Eric Petersen

Handicap 26, Long Beach, CA, USA

I just can’t tell enough people how much your putting lesson has helped me. It’s been a milestone for both my putting game and average scores. Like most adult golfers I have received constant advice from any golfer that is able to shoot slightly better than me and as a result, my putting mechanics were basically a poor mix of friend’s advice. Also, I came to you with a unique vision issue where I slowly lost the vision in one eye over a 15-year period and I am officially a certified mono-vision golfer. This eye issue has caused me great difficulty in green reading, aiming and squaring the club face. Your coaching has completely changed my putting game, attitude and enjoyment levels.  You explained how to look at all four sides of the putt:

1. Stand to the low side of the putt

2. Look behind the hole
      3. Look behind the ball
         4. Look over the ball

That’s the part that 99% of friends’ advice does not contain. So, using all this green information, I then place the ball with the aiming line on it (which I had done before but without any knowledge of why!) showing the target line, I want the ball to take. Then when I step up and straddle the ball, I use the line on my putter to align the putter face so if I strike it straight it should take the exact path that I want it to.  In the past, the biggest mistake is that once I straddle the ball and looked at the line I’d set up, I very often second-guessed it and then changed my putting angle at the last minute, to disastrous effect.  What you said was to “trust your line”!  When I do that, my putts are ON TARGET. What that also does is make me pay attention when setting up the aiming line and using the data I’ve gathered. I almost feel like I barely have to look at the hole once I’m set up because I know all I have to do is hit it straight and with the correct force and the line I’ve chosen will do all the work. The commitment to believing in my line and “trusting it” has made my putting substantially better as well when I do miss it, it’s really close.
 
The last part of your lesson was my ball striking angle. Prior to meeting you I would just line up my putter face right next to the ball and hit the ball at the bottom of my pendulum swing. This basically slapped the ball into the air like a knuckleball and then when the ball touched back down on the green it skidded until it caught up to the spin speed and started rolling.  Much like the tire on a plane when it hits the runway, basically it goes through a lot of trauma. But moving the bottom of my pendulum swing a good inch behind the ball so that the putter is on an upswing effectively gives the ball topspin from the very beginning of its roll.  With this simple technique, my putts now roll smoothly. Thank you once again for helping me out, I really learned a lot and have been putting it to good use. My putts are way more consistent and my misses are now in inches not feet! 

Thanks, Dr Putting