The “float” of the shot can hurt you. Here’s how to fix it, says the head coach

I see the movers swing. Heck, mine even bobs up and down as it goes right to left.

So, we tinker. With gloves. With positioning. With pusher. All in the name of a fluid movement to the ball, with the hope that it will move clearly into the cup.

Piers Ward has an opinion here. The solution may lie in your deployment approach.

The coach with Me and my Golf guidance team was speaking in a video recently posted on the team’s Instagram page (which you can look here), and Ward easily demonstrated a swing. He would repeatedly move his ball up and down the garage, which, as you know, significantly reduces the chances of square contact.

So what is the fix?

Ward said a player needs to add “velocity” to the shot. The tip video is below, and below are additional thoughts.

Here is Ward’s full opinion:

“So we see this shooter swinging and swinging all over the place and then accelerating fast and hard at impact,” Ward said in the video. “What you’re trying to do is you’re trying to control the machine to make it quiet. Well, the way we actually create control is that we give up control. Brad Faxon said that, and if he talks about deployment, we should listen.

“So what we’re looking for is just some speed at the stroke, put some pep in it. You’ll see it’s a lot smoother when we do that. (Here, Ward said.) Look at the speed and see how it sits in that path on the hitting coach. Nice spin from bottom to bottom. So give up control to gain control.”

The Instagram post also includes this note:

“You gain control when you give up control” – Brad Faxon. Instead of focusing so much on technique and controlling how the shooter moves, let it go and add some speed to the shot.

That SPEED will actually loosen things up, help the putter swing better, and help you control your feel and rhythm.”

Good things. Adding some “velocity” itself reduced some of the wobble.

It just takes time. For me, since it had more of an accelerated feel, there was a tendency to hit the ball harder. So you have to work at it. That said, I shared the video with a friend who was struggling with the swings.

Also in the Instagram post, there were answers to some questions, and those helpful exchanges are below, with the questions in italics.

“I struggle with this (swing). I know my swing is too slow and it causes a swing, but when I try to swing it a little too fast, I feel like I lose control of the distance.”

“It just takes a little calibration and practice,” replied the Me and My Golf team. “Maybe overshoot the first few, then you can adjust the stroke length.”

“Do we want the front axle to tilt? The neck actually has the shaft naturally bent away. (In the video, Ward was using the front axle tilt at an angle around 1 o’clock.)”

“It depends on the loft,” replied the Me and My Golf team, “and also how you swing through the ball.”

Dave Stockton compared the stroke to signing your name in his book ‘The Unconscious’. You don’t think about what your hand and arm movements are doing when you sign your name. Your putting stroke should be the same. Like you said, give up control to gain control.”

“I love that thought,” replied the Me and My Golf team. “We’ve used this before.”

Editor’s Note: To help further the conversation, below is a story written last year by Top 100 GOLF Teacher Kellie Stenzel titled “10 Exercises That Will Build Your Confidence and Lead to lower scores”. You can also read it by clicking here.

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The fastest way to lower your golf scores is by becoming a better player. To do this, it will take some practice to find your shot and gain some confidence. This is where understanding some drills can come into play, which can help you turn into a sniper with the flat stick in hand.

Since I’m always asked about my favorite workouts, I’ve decided to list them below. You need to get up well, aim your putting face well and get great at making your shots shorter – within the 3-4 foot range. The first three practice techniques are specific to this. Once you can make your short shots, you should be great at controlling the distance. Exercises 4 through 10 below address this aspect.

1. Stand next to a stretching stick

This may be one of the simplest techniques to practice, but it will reap huge rewards.

Take your alignment stick (or one of your sticks if you don’t have one) and place it so that it points to the outside of the hole, with the end touching the side of the cup. You will be positioned next to this stretch aid, so make sure the ball is on the side of the aid you are standing on.

Practice making small strokes that do not touch the extension bar. By doing this, you will be able to check if the ball is rolling straight off the putter face and into the hole. This is really useful for practicing more straight shots.

2. Chalk line

No questions, chalk line it’s one of my favorite training tools – and it’s one of the easiest workouts to put on.

Just find a fairway and hit a chalk line on the green – whether it’s a fair putt or a long putt. Point both your feet and the face of the putter’s foot, making sure the ball rolls well below the chalk line.

Practice until you feel confident and start seeing more shots hitting the hole.

3. Stretching ball

One of my new favorite training tools is stretching ball.

Not only does it help with extending the clubface of your putter, but it’s also dynamic enough to help with other parts of your game as well. Plus, it’s portable, so it’s easy to carry around for every round.

4. The 3-foot-rise workout

The fastest way to avoid the triple is by learning how to control your distance. Distance should be controlled by varying the length of the back, with your stroke relatively equal back and forth.

To practice this drill, place the balls in three-foot increments (one big step) away from the bowl. Start with the shortest shot and work your way back. Your goal is to control the distance and have your ball end up close to the hole.

As you increase the distance, the size of your backstroke should also increase slightly. The ability to make small changes in your shot is how you will gain more confidence and start to control your speed on the green.

5. Two-putt or better, seven times in a row

Choose two holes on your practice green that are 20 to 30 feet apart. Take a ball and roll it back and forth between the two cups.

Now, give yourself the goal of shooting two shots or better. For example, make sure you do two shots or better seven times in a row.

As you get better at this drill, increase the difficulty of the shot putt, or the number of times you need to make two shots or better. Ultimately, you should be able to make two shots or better 18 times in a row.

6. About 5 feet

This drill will help you learn to adjust your aim as you move around the hole, giving you the ability to read the greens more effectively.

To practice, place eight golf balls in a 5-foot diameter around the cup. Place each ball and notice how the rest changes as you move around the circle.

As you move to hit each ball, you must become more aware of the green’s tilt at your feet. This is how you are reading the green and should help you react as you line up for each putt.

Your goal is to make every shot on the first try, completing the full circle.

Another great way to improve your green reading ability is by using Golflogix putt linewhich provides targeting using tournament-quality green data.

7. Pull back

Leaving your first shot close to the hole is critical to improving your scorecard. This means your second shot is usually within 2 to 3 feet – from where you need to go nearly automatic in order to see the best results.

To help you achieve this, try practicing pull-ups.

If your first shot is within three feet of the cup, putt from there. If it is not within that radius of the hole, move the ball back a full putting length as a penalty.

Treat each hole as a par-2 and keep your score at par, with the goal of improving over time.

8. Over Par/Under Par

A more natural way to practice is to simply play 18 holes and keep your score relatively under par. Treat each hole like a par-2 once you’re on the putting surface, with the goal of making par-2 every time.

This allows you to work on your shots from a variety of greens, challenging yourself from different distances.

9. Match game

A fun (and natural) way to improve your expression is to simply challenge a friend to a match game.

Not only will this help you practice distance control and aim for two shots or less, but the pressure will also add an extra element.

Just treat each putt as a point, and whoever has the fewest points at the end of 18 holes is the winner.

10. Fringe on the fringe

Learning to control speed should always be the priority of your warm-up. Instead of always putting to a cup, it can be helpful to get a feel for the overall speed of the green by putting from one side of the green to the other – or end to end.

Practice going back and forth to see how close you can get to the edge of the green with each shot. This will help you focus more on your distance control and not worry about hitting or breaking the green.

Nick Piastowski

Editor of Golf.com

Nick Piastowski is a senior editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash down his score. . You can reach him about any of these topics – his stories, his game or his beers – at nick.piastowski@golf.com.