Purposeful practice
What you do before hitting a long putt has a huge bearing on success, so make sure your preparation and practice are focused and meaningful.
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Moving on to holing out consistently from close range, many golfers are guilty of indecision or uncertainty about where to aim and how the putt breaks. This leads to lack of commitment in the stroke and a greater likelihood of missing.
A good drill in practice is to choose your line and then place a tee peg or other small object just behind the hole where you think you need to start your putt – fractionally right of centre here. As you walk into the putt and take your stance, keep your focus on that tee peg. Picking a really small target like this from short range can help with your focus and engagement. The beauty is that you could miss your narrow target, yet still hole the putt because the hole is much bigger.
You can do the same thing out on the golf course by really focusing on a particular blade of grass, a blemish at the back of the hole or, these days, even just the narrow flagstick if it’s a straight putt – anything to help you engage better with a precise target.