Opinion & Analysis

The Wedge Guy: Practicing putting

Published

6 years ago

May 12, 2020

I thought today I would depart from the typical short game focus and turn my attention to putting. Many of you might not know that I began my golf career working with the marketing for Ray Cook and Otey Crisman putter companies. I became immersed in putter form and function and actually began designing my own putters in the mid-80s. I was blessed to spend a lot of time working with tour players during that period and learned a lot about the craft of making more putts.

I’ve always been a “range rat” – I just love hitting balls and learning more and more about my swing. As a result, I’ve always been a pretty solid ball-striker. My driving and iron play have been my strengths my entire golf life. It probably goes back to the advice my father gave me when I was very young. “There’s nothing wrong with your game that another 5,000 practice balls won’t fix,” he would repeatedly tell me. And I took that to heart and pounded balls by the hundreds daily it seems.

But I’ve never applied that same philosophy to my putting. Duh. I’ve had a lifelong struggle with the yips, and have had plenty of advice on how to beat them, mostly unsolicited. But some years ago, two things I have learned in my life seemed to come together to give me a new perspective.

First, I had the opportunity to listen to a full day presentation by Dr. Rick Jensen, renowned sports psychologist. Part of his topic was on the subject of “you’re not good enough to choke.” What he meant was that most are too quick to apply the “choke” label, when what really happened is that the golfer didn’t have his or her skills polished to an adequate level. It was a very interesting angle on the subject. I highly recommend his books.

The other piece of the puzzle came in a small book that I received as a gift. In “How To Make Every Putt,” Dr. Joseph Parent advocates practicing your putting like you do everything else. Work on your fundamentals, where a hole is not even in the picture. Approach learning how to make solid, sound putting strokes like you do making solid, sound full swings.

So, putting these two together, I took my 100-ball bucket to the practice green Tuesday afternoon and hit about 500 putts. Various distances, no target…just making good solid strokes, evaluating and correcting, until I felt my routine and technique were gelling to something I could count on. It was as much fun as going to the range, to be honest. A concentrated practice session that was totally focused on the process, not the outcome.

The next day, before a tournament practice round, I took that same drill to the practice green. I put down six balls and putted them different distances, but never to one of the holes on the green. Just practicing my technique and routine, rhythm, and tempo. Then I finished my putting warm-up by making about 15-20 putts of not more than 2 feet. I wanted fresh feedback of the ball going into the hole.

The result was one of my better putting rounds in recent history.

If you are struggling with your putting, try taking the hole out of the equation and just working on your fundamentals of posture and stroke, until you are hitting one solid putt after another. You might find it very successful.

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Terry Koehler

Terry Koehler is a fourth generation Texan and a graduate of Texas A&M University. Over his 40-year career in the golf industry, he has created over 100 putter designs and dozens of wedges. In 2014, he put together the team that reintroduced the Ben Hogan brand to the golf equipment industry with his TK 15 wedges and Ft. Worth 15 iron designs. Since receiving a U.S. Patent for his “Koehler Sole” in the early 1990s, he has been challenging “conventional wisdom” in the wedge category. In addition to inspiring multiple companies to emulate this sole technology, the performance of his wedge designs have stimulated all other companies to reposition some mass toward the top of the blade in their wedges. Terry is retired from his role as Chairman and Director of Innovation for Edison Golf, and remains active in the industry as an independent designer and consultant. But his most compelling work is in the wedge category. Since he first patented his “Koehler Sole” in the early 1990s, he has been challenging “conventional wisdom” reflected in ‘tour design’ wedges. The performance of his wedge designs have stimulated other companies to move slightly more mass toward the top of the blade in their wedges, but none approach the dramatic design of his Edison Forged wedges, which have been robotically proven to significantly raise the bar for wedge performance. Terry serves as Chairman and Director of Innovation for Edison Golf – check it out at www.EdisonWedges.com.

5 Comments

Acemandrake

May 18, 2020 at 1:40 pm

“Speed is everything.”

This one thought clarified & simplified putting for me.

It helps make putting more of an athletic process. Like shooting a free throw in basketball: Your only thought is “How much force do I need to get the ball to the basket?”

No mechanical thoughts.

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Herb Rubenstein

May 13, 2020 at 12:11 pm

Terry reminds me of Bill Melhorn, one of the great ball strikers of all time, but never was one of the best putters on the Tour in the 1920’s. Bill Melhorn would visualize his 3 irons going into the hole, but reflected later in his professional golf life that he rarely envisioned his putts, especially his long putts, going into the hole or even stopping next to the hole. He often putted quite long or short of the hole. As Dawn Mercer, Director of Instruction at Innisbrook taught me, the hole is your goal, not your target, except on a straight putt. And how many straight putts do you get in a round on the toughest courses? Thanks, Terry. I have often dumped a bucket of balls out on the putting green and put the bucket somewhere on the green 20, 40, or 60 feet away, and used the bucket as my target, my starting line. When the ball would break away from the bucket, I would not care. I would only care that I started the ball on the line to the center of that bucket and my distance was good, even with the bucket or a little bit past it. Try that drill and people will come up to you and watch!

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ChipNRun

May 12, 2020 at 11:03 pm

Interesting side angle by The Wedge Guy.

My instructor a few years back had a superb chipping and short wedge game. His short-game clinics were eye-opening.

He had been “low putt man” his junior year in his college golf conference. His secret: his short game. He said it was easy to be “low putt” man when a lot of your up-and-down putts are 3-footers.

He was NOT low-putt man, however, his senior year: his Greens-In-Regulation went + 1.5 per round, leaving him fewer short putts.

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BigArch

May 12, 2020 at 10:38 pm

Good stuff. Love the concept. I’ve always been a good putter, great lag putter actually. I can get streaky and make a lot of putts but when I don’t, I rarely struggle with 3 putts as I tend to always leave it pretty close to the hole. My best putting practice over the years has just been standing in the middle of the putting green and hitting putts to the fringe. Concentrating on making good strokes and getting a good roll on the ball and working on speed. I rarely practice holing putts. So I can relate to the ideas in this piece… this type of practice has worked for me over the years.

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bladehunter

May 12, 2020 at 11:06 am

Refreshing article. First off. Kudos for printing words instead of a fluffy video. 2nd , it’s easy to tell the words are coming from a person who has experience outside of the internet. I’ll look for more of your content to read.

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Opinion & Analysis

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