I’m always on the look out for tips to improve my game and whomever I play with, whether it’s a club competition or a social game, I study their action and try to learn from the experience.
I was fortunate at the weekend to bump into Greg Shelton, a fireman and a former regular in our club’s ‘A’ team who was paying a social return visit. A scratch golfer, he’s not particularly long off the tee, but very straight and outstanding from 100 yards in. As for his putting it’s always uncannily accurate.
After he rolled in a succession of perfectly struck putts, I asked him about his action and swing thoughts.
"With putting," he said, "I put all thoughts of grip, stance and alignment out of my head.
"After all, if you want to screw up a piece of paper and toss it into a wastebasket, you don’t consider whether you’re lined up, holding the paper between finger and thumb correctly, and taking your arm back and through in the correct manner. You just do it automatically.
"Putting should be like that – an automatic action you don’t even think about."
However, he admitted he learned much from the books of US putting guru Bob Rotella, from whom he adapted a routine, which helps him feel the putt and its pace.
"I get myself settled, with a couple practice swings then move in over the ball. I tilt my head to look at the hole and draw an imaginary line for the ball to follow. I then slowly draw that line back from the hole and as my eyes reach a spot about three feet in front of the ball I start to take the putter back. I then follow through, striking the ball all in one movement."
The results were uncanny. Greg created top spin on the ball, which kept it rolling and he was rarely short and almost always putting on the right line.
I used the method over the weekend (top US golfer Brad Faxon is also a Rotella disciple) and it paid enough dividends to take the money in our Sunday morning roll up.
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