Change the Way You Putt
Innovation and creativity are the keys to success in many industries.
They're also the keys to success in golf.
Take the case of Stan Utley, professional golf's newest guru.
His innovative approach to the short game is transforming the way some PGA golfers chip and putt.
In fact, at least three of golf's top players-Jay Haas, Peter Jacobson, and Darren Clarke- are all Utley clients.
So is Rocco Mediate, five-time PGA Tour Winner.
Nowhere is Utley's approach more innovative and creative than in putting.
His approach to putting is different.
No doubt about it.
He teaches techniques you won't learn in most traditional golf lessons or read in golf tips.
These principles may make you shake your head.
But they work for players at all levels of golf handicap.
Among his biggest supporters is Mediate.
While this statement may be somewhat exaggerated, Utley's putting approach is worth considering if you struggle on the greens.
Fix Your Grip The putting grip is among Utley's focuses.
He advocates a reverse overlap grip with your hands in a natural, neutral position, relative to the way your arms hang.
Based on the way most right-handed players grip the putter, this places the left hand in a weak position on the putter and the right hand in a strong position.
This grip, Utley says, provides more feel and allows you to swing your arms and the club naturally.
More importantly, it doesn't force you to work against your anatomy.
Another focus for Utley is body alignment.
He believes that bad alignment makes putting harder than it needs be.
He contends that if you start with bad alignment, you're going to do something to compensate-even subconsciously-and you won't be consistent.
His approach advocates placing your shoulders, hips, and feet square to the target, but aligning your forearms parallel to the start line.
Thus, a line drawn across your forearms would be parallel to the target line.
A perfect grip, with your elbows tucked to your sides, is the best way to achieve this alignment position.
The Stroke Is A Curve Ball position is also critical in Utley's approach.
He advocates placing the ball toward the front of your stance, just under your left eye.
Too far forward he contends and the path will be to the left of impact.
Too far back and the path will be to the right.
In addition, the stroke should follow a gently curving path that places the ball position at the apex of the curve.
You should feel like you're fanning the club open, then shut.
The curved stroke, he contends, enhances your ball striking-a plus when it comes to 20-footers.
Perhaps, the oddest principle in Utley's approach is his advice to add loft to your putter.
He believes that 4 degrees of loft at impact creates the best roll.
But he also believes that the putter shaft should lean forward at impact.
That means you'll probably need more loft on the putter than the standard 3 or 4 degrees most putters come with.
He uses a putter lie-loft machine to bend his putters to 6 degrees of loft.
Adding More Loft Helps Using a putter without enough loft hurts your technique.
If you use a putter without enough loft, according to Utley, you're probably scooping your hands and breaking your wrists through impact.
That's not good.
Bending the putter to get more loft on it sometimes solves the problem right away.
If it doesn't, try this drill: Make a stack of two quarters and a penny, and put it an inch behind your ball, right on the target line.
Three inches in front of the ball, make a stack of two dimes, again right on the target line.
Your putting stroke should cause the putter to miss the stack of coins behind the ball on the backswing, then hit the stack of coins in front of the ball just after impact.
This drill gets you to hit down on your putts instead of scooping them, and you'll start maintaining the forward shaft angle and holding the angle of your right wrist through impact.
It might feel awkward at first, but you'll get over that when you see how much more true your putts roll.
The feeling at impact should be much more solid and the time to get your ball to roll out a lot less.
Utley's putting approach, as we said in the beginning, has some people shaking their heads.
And you won't find his ideas in any golf tips or get them in any golf lessons.
But they seem to work for some, as Rocco Mediate attests to.
If putting is preventing you from whittling down your golf handicap, Utley's approach might be just what the doctor ordered.
After all, innovation and creativity work in business.
Why not in golf?
They're also the keys to success in golf.
Take the case of Stan Utley, professional golf's newest guru.
His innovative approach to the short game is transforming the way some PGA golfers chip and putt.
In fact, at least three of golf's top players-Jay Haas, Peter Jacobson, and Darren Clarke- are all Utley clients.
So is Rocco Mediate, five-time PGA Tour Winner.
Nowhere is Utley's approach more innovative and creative than in putting.
His approach to putting is different.
No doubt about it.
He teaches techniques you won't learn in most traditional golf lessons or read in golf tips.
These principles may make you shake your head.
But they work for players at all levels of golf handicap.
Among his biggest supporters is Mediate.
While this statement may be somewhat exaggerated, Utley's putting approach is worth considering if you struggle on the greens.
Fix Your Grip The putting grip is among Utley's focuses.
He advocates a reverse overlap grip with your hands in a natural, neutral position, relative to the way your arms hang.
Based on the way most right-handed players grip the putter, this places the left hand in a weak position on the putter and the right hand in a strong position.
This grip, Utley says, provides more feel and allows you to swing your arms and the club naturally.
More importantly, it doesn't force you to work against your anatomy.
Another focus for Utley is body alignment.
He believes that bad alignment makes putting harder than it needs be.
He contends that if you start with bad alignment, you're going to do something to compensate-even subconsciously-and you won't be consistent.
His approach advocates placing your shoulders, hips, and feet square to the target, but aligning your forearms parallel to the start line.
Thus, a line drawn across your forearms would be parallel to the target line.
A perfect grip, with your elbows tucked to your sides, is the best way to achieve this alignment position.
The Stroke Is A Curve Ball position is also critical in Utley's approach.
He advocates placing the ball toward the front of your stance, just under your left eye.
Too far forward he contends and the path will be to the left of impact.
Too far back and the path will be to the right.
In addition, the stroke should follow a gently curving path that places the ball position at the apex of the curve.
You should feel like you're fanning the club open, then shut.
The curved stroke, he contends, enhances your ball striking-a plus when it comes to 20-footers.
Perhaps, the oddest principle in Utley's approach is his advice to add loft to your putter.
He believes that 4 degrees of loft at impact creates the best roll.
But he also believes that the putter shaft should lean forward at impact.
That means you'll probably need more loft on the putter than the standard 3 or 4 degrees most putters come with.
He uses a putter lie-loft machine to bend his putters to 6 degrees of loft.
Adding More Loft Helps Using a putter without enough loft hurts your technique.
If you use a putter without enough loft, according to Utley, you're probably scooping your hands and breaking your wrists through impact.
That's not good.
Bending the putter to get more loft on it sometimes solves the problem right away.
If it doesn't, try this drill: Make a stack of two quarters and a penny, and put it an inch behind your ball, right on the target line.
Three inches in front of the ball, make a stack of two dimes, again right on the target line.
Your putting stroke should cause the putter to miss the stack of coins behind the ball on the backswing, then hit the stack of coins in front of the ball just after impact.
This drill gets you to hit down on your putts instead of scooping them, and you'll start maintaining the forward shaft angle and holding the angle of your right wrist through impact.
It might feel awkward at first, but you'll get over that when you see how much more true your putts roll.
The feeling at impact should be much more solid and the time to get your ball to roll out a lot less.
Utley's putting approach, as we said in the beginning, has some people shaking their heads.
And you won't find his ideas in any golf tips or get them in any golf lessons.
But they seem to work for some, as Rocco Mediate attests to.
If putting is preventing you from whittling down your golf handicap, Utley's approach might be just what the doctor ordered.
After all, innovation and creativity work in business.
Why not in golf?
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