Fit putter to your set–up

Jesse Grewal

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The set-up in putting has a huge effect on the direction the ball travels. The position of the eyes affects the way you aim. It is surprising to find that most people are not able to aim the putter correctly and compensate with the stroke during the forward swing. Place an alignment stick or a shaft pointing towards the centre of the hole and take your position parallel to it (picture 1). Adjust your distance to the alignment stick to the place, where the line appears to be pointing to the hole. If it does not appear to be pointing to the hole, bend more from your thoracic spine or the upper back so that your face is parallel to the ground (picture 3). The upper back would be bent as in a ‘C’ posture and one would be able to balance a shaft on the upper back and head. This helps the gaze improve, which is basically looking at the ball from the middle of the eye; it improves the focus while looking down the line.

Once you have found the correct distance between the ball and your stance, let your arms hang freely from your shoulders to find the correct position of the hands (Picture 2). Take a putter and find the length and the lie angle required, so that it fits into your desired position. The length helps us maintain the desired torso bend while the lie angle gets the putter into the palms and not the fingers. The lie angle also affects the distance between the ball and our feet, and also the position of the eyes, which is essential for improving the ability to aim correctly. The hands should be directly under the shoulders and the arms; feet and shoulders should be parallel to the target (picture 3). If any of these are not parallel to the target, it would affect the path of the putter through the stroke and therefore affect direction as well as centre strike.

(Grewal is the Director of National Golf Academy of India and CGA Hero Honda Golf Academy. If you have any queries get in touch with him at parexcellence@tribunemail.com)