job done. The truth is, if they had these things they would be professionals, not average golfers.
It is because of the success of the best professionals and their near perfect strokes that the average players believe that a great putting stroke is needed in order to make putts. Thus most will practice putting by working on their stroke.
Here is the problem I have with searching for the perfect putting stroke. It focuses all of your attention on what you are doing BEFORE you hit the ball. Only if you do everything right before and during your stroke will you make the putt.
I look at putting as though it were a target game, but only because that is exactly what it is. In any target game, the focus is on what happens to the projectile AFTER the shot is completed.
For example, a major league pitcher is not worried about arm positions when he is throwing a fastball. He is focused only on the catchers mitt and throwing the ball into it. A dart thrower doesn’t care about anything but the bulls eye. A pool player is focused on the object ball. I could go on and on with examples. The same fundamental rule applies to any game that has hitting a target for its object. The point is, the same fundamentals used in target games are ignored in putting.
The value of a perfect putting stroke is negligible. If you achieve it, you will have achieved perfection on the wrong aspect of the game. It ‘s not what you do before and during the stroke that is important. It’s what happens, and what you want to happen, to the ball after you hit it that you should be concerned with.
And with such a simple game, great putting can be achieved with a less than great stroke.