29 April, 2008
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PGA professional Nevil Bland
Just do what the tour pros do and let the club do the talking!
Every golfer is in search of the way to reduce their shots on the green. The professionals have it down to a fine art - given the time and equipment at their disposal. But Brocton Hall PGA professional Nevil Bland argues it's time amateurs also invested a little to find the most important club in the bag.
Peter O'Malley was in contention for the Asian Open this weekend in Shanghai in no small part to his excellent putting utilising the 'Claw' grip made famous by Chris DiMarco.
Watch any professional golf tournament and you will see a large number of the competitors using anything but an orthodox putting method. Conversely take a look on the putting green at your local course prior to the weekly medal and virtually all club golfers will be adopting the conventional putting style of right hand below left with a standard length 35" putter.
The tour pros will be using belly putters, broom handle putters, cack-handed grips and claw grips - not because they are bad putters, but because they have found a more effective way of rolling the ball into the hole. I can think the only reason club amateurs don't follow suit is because they don't have the opportunity to try out the various models or rather because there is still a stigma attached to the use of 'unconventional' putting styles - "you're using a broomhandle? I didn't realise you were a bad putter" is often the remark from playing partners. The solution is simple, just do what the tour pros do and let the club do the talking!
Make an appointment with your local PGA pro and ask him to watch you hit a series of putts with different methods and between you figure out which one worked best for both short and long putts. (Garcia has been using a standard technique for long putts for feel and a belly putter for short putts for accuracy.)
Harold Swash is credited with inventing the broomhandle putter used by Stewart Cink and Bernhard Langer and Scotty Cameron created the first belly putter as used by Trevor Immelman, Vijay Singh and Colin Montgomerie. If the best putting coaches recognise the importance of doing whatever works best then you would be well advised to do the same.
Nevil Bland is head golf pro at Brocton Hall and ranked in the world's top 100 clubfitters. For more information click on the link or call 01785 661 4850 or email nevil.bland@foremostgolf.com