The Mental Putting Game

My good friend, Jack Challender, and I always Golf TAlk. Jack is a Natural Golf Certified Instructor and is a member of the Natural Golf Hall of Fame. To say that he is one hell of a golfer is really not being fair to Jack. When we play at our home course, Mountain Brook Golf Club in Gold Canyon, Arizona, Jack is the guy that everyone around the tee-box watches as he tees it up. It is not unusual to watch his drive almost go out of sight when it rockets beyond the 250 yard mark. You should see the looks on the young guys’ faces when a guy old enough to be their grandfather knocks it 50 or 75 yards past their ball, right where he was aiming. That’s fun to watch!

Jack’s short game is even more impressive to me. He consistently chips and pitches within putting distance of the hole, then, putts in more than any player I’ve ever been around. So, when he offered to help me with my putting game, I jumped at the chance to do more than just talk about golf with him.

When we got to the practice green, I was all set to start draining some balls. Jack, however, started talking about the speed of the green. He had me put down three golf balls, then pick out a spot on the green – not a hole – to putt the first ball to. As I addressed the ball, he said to just make a “pendulum” type of swing, drawing the putter back about eight or ten inches, then swing the club past the ball the same distance by rocking my shoulders – no wrist action or arm action – allowing the ball to get in the way of the putter. When that ball stopped rolling, it became the target for the second and third putts. That really helped me get a “sense” or “feel” for how far the ball was going to roll on the green that day.

Then, he told me to putt one ball to each hole around the practice green, with the goal of no more than two-putting each hole. He said to address the ball with my head bent over, looking directly down on the ball. With the putter soled behind the ball, I was then to turn my head and look down the line directly at the hole, focusing in on one particular spot on the back rim of the hole - a blade of grass or a dark spot, for example - focusing on that spot for two or three seconds. Then, Jack said to turn my head back to the ball, while following the line from that spot on the hole to the ball with my eyes. Now, do not think, just grip the club lightly, rock my shoulders and allow the golf club to swing through the ball.

The first ball stopped dead-center in front of the cup about 5 inches from twelve feet. The tap-in gave me a two-putt for the hole, and I just looked at Jack and smiled. I two-putted or aced each of the other 5 holes on the green – without consciously thinking about how many feet to the hole or how hard to hit the ball. Just stepped up, looked at the spot on the hole, looked back to the ball, rocked my shoulders and watched the golf club go through the ball.

Jack emphasized that when we are talking about golf, we should be talking about the mental process when we are playing. We hear Johnny Miller talk about golf being a mental game all the time on TV, but what does that really mean? Jack says that once we have “grooved” our swing, we need to let our mind take over and do what we have trained it to do – hit the ball to the target. If I start talking about golf to myself while I’m putting – you know, saying things in my mind like “It’s uphill, so I better hit it hard” or “Don’t hit it too far past the hole” – that’s trying to direct the ball to act a specific way. What I have learned from Jack is that once I focus on the target I need to consciously get out of the way and let my sub-conscious mind take over. In other words, I need to stop mentally talking about golf and just play it. Try it. It works!

Thanks for visiting Golf Talk.

Click on the "Comment" button above to post your comments and thoughts about golf.

Hit 'em long, straight and often!


Contact: darabbitt@gmail.com

Tags: golf, golf talk, golf ball, golf course, golf club, golf swing, putt, putt mentally, talk about golf, golf talking