Within 30 seconds of watching someone shoot a shot, I can tell if they’ve had good instruction. Not by their hitting or pitching, but by the bases they either have or don’t have. What happens before they strike.
Tournament players obsess over these fundamentals in every putt. Most amateurs overlook them or don’t know they exist. Then they wonder why their placement remains unstable.
Right green reading
Many amateurs actually don’t do this read the greens. They think. Walk up, see the hole, hit it.
Tournament players have a process. They start reading as they walk up, looking at the general slope and how the water will flow from it. They look behind the ball and behind the hole, paying attention to the area around the cup where the ball moves the slowest and breaks the most.
What they’re looking for: overall slope, subtle breaks, surface speed and grain. They gather information instead of guessing.
The biggest amateur mistake is just looking behind the ball. You need at least two corners. Walk around on the low side and look back. Fractures that were invisible suddenly appear.
Choosing a specific target
After reading the putt, select a specific target. Not “somewhere to the right of the hole,” but an exact spot: a bleached blade of grass, a ball mark, an old hole plug.
Tournament players always shoot in one spot, never a general area. Aiming “about six inches to the right” leaves your brain confused. Aiming at a specific sign gives clear instructions.
Choose your country, then commit. Trust your reading and execution.
The pre-shot routine that matters
Every tournament player has one pre-shoot routine which is almost identical every time. Same number of practice shots. They put the shooter behind the ball in the same way and take the same amount of time.
This consistency puts your mind at ease. Your brain recognizes the pattern and knows what comes next. Anxiety subsides. Execution improves.
Your routine doesn’t need to be complicated. One look at the target, one practice shot, set up, one more look, hit it. But do it the same way every time. Bird putt or putt, the routine remains identical.
Ball position and eye position
The ball should land just ahead of center, roughly under your left eye if you’re right-handed. This ensures that you hit the ball slightly on the rise, resulting in a smooth spin.
Too far? You hit and she jumps, killing distance control. Too far ahead? You cannot control the strike.
Most good players have their eyes somewhere on the ball or slightly inside it. While there is variation among tournament players, finding a consistent eye position that works for you is more important than hitting an exact spot. If your eyes are too far out of line, you may have difficulty with alignment.
Check this by holding a ball in your lead eye and releasing it. It should land on or very close to the ball you are putting.
Over-the-line pace control
Pace control separates the good players from the bad. Most amateurs are obsessed with line and ignore rhythm. But pace matters more, especially on longer shots.
A putt on the perfect line with the wrong tempo will miss. A slightly off-the-line shot with perfect pace often falls or ends up close. The hole is bigger when the ball is moving at the right speed. Very quickly; it should be dead center. With the right speed, it can grab any part of the hole.
Tournament players are constantly practicing their pace, hitting putts from different distances, trying to finish them in a three-foot circle, not trying to make them, trying to control the pace. Master pace control and shot making become much easier.
No one is talking about the sequel
Your backflip should be longer than your forward. All tournament players share this basic, but amateurs often vary it: a short backswing and a long follow-through cause unstable contact and poor distance control.
The best shooters maintain a steady firing rate rather than accelerating through the stroke. The shooter naturally decelerates after contact with the ball. This creates a better feel and a more predictable spin.
A good ratio is about 60/40. Six-inch recoil, four-inch follower. This ratio stays roughly the same whether you’re hitting a three-footer or a thirty-footer. Longer shots need a longer stroke overall, but the ratio remains consistent.
Keeping a calm head
Your head must remain still during the shot and after the ball leaves the putter’s face. Looking early is the number one killer of well placed shots.
Look early and your shoulders open: your path changes and you pull the putt. Tournament players keep their heads down until they hear the ball drop or until it is well past where the ball was.
Practice listening to the ball instead of looking at it. Hit the putt and keep your eyes on the ground where the ball was. Listen to hit the cup. This exercise alone will significantly improve your placement.
The mental side of the basics
These foundations are physical, but, in reality, they are really mental. They create consistency so your brain can focus on the task at hand instead of worrying about mechanics.
Tour players are under pressure because their fundamentals are so strong that they don’t think about them. Hitting just happens. Amateurs struggle because they lack that foundation, thinking about ten different things while trying to make a putt.
Build your basics in practice so that you forget them during the course. This is what tournament players know and amateurs miss.
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