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Hey golfers, PGA Teaching Professional Todd Kolb here with another segment of On the Lesson
Tee. One of the more common questions my students bring to me on a regular basis is "how can
I make more putts?" Now we all know that making a couple maybe eight, ten footers over the
course of a round can really determine what takes a good round into a great round.
Now one of the reasons I feel a lot of people—not only my students, but golfers in general—are
not making as many putts as they're capable of is they simply don't read them correctly;
and more specifically, they're not visualizing where the ball actually is going to enter
the cup. Now what do I mean by that? If we take a look at this putt right here, it's
about a ten footer, but it's got a big break from left to right; very common putt we're
going to see on the golf course. Now the natural instinct is if you're hitting
this putt, is to take a direct look from the ball to the center of the cup, which is represented
right here by the tee. Now we all know—as we just said—that this putt actually is
going to break. So the ball is never going to hit this tee if you're going to make it.
It's actually going to enter on what I call the High Side, or what I would call the true
center of the cup. So if we want to make more putts, we need to be able to read the putt;
but furthermore, we need to be able to visualize where is the ball going to roll, and where
is it going to actually enter the cup. And if you can do that, you'll find that your
aim is better, your stroke is better and—of course—you're going to make more putts.
So this simple concept of understanding—asking yourself where is the ball going to enter
the cup—is not only going to help you make more putts, it's going to help you shoot lower
scores, and hopefully enjoy your day on the golf course.