IMPROVING DISTANCE CONTROL
PGA Professional Mark Officer provides an insight into the importance of good tempo for distance control with the flatstick.
HOW to vary the length you hit your putts is often debated amongst amateur golfers, whether they favour varying the tempo or the length of the stroke.
To develop good distance control you need the backswing to increase in length to hit the putt the correct length, with the follow through generally slightly longer than the backswing. By doing this, you will develop better distance control through centred contact (pic 1) on the putterface and a consistent tempo.
Tour players usually have a tempo around 2.0:1 that applies to all putts regardless of length. This means that from the start of the forward swing till impact should take half the time of the back stroke. On average a Tour player will take between 600-700 milliseconds to complete the back stroke and between 300-350 milliseconds to return the putter head to impact.
Training devices like Blast Motion Capture (pic 2) offer instant feedback on the consistency of a player’s stroke and tempo through a sensor that fits on to the end of any club and measures up to 11 parameters in a putting stroke.
(Blast Motion Capture is a small sensor that can be used for the full swing or putting stroke that helps improve your timing. For putting, the Blast sensor attaches to the grip of your putter and transmits metrics to your phone. You get immediate feedback regarding your tempo and how close you are to achieving the ideal 2.0:1tempo previously mentioned. For more information visit blastmotion.com/products/golf)
Regardless of whether a putt is four or 54-feet, uphill or downhill, the tempo remains the same (and close to the 2.0:1 mark) and the backstroke should simply increase in length but should be shorter than the follow through (pics 3, 4 & 5).