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 Dr. David Wright - a golf instructor at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo who has two doctorate degrees in psychology - has some tips on how to improve this part of your game. His drills for reading a green, seeing the line, getting the accurate speed, relaxing over the ball and visualizing the putt going in the hole will elevate your game and lower your scores. Drill No. 1: Roll the golf ball in your mind. Reason it's important: Helps you listen to your body instead of negative thoughts inside your head. When on the green and over the ball, "move your body so that you're facing the cup and your ball is beneath your right arm," Wright said. "Then, swing your arm as if you're rolling the ball toward the cup." Rather than using your eyes and brain to scan the green for breaks you think might be there, you're allowing the physical motion of your arm to set the mental picture. "We are visual creatures who already have a picture of how the ball should roll in our brain," Wright said. "But once we set up over the ball, we do all kinds of things to deceive ourselves." Unlike the brain, the instinctual body isn't prone to doubt and second-guessing. By using your body to prompt the mind as to how the ball will break allows the body to set the mental picture and give you a more accurate read of how your ball will break. Drill No. 2: Line on a ball to a toothpick. Reason it's important: Learn to be a line putter. Wright says there are three types of putters: hit it and pray, spot and line. Spot putters think in straight lines. If they read a break at 18 inches, they'll pick a point 18 inches from the hole in a straight line from the ball. Then they putt the ball from spot A to spot B, counting on the break or slope to get the ball in the hole. "But the best putters in the world are line putters," Wright said. "They set up with a picture of the actual line the ball will travel to the cup." To become a line putter, draw a line on the ball and place a toothpick on the ground about three feet from the ball. Get some string or yarn and have someone hold one end of the line over the toothpick while you hold the other above the line on your ball. The line is now aimed at the toothpick. Set up to the ball and don't move it even though it looks like the line won't intersect the toothpick. Without hitting the ball, feel the backstroke of your putt. Adopt a Jack Nicklaus set-up position (narrow, open stance and lowered right shoulder). When you drop your right shoulder the right amount, you'll see the line on the ball now looks like it will intersect the toothpick. Feel the backstroke and notice how square your stroke is to the line. "Tour players call this seeing the line. They know that when they see the line their stroke is going to be true to the line they see," Wright said. "That's why when you see the line going right or left of the toothpick, your stroke needs work. When you do see the line, notice how your stroke feels nearly perfect." Now take the drill to a hole with a breaking putt. Your goal is to read the putt, set up to the ball, start with an image of a straight line the first few inches and visually track the line to the hole. Set three balls on your line from the lip of the cup backward. As you stroke the putt, hold an image of the end of the line (the three touching balls). Hit the first of the three balls with your putted ball, knocking the ball closest to the cup into the hole. "If done properly, your putted ball will replace the first ball in line and the third ball will roll into the hole," Wright said. Drill No. 3: Look at the ball but see the toothpick. Reason it's important: Helps you learn to see where the ball will wind up, rather than where it begins. Grab the toothpick and set it behind the cup, either behind it or a little off center. Focus on the toothpick and not the ball when you putt. If done properly, your accuracy will improve and the speed of your putts will be much better. "Great putters look toward the ball when they putt but they're not really seeing the ball," Wright said. "They have a mental picture of where the ball is going to wind up. They are looking at the ball but they are really seeing their target - the toothpick - or a precise spot on the green or, better yet, the end of the line into the hole." Drill No. 4: Breathe. Reason it's important: To eliminate second-guessing and control your grip pressure. Psychological tension can manifest itself physically. When too tense, golfers tend to grasp the handle of their putter too tightly. "Try the following exercise to control your breathing and grip pressure," Wright said. "On setup, take a note of your grip pressure, ranging from 1 to 10, with 10 being very tight. Take a deep breath and, as you exhale, relax your shoulders. Notice what happens to your grip pressure. "Your goal is to start the stroke as you complete your exhalation and hold that same grip pressure through your stroke. Many golfers alter their grip just prior to impact, which creates a change in face angle and errant paths." Imagination also comes into play. "On your last deep breath, imagine a precise image of your target or the end of your line," Wright said. "Start your stroke soon after you bring the mental picture back to the ball and with the end of your exhalation. You will have greater speed control and a truer putting path." Drill No. 5: The clock drill. Reason it's important: Builds confidence for uphill, downhill and severely breaking putts. Find a cup on a small slope on a practice green. Think of the cup as a clock and position four balls three feet from the cup in the places where the 3, 6, 9 and 12 hands would be. Start with your 3 o'clock ball and proceed clockwise. If you miss one, start over. Once you knock all four balls in from three feet, arrange the balls in the same sequence 6 feet away, followed by four more at 9 feet and 12 feet. "What this does is give you four different putts, all the same length, but all different: uphill, downhill, left to right and right to left," Wright said. "You're not hitting the same putt time after time. The farther from the cup you get, the more the slope or break will affect your putts. But the distance is the same, and what you're really working on is reading a different putt each time you set up to another ball, at a different speed and a different break. And remember, speed dictates break, and that makes it so critically important to your putting game." For video of How to Roll the Ball, click here.
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