Doug Martin

By Doug Martin

It’s very important to start your season with giving your short game a lot of attention. This is inclusive of your putting, chipping, and bunker play. Most of us will have taken 3-4 months away from the game before the new season starts. Consequently with the time away from the game we lose our sense of touch and feel and need to re-connect with developing the muscle memory associated with having a good short game. I think its important to set time aside to practice the different aspects of the short game. In this news letter, I would like to begin with putting and give you some simple thoughts to get you started.

When you look at putting, everyone does it a little different, I think developing a stroke that repeats and gives you the ability to hit your intended line at the highest percentage is what your looking for. Speed and line are the two most important elements of a putt. With speed being most important. The speed you chose for the putt will ultimately determine the line. Too often we fall in love with the line and completely forget about speed. So as you begin your practice focus your attention on speed when your practicing your putting. Here are a couple drills i would suggest: Line drill- put a ball at 10-20-30-40-50 ft and hit putts in order of 10-30-50-20-40, mixing it up this way will force you to get your feel for speed. Do this drill until you can get all 5 balls within three feet of the hole. The 2nd drill is: Go to the middle of the green and putt to the fringe, trying to stop the ball as close as you can to the fringe. Start with 6-8 balls and putt in a different direction with each putt.

Good Luck with this and look forward to having The Golf Ranch green as good as ever for 2011.