DRAINING MORE PUTTS

MASTERING THE FUNDAMENTALS

An apprentice to the great ‘Putting Doctor’ Harold Swash, Phil Kenyon doesn’t get the plaudits his CV warrants. Though he keeps a relatively low-profile, since taking on his first client in 2008 – one Henrik Stenson – Kenyon has forged a reputation as the go-to guy putting coach among the world’s best players. Rory Mcilroy Francesco Molinari, Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood have all enlisted his expertise and the softly spoken Lancastrian has to limit who he works with. Despite the demand, he was happy to give TG an insight into his teaching methods and share his expertise. Better still, as he explains here, any player of any standard can reap instant rewards by following his advice.

“Putting is one area of the game where you can make a big improvement quickly. Irrespective of your handicap or status, everyone can putt well. I’m never going to drive it 320 yards like Brooks Koepka or Rory Mcilroy, no matter how hard I work in the gym or on the range. I’m limited and I know that. But in putting, that’s less of a problem. It’s not like you need a certain amount of physical talent to putt well. I teach guys who play low-level golf, but putt well. I don’t see many 20 or 10-handicappers drive it like DJ, but I see some putt it better than some tour pros. Teaching a high handicapper is a completely different kind of challenge to teaching an elite player, but the fundamentals are very much the same.

“With both, I’m trying to get someone to understand the right concepts and co-ordinate themselves better. The analysis procedure doesn’t change; the only difference is that elite players have a greater adaptability and hand-eye co-ordination to do what is asked of them very quickly and effectively.

“There’s no such thing as a ‘textbook’ set-up. We’ve measured over 100 tour pros using 3D technology and not one person stood square to the target. The average tour player aligns seven degrees open, ranging up to 20 degrees open. My point is that their set-up is geared towards helping their stroke function. If you cut across the ball and hit pulls, standing open won’t help. Working more towards square will neutralise that. Whereas, if you’re someone who hits pushes and swings in-to-out, standing open is likely to benefit you.

“Most amateur golfers don’t control their speed or swing length very well, and hit putts using the same backswing. Any variance in speed comes from acceleration.

One of the biggest myths perpetuated in golf is that you need to accelerate into impact, when actually the best putters in the world tend to decelerate slightly. Think about it: You hit every putt with your backswing; you don’t hit a putt with your follow-through.

“Technology shows that everyone moves the putter head differently and, as a consequence, I don’t believe you can prescribe a remedy or recommend one grip which will suit everyone. It’s more about matching the hand placement with the pattern of your stroke. It’s a bit like a puzzle, because it’s not only the placement and pressure of the hand which has a big impact on the wrist sequence, and the orientation of the clubface, but also your arm position and how your shoulder and elbow sit. The type of putter you have is important, but I do think it is overstressed at times. Most people’s strokes are so inconsistent that a slight change in putter head doesn’t have much of an effect. Different head shapes and how they affect the rate of rotation may be more important for the better player, but more so it’s about the length, lie and loft. All three affect your set-up,

‘PUTTING IS MENTAL, BUT YOU DO NEED SOME DECENT TECHNIQUE. A COACH HAS TO DO THEIR JOB BEFORE A PSYCHOLOGIST CAN FINE-TUNE’

which consequently has an influence on your technique.

“A large part of putting is mental, but unless you’ve got some decent technique, it doesn’t matter how positive you are. If your clubface is open, the ball isn’t starting online. You’ve got to have some semblance of technical ability before you can start layering in the mental stuff. A golf coach has to do their job first before a psychologist can help to fine-tune things.

“To really improve your putting, you need to understand what you are doing wrong. Only then can you get the appropriate fix for it. And the only way you can do that is by going for a lesson. Putting doesn’t get anywhere near the amount of attention it should get. It amazes me how many club golfers don’t have enough lessons – and have never been custom fit. The two go hand in hand. There’s a lot of myths about putter fittings and how certain head shapes suit certain strokes, which is largely not true. But length and lie of the putter can affect certain aspects of set-up and technique. Alignment configuration and head shapes can also influence aim, so there’s a lot of aspects to a fitting which play an integral part in any lesson. Sadly, the average golfer doesn’t pay for instruction and ends up buying a putter off the shelf which, in most cases, is ill-fitting. It’s little wonder they don’t see positive results.

“The biggest fault I see in amateurs is too much body movement and too much hand and arm movement, but then every player is different. Ultimately, you’ve got to get help which is relevant to you. Once you’ve done that, it all comes down to the quality of practice.

“I get asked a lot about what my best tips are, but putting is a very individual part of the game. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. I’ve worked with tour players who use alignment lines on balls and others who totally ignore them. It all comes down to personal preference. If you struggle to aim the putter but you class yourself as a pretty good green reader, using an alignment line can be a very useful tool. But if you’re not very good at green reading by sight and rely a lot on feel, I think a line can be very constraining. There is no one-size-fits-all approach and the key is to find out what works for you.

“If I had to narrow things down, the most important thing, I believe, is your ability to hit your start line. I often create a drill relative to each player and the parameter of their stroke, which they can use to calibrate what they are doing on a daily basis. A lot of times it’s as simple as finding a straight putt and creating a gate, usually about 5cm wide, which they have to putt through.

“You can use two tee pegs, or you can buy ready-made gates that have different widths for different degrees of error. I try to encourage most tour pros to do that drill, because it highlights any tendencies and tells you if your read was any good. It’s the best and most effective kind of drill and if it works for tour pros, trust me that it will work for you too.”