It is the ultimate aim of the game – getting the ball in the hole – and one of the best exponents of that thus far on The 2009 European Tour International Schedule is South African Thomas Aiken.
A glance at the Genworth Financial Statistics show that the 25 year old from Johannesburg is currently number one in the Putts per Greens in Regulation category with an average of 1.670, while he also lies second in the Average Putts per Round with 27.6. So what is his short stick secret? Thomas let us atwww.europeantour.comknow the keys to being mean on the green.
“I think a lot of people read into putting as a technical thing, like the golf swing itself is, but it is really a feel thing and, in that, by far and away the most important thing is pace,” he said.
“If you get your pace right, you have much more chance of getting the ball in the hole as the hole becomes a little bigger. If you are hitting it too hard and it catches the edge it is going to lip out while, on the other hand, you have the old adage ‘never up, never in.’ Therefore pace is key.”
Aitken added that it also does not matter how your putting stroke looks, as long as it gets the job done.
“Take Jeev Milkha Singh for example,” he said. “He has been at the top of the putting stats for a long time and, technically, if you look at his stroke, it doesn’t look so good but it works very well.
“Putting is purely feel. Find a putter that you like, one that sits square and one that you like the look of, and you will have a better chance of getting the ball in the hole. Just stick to feel and don’t get too technical.
“Long putts are all about pace. You just want to lag it up there to within tap in distance. Mark McNulty had the same coach as me when I was growing up and that is what he told me when I was a junior, just lag it up there and if it drops in, then it is a bonus.”
Despite being the crucial part of overall scoring, the South African admitted it is quite often the part of an amateur’s warm up which is ignored.
“Ninty per cent of the guys I play with in Pro-Ams hit some balls on the range to warm up but they never go to the putting green. So they have hit a few before they go to the first tee which is fine, but when they get to the first green, they have no idea of how hard to hit the putt. It makes a big difference.
“An easy drill for the amateurs to improve their putting is to start about six inches from the hole with three balls and just get the balls dropping into the hole and then gradually move six inches further back and carry on from there until they get to about 12 to 15 feet and then hit some long putts. It they do that, by the time they get on the course, they should have the feel of the greens.”
