Best Tiger Woods Putting Tips
Tiger Woods is one of the greatest putters of all time and his putting is a big part of his success. If you want to improve your putting as he does, there are several things that you can do.
The first thing you can do is get your stance right. This is essential because it affects how you hold your putter and how well you control your stroke.
1. Get Your Stance Right
One of the most important things to get right when putting is your posture and stance. This will help you strike the ball consistently and accurately.
It can also help you to control the direction of your putts and reduce your pushes, pulls, and misses on the greens. If you can master these techniques, then you will be well on your way to shooting lower scores!
The best putting posture and stance will allow you to see the line of the putt and align your shoulders to that line. In turn, this will allow you to use your big muscles instead of your hands and wrists when putting.
Your stance should be at shoulder width for your irons and a little wider for the putter. This enables you to swing through without swaying too much during the stroke and it helps your balance as well.
Having your head in the right place is another essential part of a good putting stance. To test this, drop a ball between your eyes and note where it lands.
If your eyes are tucked up too much, then this can affect your peripheral vision and make it hard to see the hole. On the other hand, if your eyes are directly over the ball and slightly behind it, then this will help you to see your putt line clearly.
Getting your putting stance and posture right is the first step to improving your putting. Once you have this down, it will be easier to improve your swing and strike the ball accurately. To learn more about the golf putting tips that have helped Tiger Woods win multiple majors, read on!
2. Keep Your Back Leg Close to Your Body
Keeping your back leg close to your body is a key part of creating a great putting stroke. It helps you add more power through impact and gives you more control over the direction of the ball.
You can do this by simply practicing the following drills:
Practice with a golf club in your hand and tee your ball up to the same height you would normally putt from. Take a couple of imaginary swings to try and mimic good lower body action.
If you are able to keep your back leg still, and bend it slightly through your backswing, then you will be in a good position to add more power through impact. This can be a big difference between missing a putt and making it!
Tiger Woods is a big fan of this technique, and he uses it throughout his entire putting stroke. In fact, it is one of the reasons he has become such a popular putter on tour!
Another thing to remember about this technique is that it helps you create a Y-shaped motion between your forearms and the putter. This can help give you a little extra top spin on your putt, so make sure to pay attention to this when you are hitting your practice shots.
It is also a good idea to use a light, consistent grip when you are putting. This will allow you to feel the weight of the putter head through your stroke, which is critical on fast greens!
3. Make Your Takeaway Low and Wide
Tiger Woods is widely regarded as one of the best putters in the game. Despite his incredible success, the 14-time major champion still spends time teaching and mentoring players at clinics and tutorials.
Among his countless putting tips, Woods is a firm believer in the importance of a consistent putting grip. He credits a light, consistent grip with helping him feel more relaxed over short putts on super-fast greens.
He also uses a simple putting drill to practice centering his strikes and avoiding an over-the-top backswing. He sets two tees in the ground about a yard from the hole and hits putts from each of these spots.
The idea is to practice making the club go low and wide. If you take the club back too high or too far, it will create a very unstable golf swing that can be hard to control.
Instead, try taking the club back with your chest and not with your arms. This will help your body move much slower and make your backswing feel bigger.
If you're having trouble making this change, consider picturing a beach ball under water as you try to move the club away from your body. This will create a mental image that helps you to feel the resistance that makes it easier to make the takeaway low and wide.
Once you've made the switch, you'll be able to hit more high-quality golf shots that produce a lot of distance and power. Plus, you'll be able to play better golf consistently and get your score down. The results will be well worth it! Start following these putting tips today! You'll be on your way to a great game in no time!
4. Keep Your Spine Angle Away from the Ball
Maintaining your spine angle is one of the most important putting tips you can learn. This is because a properly maintained spine angle means that your clubface is aimed at the right point on the ball, which will result in a more consistent golf swing and more powerful shots.
Getting your stance and swinging technique correct will make it much easier to hit the ball consistently and accurately, but maintaining the right posture throughout the whole swing is just as important. Here are some simple drills you can try next time you go to the range that will help you practice keeping your spine angle away from the ball.
A good way to start thinking about this is to picture your swing as a pendulum, with a fixed point and a moving point that is connected by a line that swings back and forth. When your spine angle is in this Y shape, it ensures that the "pendulum" will swing in the right direction each time.
You'll see how this is achieved in Golf Swing Drill 103 - Setup: Perfect Golf Spine Angle, and you'll soon be able to stand the correct distance from the golf ball each time you play a shot. When you can do this, you'll be able to assume the perfect position every time without having to think about it, which will save you a lot of time and make you more confident in your swing.
Another very effective putting tip is to focus on keeping your chest open and moving throughout the entire swing. This is sometimes called 'covering the golf ball' and is a great mental strategy to change how you think about keeping your spine angle.
5. Keep Your Eyes on the Ball
Keeping your eyes on the ball during a putting stroke can be one of the most important tips for improving your putting. This is a skill that can be learned by any golfer, even those who do not play professionally.
Tiger Woods is known for his'stillness' during his putting stroke, and this is a key element in his success. He focuses on the ball and does not peek at it until he is halfway to the hole from long range.
To keep your eyes on the ball, you can use a technique called ‘Quiet Eye’ which has been proven to improve your putting performance. This technique involves a focus on a specific dimple on the ball and allowing your gaze to follow that dimple all the way to the hole.
Another good tip is to practice focusing on the back of the ball, which is where your putter strikes the ball. This has been proven to improve putting performance, and you should try this technique in a putting drill.
You can also practice putting with your eyes closed to help with speed control. This is a great technique to try with your kids and can help them develop better putting.
Lastly, Tiger likes to center his strikes when putting. To do this, he creates a 'gate' with two tees pushed into the ground just a yard from the hole.
By focusing on this 'gate' when putting, you will get your focus straight and will be able to execute the putting stroke more consistently. This will improve your putting significantly.