4 min
Brad Faxon on Putting Feel
Think about the best putters that you know. Odd are, they have great sense of feel and great distance control when the roll the golf ball. The putts they make seem to fall in the dead center of the cup. The putts they miss leave easy tap-ins. And "three-putt" is not part of their vocabularies.
Some golfers are naturally blessed with great feel around the green, but feel is a skill that can be improved by anyone. In this video, Titleist staff member Jason Baile discusses putting feel with a player who may possess the finest putting touch ever seen – Titleist staff member Brad Faxon. The next time you hit the practice green, try these drills from Brad to heighten your senses and sharpen your ability to dial in the right pace for any putt you encounter.
• Ladder Drill – Try to roll one 25- to 30-foot putt to the edge of the practice green (without rolling onto the collar). Roll a second putt, trying to get your second ball as close to the first ball without hitting the first or running past it. Hit a third putt short of the second ball, as so on, down the ladder. You can also reverse the drill, hitting a short putt to start and trying to roll subsequent putts just past the golf ball that came before it.
• Eyes Closed – Set up to putts of varying distances. Just before you pull the trigger, close your eyes. Strike the put and keep your eyes closed. Based solely on the feel, try to predict where your putt ended up – in the cup or a combination of short, long, left and right.
• Move Contact Point – Purposely it putts off the toe and heel of your putter face. Compare these results to putts hit out of the center of the face. You can even coat the face of your putter with foot spray to see where you make contact. Move the contact point around to sharpen your ability to control where on the clubface you strike your putts – a key for consistency.
• 3-Speeds – Hit five-foot putts using three different speeds. Hit the first putt so the ball just barely topples over the front edge of the cup. Wit the second putt, try to ram the ball off the back edge of the cup. And on the third, use "tournament" speed, getting the ball to drop in the very heart of the hole.
Some golfers are naturally blessed with great feel around the green, but feel is a skill that can be improved by anyone. In this video, Titleist staff member Jason Baile discusses putting feel with a player who may possess the finest putting touch ever seen – Titleist staff member Brad Faxon. The next time you hit the practice green, try these drills from Brad to heighten your senses and sharpen your ability to dial in the right pace for any putt you encounter.
• Ladder Drill – Try to roll one 25- to 30-foot putt to the edge of the practice green (without rolling onto the collar). Roll a second putt, trying to get your second ball as close to the first ball without hitting the first or running past it. Hit a third putt short of the second ball, as so on, down the ladder. You can also reverse the drill, hitting a short putt to start and trying to roll subsequent putts just past the golf ball that came before it.
• Eyes Closed – Set up to putts of varying distances. Just before you pull the trigger, close your eyes. Strike the put and keep your eyes closed. Based solely on the feel, try to predict where your putt ended up – in the cup or a combination of short, long, left and right.
• Move Contact Point – Purposely it putts off the toe and heel of your putter face. Compare these results to putts hit out of the center of the face. You can even coat the face of your putter with foot spray to see where you make contact. Move the contact point around to sharpen your ability to control where on the clubface you strike your putts – a key for consistency.
• 3-Speeds – Hit five-foot putts using three different speeds. Hit the first putt so the ball just barely topples over the front edge of the cup. Wit the second putt, try to ram the ball off the back edge of the cup. And on the third, use "tournament" speed, getting the ball to drop in the very heart of the hole.
