Practicing Putting Fundamentals

Accuracy Golf Putting Drill

on Thursday, January 2, 2014 Labels: , , , ,

Mark your Width
The Tunnel Drill: The tunnel golf putting drill will help you maintain a square club face to the target line and improve your putting accuracy. While practicing this drill is a good time to also review your posture and setup routine.

To Begin:
- Find an area that is basiclly flat to practice on

 - Use the head of your putter to mark your width

 - Then put two tees into the ground 

- Place two tees about six to eight  feet from the hole.

Tunnel Golf Putting Drill

- Place two more tees in front of the hole.

- Again, the putter head width will be used as your guide for your opening.

- Now have created a tunnel to be used as your guide.

- Next step is to tie a string connecting the tees making an imaginary tunnel. Basically you end up with two sets of tees tied about 6-8 feet.

- If you do not have string you can use two clubs to make your tunnel. Another way to make your tunnel is with a long set of tees. 

- The end result is an imaginary set of railroad tracks.

- Position a ball roughly six inches inside the tunnel that is farthest away from the hole. 

- Finally, align your club head so it is square to the target line.

Be sure to use the guide strings for aligning your eyes, hips, shoulders and feet so they are all parallel to the target line.

Now, begin taking practice putts and keeping your club face aiming straight down the target line using the string as your guide.


Practice until you can keep the ball inside the tunnel every time.

If your ball goes outside the the guide strings you should be able to easily correct it by repositioning your putter head parallel to the target line.


This drill well also help your long putts by keeping you body properly aligned and your putter square to the target line.
 

 GATE DRILL: This is a simple set up practice drill that only requires two tees spread apart the width of your putter.

- Step back about six to eight feet and work on getting the balls between the two openings.

 - Keep practicing with the same stoke length with ten to twelve balls.

 - The goal is to get each putt through the gate and in addition to getting each ball to touch each other after they get through the gate. 

By mastering the Gate Drill you will see Significant Improvements in the Accuracy of your putts. The bottom line is that you are fine tuning your set up, posture and maintaining a stoke path along the target line.
Tiger Woods practicing the Gate Drill
 It is very important that your club head is square and stays parallel to the target line. Remember that a key putting fundamental is to keep your shoulders, arms and putter acting as a single unit. Develop a smooth one piece upper body motion with almost no body rotation or flexing of the wrists. The lower body should remain relatively
stationary.


Putting Tip: Find a spot where the edge of the green is straight for a couple of feet. 
You can use this edge to check to see if your putter stoke is nice and parallel. 

It only takes a couple of practice stokes to determine if your putter club head is staying parallel target line.

With only a few minor adjustments maybe all that is needed to straighten out your putts. This is a great check when ever you are out on the course.

The next golf putting drill lesson well work on developing the proper wrist action in your putting stroke.

Continue to Next Lesson Wrist Control Drill