Improve Golf Swing

HAVE “BALANCED HANDS
When you stroke the ball both hand contributed to the force and direction of the putt. You want to maintain the same balance between you two hands on each putt. I AM NOT SAYING YOU SHOULD HAVE A 50-50 BALANCE BETWEEN YOUR HANDS. I am saying what ever the best balance with each hand that works for you, then that is the balance of force between your hands that you should maintain on every putting stroke.

With Symple Putting most of the force and control should be done mostly by the top (or leading) hand. The bottom (or trailing hand) should provide some guidance but not very much power. The bottom hand is more along for the ride. If the bottom hand gets over active you’re likely to start pulling your putts.

HAVE A CONSISTENT GRIP

You need to grip the club the same what every single time!!! Exactly how you grip the putter very much affects the balance of power between your hands. Here’s just one example, with my bottom hand if I wrap my bottom hand thumb and index finger around the shaft I will automatically grip the club too tightly. That too tight grip will generally cause me to pull my putt. However if I loosen my grip taking either my bottom thumb or bottom index finger (or both) off the shaft then I don’t have the “urge” to tighten my bottom hand. When I don’t tighten my bottom hand I have a very nice repeatable and accurate putting stroke. Each of us is a little different and you may want to try a slight variation with your grip to compensate for one of your tendencies. You may putt much better (more consistently) just with a minor modification to the placement of one of your hands. A little experimentation especially if you a re having some problems can be a very good thing. The goal is to have a consistent stoke that returns the putter head to square through impact every time.

Even the actually shape and size of the physical grip that you have on your putter can effect the balance of your hands.

SWING THE PUTTER
The most repeatable putting stroke is a swing of the putter (with the top hand controlling the stroke) rather than an attempt to stab at or hit the ball with the putter (controlled by the bottom hand) . A swing will be more consistent and stay on-line much, much better that “a hit”.

When Putting the putter should swing almost like a pendulum in a clock (albeit a pendulum that is swinging at an angle). Your goal in your putter stroke should be to create a repeatable pendulum swinging motion of the putter. Rather than “hitting” the ball your goal should be to make a good stroke swinging the putter through where the ball happens to be.

In the US with most sports we were taught to hit things with our dominate hands coming from a trailing position. That how most of us hit baseballs, ping pong balls, tennis balls or most any sport we were taught. Most sports are now realizing that core power (shoulders, chest & abdomen) swinging rather than dominate side hitting is more effective. For example, most all the major league hitters are now core power hitters, only the guys hitting singles to right field are still using the dominate side hitting method.

KNOW YOUR TARGET LINE

By target line I mean the desired line that you want your putt to start off on. All putts start off start straight toward a target even if the putt eventually curves on its way to the hole.  You need to know exactly where your putter face is pointing at address and you need to square up to that target line at address.

STANCE

You stance definitely needs to be consistent. Slight variations in you stance will cause variations in your putting stroke. Whether for Symple Putting or conventional putting I’d recommend a square stance for most people. It’s easier to get into a square stance and it’s easier to repeat a square stance.  If you use an open or closed stance that fine as long as you have some way to repeatable set-up in exactly the same position each time.

YOUR GOAL SHOULD BE TO MAKE A REALLY GOOD STROKE -
NOT TO MAKE THE BALL GO IN THE HOLE?

The easiest way to make a putt is to not concentrate making the ball go in the hole but instead concentrate on making a good stroke. NO MATTER WHAT YOU THINK YOU CAN’T ACTUALLY CONTROL WHETHER THE BALL GOES IN THE HOLE OR NOT. The one thing you can control is whether or not you make a good stroke.

Yeah, I know “you think you can control whether the ball goes in” but actually once the ball leaves the putter you can’t control it any more. At that point, the grain of the grass, the slope of the green or something falling out of the sky could affect the ball. Hopefully you’ve chosen the right line and the right speed but the fact is anything can happen. If you normally sweat over a three footer this one tip can make putting enjoyable again.

MENTAL ASPECT

Mentally, the goal of “making a good stroke” will make you a much saner and happier golfer. Rather than standing over a three foot putt and worry about “missing it” you now just concentrate on the positive action of making a good stroke. That helps you keep a positive attitude when putting which can result in significantly better physical performance.

AIMING

We strongly recommend that you put a line on your golf ball like the one in the picture. Then you when you mark your ball you line up the line on your ball at the hole (assuming that’s your desired putting or target line). Next when you address the ball all you have to do it line up the line on the putter with the line on the ball (like you see in the picture) and you’re good to go.

Some folks like to have their playing partner stand behind and help them line up. That works too although your partner has to move away before you actually putt the ball.

IF YOU MISS A PUTT (WE ALL DO SOMETIMES)
If you miss the putt don’t flail you arms and yell obscenities no matter how good that might feel. Just keep watching the putt to see how the ball breaks past the hole. That will give you enough information to make it much more likely you’ll make your “come back” putt.

Simple Swing will help make you a better golfer in a short period of time.