With plenty of green to work with, which can often mean plenty of room for error, especially when slopes come into play.
“Stephanie is faced with a very difficult putt, up a severe slope over a distance of what looks like approximately 15 metres”, offers Smyth.
“We can see in this photo the ball has started towards the hole and is a long way to the right of the hole, which shows how much slope there is to the left and how fast the greens are. When we face a long putt like this, it is important to read the putt starting at the hole and working back.
“In tournament conditions, the greens are typically fast, which will take the ball longer to stop, and the curves are exaggerated. As golfers, we commonly don’t allow enough break in the putts, particularly on putts of this length. When reading this putt, it could be broken into three sections: the bottom tier, the upslope and the top tier.
“There are some things we can learn from Stephanie, who is renowned for her putting skills.
“At the finish position, we notice a quiet lower body, the upper body remains in its posture, just slightly turned to the target and the putter head low and stable without any unnecessary twist of the putter face. Often a player won’t have created enough momentum in the putter swing to get the ball to travel the intended distance and will then try to move the body to increase force or twist the wrists, which can often lead to an off-centre strike.
“It is just as important in putting as the full swing to hit the ball out of the middle of the putter face to be consistent with distance control.
“On a putt like this, as much as we are trying to make the putt, the distance control is at a premium so that we can make a stress-free two-putt.”
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