These are my 5 “must haves” for great placement

Golf instruction is always evolving, but the best tips stand the test of time. In GOLF.com’s new series, Lifetime Tips, we’re highlighting some of the greatest advice that teachers and players have shared in the pages of GOLF Magazine. Today we revisit Ben Crenshaw’s putting tips from our January 1981 issue. For unlimited access to GOLF Magazine’s complete digital archive, join Inside GOLF tODAY; you’ll enjoy $140 worth of value for just $39.99 per year.

Putting is an essential element of golf — and if you want to become a good player, you better learn how to make it a strength. Dead-eyed shooters can turn bogeys into pars, and pars into birdies. When you spin the ball well on the greens, you’re never really out of the hole.

Just like in full motion, everyone has their own unique flare when it comes to deployment. Some focus on the mechanics of the stroke, while others rely more on feel. There is no hard and fast rule for what you should do. The only thing that matters is that you feel comfortable on the ball.

Well, that’s it PRINCIPALLY true. According to two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw, you can use any style you want on the greens – but make sure your style fits within these five “musts”.

5 putting ‘should’, be Ben Crenshaw

If there’s one thing certain about deployment, it’s that it’s an individual business. Great footballers have used every possible catch, stance and kick. They’ve used shoulder and arm strikes, very few hands, lots of hands, and everything in between. They’ve used slow shots, pendulums, and fast, shorter shots, and again, everything in between.

Are there, then, any rules to deployment? Yes, I think there is. Although you have a lot of latitude in constructing your own style, you should follow the principles I’ll outline here.

1. Keep your shoulders above the putt

Many guidelines in recent years actually say that the eyes should be on the ball when shooting. However, big hitters like Isao Aoki and Fuzzy Zoeller have proven that it’s not a “must” – Aoki’s ball is much further away from his body than a line vertically down from his eyes. Zoeller puts the same way to a lesser extent, and checking myself, I find that my eyes are a little “inside” the ball. What is essential is to have your upper back more or less horizontal. This position gives you the swing path you need to set up. Although the putter will swing back to the inside going back and forth after impact, it will follow a path much closer to “straight back and straight through” than if you stayed as straight as you would for a full putt. How much you bend over the ball is a personal choice and varies from players like Jack Nicklaus and Hubert Green who sit down, to players like me who stand up.

2. Putt as you swing

I think all the great golfers have treated the putt like a miniature golf swing. They naturally formed putting strokes that had the same relative length, pace and style as their full swing. For example. Billy Casper has a closed-to-open stroke; it is quite short and has a fast pace. His complete swings have the same characteristics. On the other hand, I have a longer, more deliberate stroke, with the putter’s face remaining square to the shoulders as it moves back and through. My full swings have the same characteristics. Tom Watson has a very quick pace in his full swings and the same pace in his batting. Then there’s Arnold Palmer – he almost forces the ball on the green and uses the same method on his full swings. The most obvious example, perhaps, was Bobby Locke. He aimed well to the right of the target with his full shots and then turned the ball over from a very closed position. In shooting, he also kept a closed stance and hit the ball a lot inside-out. Some people swear he even pulled his shots!

To put it another way, it’s not a good idea to adopt a putting style that is completely different from your full swing. If you do, it can “leak” into your full range of motion with poor results. For example, if I were to adopt Billy Casper’s style, | i can find myself working the blade from closed to open in my full swings or just swinging it very “short” and fast. That would go against my natural inclinations. Everyone has a rhythm and timing that is natural to them. If you deviate from these, the shot simply won’t work. Just as well, I could be in deep trouble if I decided to emulate Locke’s closed extension. Before I knew it, I could aim to the right of the target on my full shots and pin myself right off course!

The bottom line is that you have to know yourself. You must study your mental and physical makeup and the characteristics of your full movement. Ask yourself: Am I slow and deliberate or fast and nervous? Do I have a long or short swing? Do I favor a square layout or am I more comfortable slightly open or closed? Do I swing the club from open to closed, closed to open or do I keep the club square? Based on the answers to these questions, you can develop a placement method that is consistent with your full swing.

3. Keep the thumbs up

There is tremendous freedom of choice with regards to capturing placement. You can use regular overlay, reverse overlay, crossed hand, split hand etc. But one attribute is common to almost every good grip – the thumbs extend straight down the top of the grip. Most often, this “thumbs on top” position is used because the player wants to keep the palms facing each other so that the hands work together during the stroke. He finds that this helps him keep the club square. I do this myself. However, even if you study good putters who turn their palms outward like Jack Nicklaus does (to reduce wrist strain), you’ll still find that their thumb pads are on top of the grip. Why? Because with your thumbs on top you have better feel – you can feel the shot and guide the putter more easily.

The thumbs of each hand are the “followers”. If you were to feel the texture of a fabric, you would rest the cloth with your index finger, but you would feel the cloth by rubbing it with your thumb. If you reached into your pocket to get a coin for a local call, your thumb would tell the difference between the coin and the other small change in your pocket. The thumb also plays a major role in writing and other delicate tasks. In deployment, where one of the primary requirements is touch, it makes sense for the thumbs to be placed directly on top of the handle so they can bring maximum feel to the job in hand.

4. Guard against the three-shot

It is clear that all good players have repetitive strokes and that the touch that develops from that stroke is a major factor in their success. However, I think there are two other factors that help the good shooter get down to two shots or less practically all the time.

First, all good putters are skilled at reading the greens and know how different types of grasses, fairways, and grains affect the putt. They’ve also trained themselves to observe those details before hitting the shot, not afterward with 20-20 hindsight. That’s why I think it’s a good idea to practice reading kisses on the practice green; it is as important as the beat of the shot. The other factor is the “delay vs. fee” question. More often than not, a small putter will defend against a three-putt by lagging the longer shots around the hole, rather than charging.

Bobby Jones and Bobby Locke were “wet” players in their day, and so was Nicklaus. I am too. As Jones said: “The good beggar is just the man who can keep on coming, within a foot of the hole; it opens up more shots because the bigger the number approaching, the more likely it is to go in.”

However, how can one explain such brave players as Palmer, Watson or Andy Bean, who constantly go a few meters from the hole? I think the answer lies in knowing yourself. If the *’come-backers’ are not afraid of you, if you know you can make them, then you can afford to go for the hole. But if you’re not confident on the short shots, I think you’ll be more consistent and open more shots if you’re comfortable leaving the longer shots closed.

5. Stay consistent

A final principle common to all good players of the modern era is consistency. They keep the head and lower body still. And that applies whether they are wrist setters, like Palmer, Casper and Doug Ford, or arm and shoulder setters, like Bob Charles and Watson. I belong to the “arm and shoulder” category and do not allow any head or leg movement, even on long shots. I just extend the stroke to send the ball farther.

However, I have to admit that one great player did not fit this picture, and that was Bobby Jones. Jones pitched from a very tight stance and there was pronounced footwork on Jones’ longer shots. And Jones himself said he could feel the leg movement on his shorter kick, although that movement was not discernible in photographs. Jones simply believed that you should allow leg movements to occur as needed, but cautioned against excessive movements.

In essence, Jones was put in the same way as a full-body puncher, using the whole body, not just parts of it. Which method should you use? Well, if you buy the idea that the “best” method is the one most often used on tour, then I think there’s no doubt today that you should use a “shoulder and arm” style, no knuckles, or just a small hand. However, if you can’t get any feel or control out of this style, then experiment with a more handheld style or even the Jones style.

For the last style, I’ll add this thought: If you try it, keep your head steady on the ball. Jones never swayed the decision, and neither should you.