Take a Mental Snapshot Before Putting the Golf Ball

One of my favorite tips to share with my students is how to use your mental eye to improve your distance control in putting. Let me show you what I mean by that. I am going to set up to hit a putt, go through my regular routine where I get the club aimed at the ball, and as I set up to hit like most golfers I am glancing at the hole. What I am doing is taking a snapshot of that picture. I want to remember exactly where that hole is from a distance relationship. How far is that hole away from me? Now as I am looking at the ball with my physical eye, I am picturing how far away the hole is with my mental eye. I am holding that picture in my imagination during my entire stroke. It really helps me get the ball close to the hole.

Now let me show you where people get in trouble. As they set up to the ball and they glance at the hole a lot they are much more focused on the line and getting the ball to start on the line they have chose, they are kind of wrapped up in that, and then they hit the ball thinking about the line and tend to either hit it short or they might even totally lose feeling for it and nuke it by the hole. Again, my line was great but my distance control was off. So remember to use your mental eye when you are putting. Take a snapshot of the picture, hold that in your memory and make your swing. Your distance control will get a lot better using this drill.