Our final six Advanced Teaching classes of the semester are all off-campus. Now, the classroom setting shifts from inside to outdoors, where we’ll be interacting with students and giving actual golf lessons. Over the last 14 and-a-half months or so, we’ve learned a lot about how to teach the golf swing, but there’s no substitute for the real world experience of actually doing it. This is where the teaching rubber really meets the road.
Today, our class was out at the Arizona State University (ASU) Karsten Golf Course in Tempe. One of the instructors there, Scott Watkins, has been a friend of Advanced Teaching instructor and PGA Professional Jay Freidman for years, and Jay holds Scott in such high regard that he’s taken several lessons from him.
Scott’s teaching resume is a pretty impressive one. In addition to being a member of the PGA of America since 1981, Scott played on the PGA Tour for four years in the early 80s, was a First and Second Team All-American while at Arizona State, and has been a Southwest Section PGA Section Player and Teacher of the Year. He also qualified for the Phoenix Open in 1992 and the Tucson Open in 1995.
Scott’s late father, Arch, taught golf in the Phoenix area for 45 years and is enshrined in the Arizona Golf Hall of Fame and the PGA Southwest Section Hall of Fame. When he was alive, Arch was one of the most renowned teachers in the state and worked with PGA Tour players Billy Mayfair and Jim Carter as well as the late LPGA Tour player Heather Farr, all of whom attended and played college golf at ASU.
We started by talking about putting. Scott was telling us how proper green reading is seldom taught and how speed is the most important aspect of putting. It dictates your line on breaking putts, and statistics show that if the speed of your first putt is off, you’re more likely to three-putt. Aim, stroke, solidness of the hit, and green reading are all important too, but nothing trumps speed. If your speed is good, you can be a decent putter.
If speed is No. 1, aim is a close second. When Scott is giving a putting lesson, it’s one of the first things he checks, and he says style has a huge effect on how the player aims the putter. The hosel configuration, shaft placement (heel or center), and style of the putter absolutely matters. There have been numerous articles published on the subject, and it’s something we also learned in Golf Club Fitting with PGA Professional Gary Balliet.
“What good is the perfect stroke if you can’t aim?” says Scott. “You’ll never get it there!”
Hosels can be in either an L shape or an S shape. A hosel that is too on-set will result in putts that are pushed, whereas a putter hosel that is too offset will result in putts that are pulled.
Most putters are too long for the average player. Standard, off-the-rack length is usually 34″ or 35″. That’s way too long. Length is important because it helps ensure proper set-up. Eyes should be over or slightly inside the target line, and the hands should fall naturally under the shoulders. A putter that is too short will result in putts that are pushed, whereas a putter that is too long will result in putts that are pulled.
The only two real training aids Scott uses for putting lessons are a metal yardstick you can get from Lowe’s or Home Depot and knitting needles with carpenter string attached. These can help a player groove his stroke.
Stroke coincides with aim. If you can roll 9 of 10 putts down the entire length of the yardstick, your stroke is good. The ball is starting online and doing what it’s supposed to. If you think about it, no two pros have the exact same putting stroke. Just remember, if you change your putting stroke, there’s a good chance you’ll have to fix your aim too.
Grip isn’t as important as aim, although Scott prefers that the thumbs run straight down the grip of the putter. This puts the putter shaft and the forearms in a straight line and on-plane.
When Scott is putting, he likes to look at a spot about 1″ in front of the ball on the line he’s trying to hit right before he’s ready to go. That’s because the ball is actually airborne for about the first inch before it starts rolling. The ball is always sitting in a hole, or a low spot on the green.
The loft of the putter is designed to get the ball up and out of that low spot. Think of this as looking at the front/back of the rim when shooting baskets in basketball. We aim like this in other sports, so why not golf too?
Most golfers under-read break when they’re reading greens. Scott stands no closer than about ten feet behind the ball so he can squat down at a shallower angle and really see the slope of the green. The further back he can get, the better he can see. He takes his practice strokes behind and to the side of the putt so he can get a feel for the stroke and the line on which he wants to start the putt.
Then he gets his eyes in line with where he wants to line-up, aims, and takes a half step to the side before walking in and taking his stance. Scott likes to imagine the ball making a “dew stripe” into the hole (ball to hole) and then plays the same visual in reverse (hole to ball).
If you have a putter you can aim, can dial-in your speed, and have a stroke that can keep the ball on the yardstick, you’re better than most.
Before we left, Scott walked us through some individual video lessons, being sure to set the down-the-line camera at eye level height and directly in-line with the butt of the golf club. This allows for the best possible camera angles to allow for posture, balance, shaft and elbow plane, and early extension lines to be drawn-in later. Here’s the half-shot drill Scott gave us for improved impact: