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Balance

You need good equilibrium

to excel at any sport.

IN SHORT

Good balance is essential in all sports. Staying well-grounded when you putt helps you to make solid contact with the ball. Unwanted movement can lead to inconsistent results.

In golf, if you are unsteady on your feet, you are more likely to hit at the ball rather than swing through it.

In principle it is easier to hit a stationary object that it is to hit a moving one. Therefore it should be easier to hit a golf ball than a tennis ball.

But this is often not the case; even when it comes down to the gentle action of putting.

Solid Contact and Balance

Golfers seldom whiff a putt, but evidence shows that very few make solid contact with the ball. In other words they fail to contact the ball on the sweetspot of their putterface.

Many golfers don't realise how much their body moves when putting. It is this swaying that causes their centre of gravity to shift about during their putting stroke when ideally it should remain in the same place.

The ball may be static, but if you don't remain well-grounded you are in effect hitting a moving ball. Why make something that is relatively simple more difficult?

Weight Distribution in Setup

Centre of Gravity Triangle

During your setup you should distribute your weight so that you are centred over the ball. In other words your weight should be balanced between your left and right feet and between your heels and your toes.

At this moment your centre of gravity will be the exact spot where all the surrounding weight of your body is equal.

To improve the consistency of your putting stroke it is essential that you maintain a constant centre of gravity.

You must not do anything that will destroy the equilibrium you established with your posture and stance.

Body Movement

Unwanted movement can occur in the lower body, in the upper body or both. Once you are aware that you are moving - and most golfers are not - there are a number of putting drills to eliminate the fault.

Lower Body

Holding a basketball between your knees stabilises your legs and prevents your weight from shifting side to side.

Mel Sole of Ritson-Sole Golf School demonstrates on YouTube a similar technique using a plastic garden chair propped up against the back of your legs.
Martin Hall illustrates a couple of quiet lower body drills in the book Success on the Green by Steve Hosid.

Upper Body

The putting stroke is an upper body movement. The harmful movement is coming out of the stroke too soon.

A popular drill is to practise your stroke with your head resting against the wall and with the toe of your putter against the base board.
If the sun is shining, you can use the outline of your shadow to see if your head moves during your stroke.

Most unnecessary movement in putting is the result of a change in the balance that you established at address. By maintaining a constant centre of gravity you will go a long way towards improving your putting.

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1 = chinadaily.com.cn

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