US PGA tips: Be like Tiger - don't peek!

Tiger Woods, after an almost faultless 67, walks off with Padraig Harrington

Tiger Woods has already stamped his authority on the last major of the year - thanks chiefly to having
the advantage of an early start time when the greens were not only receptive but smooth from having little traffic on them at that time.

The world No.1 missed only two fairways and appeared to be as balanced and
in control of his swing as he has looked for several months. Having won the
last two weeks when struggling a little with his long game, a bogey free
exhibition is not what the rest of the field wanted to see!

Until the end of play tonight, it won't be clear from the leaderboard how the conditions have balanced out over the whole field.

The greens became a little crusty and uneven for the later starters yesterday and as pros we find with the greens changing, we tend to become negative and less confident in the putting surfaces.

That translates into the difference between being aggressive and positive on our putts and having
having to be a little conservative to avoid leaving nasty three and four footers
for par or worse. It was borne out by many players leaving putts short.

In putting, the basics are absolutely essential to being a consistent. Grip, posture, stance and alignment are all important but the most essential factor is staying still over the putt. As the greens deteriorate during the day, the players become less confident and you can see from the TV coverage their bodies physically moving and changing shape.

Weir's coach encourages him to keep his head still during US PGA practice this week

It's crucial that any player stands still over a putt and it's no surprise that Tiger is the best at it. Last week he holed 51 of 52 putts inside of ten feet. Watch how Tiger stands with the majority of his body weight on his left side and does not move his weight at all.

When a player misses a few putts, it's natural to lose confidence and peek too early, at the putting rolling. This means your head's moving as you strike the ball to see the result and your head is a big percentage of your total body weight. If it moves...you move!

Even in this picture of Mike Weir, one of the best putters on Tour, he needs his coach to hold his head so that he does not move it through the stroke. Watching the ball start to roll is a habit that's easy to develop and tough to stop.

A good exercise to stop this happening is when you place your putter behind the
ball leave a small gap between the ball and putter head. Concentrate and focus on the grass in that narrow space and when you make your stroke keep your eyes fixed on it as the putter head moves through. Watch this space for as long as you can and you'll find that
your stroke comes to a natural finish, your head stays still and you retain your putting posture.

If you've read the putt correctly, I guarantee you'll be amazed how it improves your ball striking and how many times you hear the ball drop into the cup before you've looked up.

If Tiger says to himself ' no peeking' then so should you!

Andy Raitt is a former European Tour pro based at St Georges Hill in Surrey and currently leads the PGA Southern Region order of merit.