Eric DeKarski, as he swings his pitcher back and forth, apparently knows one thing he won’t do after contact with the ball.
Pull it back.
And how confident is he in his method?
“It will help you stop pulling your shots, guaranteed,” he says.
DeKarski, who teaches out of Ballamor Golf Club in New Jersey, is speaking in a video recently posted on his Instagram pageand the subject is familiar. Players can have their own straight line. Players can slow down. But one withdrawal ruins it all.
DeKarski thinks he can help. Below is his video. Below are some notes.
In the video, DeKarski listed three parts of his technique to stop the pull.
1. Position of the ball
“First, worry about your ball position,” he said in the video. “Make sure it’s a little more in the middle and not too far forward.”
2. Press forward
“Next,” he said in the video, “add a little forward press with your hands.”
3. Wrist movement
In the video, DeKarski asked not to move his wrist, and to control it, he had an exercise. He said it was his best workout.
“Place a golf ball on your inner forearm,” he said in the video.
“If you make a good shot, it’s going to stay there. If you throw or release too early, the ball will go out.”
In the video, DeKarski then made a layup.
Is it worth at least looking at the method? For sure. The author, a 14 handicap, tried it. I put the ball “a little more in the middle and not too far forward”. I added the front press – in full disclosure, I’ve used this before and I’m not a fan. I placed the ball between the inside forearm and the grip.
I hit 10 shots and saw no pullback.
Is the technique guaranteed? That’s a big word, of course. However, it is effective. Movements eliminate ways to draw. One thing to add from DeKarski’s video – check out his shot put. He drove the club back a distance that seemed to be based on the length of the putt, hit the ball and his pass was short, a move that Cam Smith uses. (You can read more about this here AND here.)
Let’s continue the conversation to decide. Last Sunday, GOLF Top 100 teacher Kellie Stenzel wrote an article titled “Try This 5-Step Plan to Become a Better Putter” and you can read that story by clicking here or scrolling down.
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Being a great player requires great technique and some structured practice. Once it’s on the phone, you can practice with focused drills that will help you control your distance and get better at reading the greens.
So what are the keys? Let’s take a look.
Good placement
It all starts with good set up, where your stance allows your arms to hang so that your eye line is relatively over the ball and parallel to the line of aim. A great training aid to develop this is simply one putting mirror.
The path of the blow
Next, I suggest working on your stroke path, which can be practiced with one swing arc or on a mattress. Ideally, the weft face will lie perpendicular to a warp path.
A good friend of mine, fellow Top 100 GOLF instructor Stan Utley, explains the swing path as “straight back and straight up an inclined plane,” which makes it easy to understand even for the most novice player. But to achieve this, you need to stay relatively still during your swing, which will help improve path control and distance.
Equipment
Another factor in becoming a great putter is your gear – so make sure you have a putter that suits both you and your shot.
Often, the legs are too long if bought off the shelf, making it difficult to get a good stance – which can negatively affect your swing path.
Practice distance control
Once your technique is up and running, I suggest focusing on distance control drills first – with the three-foot step-up drill being one of my favorites, as I use it all the time in my clinics.
Simply place the balls in three-foot increments, starting with the shortest shot and working your way back. The goal is to control the length and distance of your shot, so take a practice shot before each shot, trying to make your shot as realistic in size as possible.
You should try to roll the first (shorter) shot to within two to three feet of the hole, so focus on your backswing length to control distance.
As you move back, the stroke size should increase. When this happens, the putter’s natural drop speed increases, causing the ball to roll farther. The ability to adjust the length of the back for different distances will benefit with distance control – which will help avoid three shots.
Practice stroke size
Another critical aspect of becoming a good shooter is adapting to uphill and downhill changes.
To practice this, pick an uphill putt, and a downhill putt, and just practice going back and forth a few times in a row until you get two throws or better. The feel that can be developed by controlling your stroke size can make a huge difference on the course.
Remember that putting is a learned skill and that, with some commitment to practicing it, you can develop the confidence to lower your shots in the round – thereby improving your scores.
If you are looking for more short games and tips, I suggest you check out Parker McLachlin, aka Short game Chiefwhich has many tips to help improve your game near the green.
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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.
