Golf Australia – August 2019

K

en Brown’s fi rst foray into
authorship was only ever going to
be about putting. His path was
plotted when he fi rst set foot on
the Safari Tour after turning pro
in 1974, and one pro ushered six others across to
“watch this guy putt”.
When he won the Irish Open at Portmarnock in
1978, Brown did so by single-putting eight of the
back nine holes to beat Seve by one.
“I mean it was impressive –if
I may say so myself!”
The incredulity was
shared by Seve, who
was convinced he had
done enough to force
a playoˆ.
“On the last I was tied
with John O’Leary and
one ahead of Seve, who
shot 65 earlier in the
day to set the clubhouse
target,” says Ken.
“I remember John
bogeyed it and I
shanked my approach
shot straight into the
grandstand. I never did
fi nd my ball. Luckily, I
was able to take a free
drop, but I still had the
most impossible up-
and-down. Seve was in
the clubhouse waiting
and I found out later

that he told Dave Musgrove, his caddie, that there

was no way I could get down in two. But I did.

I hit this perfect shot and holed the putt from

15 feet to win. It was a big tournament at the

time, and that’s where my reputation for having a

good short game came from.”

That year Brown was named the best putter

on the European Tour. “Seventy-eight percent

of players voted for me,” he says, raising both

eyebrows. He earned the nickname ‘One-Putt’

soon after, and wrote a book by

the same title in 2015.

In the foreword, Seve

referred to him as one

of the best, a Picasso

with the putter. That

was enough for us to

grab hold of a copy of

our own, and embark

on what Ken calls the

putting ladder – eight

easy-to-follow steps

to making practice

more profi table and

enjoyable.

To help put you on

the same path, we sat

down with the man

himself at Aldwickbury

Park Golf Club to fi nd

out his best putting

tips from the last

fi ve decades.

Consider this your

personal version of

One Putt: Volume II.

There’s no right or wrong way to putt. It’s

about what works for you. But there are certain

holistic threads that run through. If you can do

those common threads reasonably soundly, you’re

halfway there. The ethos of the book is what you

need to hole more putts, and a lot of it comes down

to the basics.

There are so many grip variations, but there

is a one-size-fi ts-all. Make sure your right

[trail-hand] palm faces down the target line,

no matter what the technique. When you let

your arms hang down naturally, the hands

automatically want to face each other, as though

they’re ready to clap. If you hold the club like that,

the hands will then be working in unison which

will help to deliver the clubface squarely at impact.

If you look at 95 percent of Tour players,

their palms are facing each other and their

trail palm is facing where they want to putt

towards. And they all keep dead still over the ball,

just like snooker players.

If you start swaying off the ball just a

fraction, it can infl uence your stroke and

make it harder to fi nd the sweetspot. The

same thing happens if you look up too early. Some

pros struggle with that because we’re all anxious

to see where the ball goes. But you can’t putt

consistently well unless you stay dead still over

the ball. One way to practise is to putt with your

head against the wall.

“Youwillholemoreputtsandunderstandwhy

by reading this book. I read it, so should you.”

Lee Westwood

“My practice with Ken made me a better

putter. I still work on his words of wisdom 40

years later.”

Mark James

“Over the years Ken Brown’s advice has

always come with authority and simplicity.

In 2011, on the putting green at Royal St

George’s before the fi rst round of The Open,

he reminded me, ‘let your attitude determine

your golf, don’t let your golf determine your

attitude’. My name ended up on the Claret

Jug. From novice to aspiring Major winner,

I believe One Putt will work for you.”

Darren Clarke

O

ONE PUTT

The ultimate guide

to perfect putting

BY KEN BROWN

BUILD YOUR

OWN HOLE

I made my own version at school in 1974.

It’s a bit worse for wear now but I still use

it on the carpet at home. You can’t beat it. A

normal hole is four- and-a-quarter inches but

this is three-and-a-half inches. It’s smaller

but thousands of put ts have gone into it.

golf australia | AUGUST 2019 59