Listen to the putt drop
Putting need not be as hard as many ammies make it out to be. All you need to do is pick the right line and listen for the sound of the putt dropping, reckons PGA professional Kenneth Dube.
Keep the head down
For many amateur golfers, getting the ball into the hole with the flatstick can be quite stressful. As such, they have barely hit the ball when they pop their head up to see where it’s going. My advice is exactly the opposite: you need to keep your head down and listen to the beautiful sound of the ball falling into the hole – that way if you have the correct set-up, you will keep your body in the right position all the way through the swing.
In other words, you have to trust your putter to do the job. Start by judging the pace of the putt. Once you know how hard you need to hit the ball, pick a spot on the line of the putt to aim at and concentrate on hitting your putt over that mark. It could be a repaired pitchmark or a dirty mark, but the point is that instead of concentrating on the hole, you are focusing your attention on the mark and the pace and line of the putt. Of course, if you’ve judged the putt properly, you will hear that great sound of the ball falling into the hole.
Tip by Kenneth Dube
Kenneth Dube is the golf director at Royal Oak CC in Brakpan, Gauteng. The winner of the 2003 PGA National Championship, he is also on the players’ committee of the Sunshine Big Easy Tour and runs the Kenneth Dube Golf Academy for 60 juniors at Royal Oak.
Contact Kenneth on 011 740 0144, 082 831 9805 or kennethdube@gmail.com.
