After one golf in the last five years, Dave Tindall is trying to break 90 for the first time in over a decade. Follow his journey here.
One shortcut to getting my score down is to take fewer putts.
In my comeback round of 102 a few weeks ago, I swished the putter 38 times. Instinctively that felt far too many.
But what is an acceptable amount?
One Twitter response, @dougalyd, seemed to suggest I’d done okay. “I think that’s a very decent effort! You putted better than I did when I restarted, I found it so tough on the greens.”
But my playing partner for the day during my 102 had a different take.
“Your putting was shit.”
So where does the truth lie?
Surely I could knock four or five off that tally of 38 without too much difficulty, couldn’t I?
Hard graft is clearly the most likely answer but, like every golfer, I’m seduced by the idea of quick improvement.
Thankfully, as I was pondering my next step, I brought to mind a book review that Golf365 colleague Matt Cooper had put up on the site recently.
The book was John Richardson’s 50 Greatest Golf Tips and Matt had written this about the art of putting.
“One of my favourite tips regarded putting and the impact was extraordinary. Within hours of reading the tip I was on the course and draining long putt after long putt.
“Finding the bottom of the cup had never felt easier. It was amazing.”
So what on earth was this?
Finding a groove
The tip, No. 27 in John’s book, reads like this:
“When I was young, I played most of my golf with my older brother. One day he was having a particularly ‘hot’ day with the putter. Intrigued by what he was doing, and frustrated by the margin by which he was beating me, I asked how he was putting so well.
“He explained that he was imagining a clear groove in the grass that ran directly from the ball to the hole. After he had read the putt properly all he needed to do was confidently set the ball on its way along the groove.
“As long as he struck the ball at the right speed, the groove would do the rest. We both used this method and holed some huge putts – it seemed like magic.
“This technique still helps with my confidence when it comes to longer putts and many other aspects of my game.”
The inspiration, John reveals, comes from no less than Arnold Palmer, who penned the following in a foreword for Ray Floyd’s book, ‘The Elements of Scoring’.
Palmer had written: “When I was having trouble putting, Raymond told me to imagine the ball was a small locomotive on a track that led straight to the hole.
“‘Now, Arnold,’ he said, ‘you really have to believe it’s a train. Those of us who do believe can smell the smoke.’ It’s a lesson I’ve called on many times since.”
Well, if it works for Arnold Palmer and Ray Floyd – 11 Majors between them – it’s good enough for me.
So, I headed to a local course near me, Northcliffe Golf Club in West Yorkshire, and thanks to local pro Dave Delaney got access to their putting green.
At this point, it would be fun to write that I took Palmer’s advice on board and watched the magic unfold. And that I drove home on cloud nine.
But it didn’t quite work out that way.
No, it wasn’t a case of the advice not working; it was just a case of me never getting to implement it.
Why? Dave asked me to hit a few putts and – as he’s a pal – basically told me my putting stroke was horrendous. A flippy, wrist-cocking shambles that would never produce any consistency. It was said with a smile and when he showed me a video back, I chuckled at just how right he was.
Back to basics
So instead of believing in putts going down train tracks, Dave went back to basics with me, first giving me an alignment tip: use the mark on my Nike Method putter.
That worked immediately as all my previous putts were coming out of the toe.
His second tip was about keeping a much firmer left wrist and keeping my hands and putter moving at the same pace, aided by a device wedged in my watch strap.
With head pro Matt also bringing out some little gates to putt through to practise alignment and keeping the clubface of my putter square, there was an immediate improvement in my consistency.
No more cocking wrists and the clubface trying to replicate a whipped tennis forehand but straighter lines, less movement and better results.
Sometimes you have to walk before you can run. With some technique brush-ups now in place, I’ll be ready to try something more ethereal, imaginative and ambitious next time.
You can try Arnie’s trainlines now if your set-up is decent. But I just want to get the basics a little steadier.
As I walk off, Dave reckons I can get those 38 putts down quickly. It’s a good note to end on.
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