Golf Australia – August 2019

You don’t win major

championships or Tour

titles if you can’t read

greens well and roll the

ball consistently.

Hitting the ball over 300

yards or a wedge to eight

feet of the cup gets you

in the race, but avoiding

three jabs and making

clutch putts will get you

over the fi nish line fi rst.

The best putters on Tour

are the ones who hit

clutch putts. It’s about

technique; it’s about

confi dence, and it’s about

consistency. Here’s a

look at eight of the best

and how they make more

putts than most.

TIGER

WOODS

2019 STATS Rank

Strokes-Gained-Putting .157 73 (PGA Tour)

Average distance of putts made 77’10” 18 (PGA Tour)

Putting from 8 feet 72.73% 5 (PGA Tour)

Putting from 20-25 feet 25% 2 (PGA Tour)

WHAT YOU CAN LEARN

Woods is regarded as one of the greatest clutch

putters ever. For example, during a stellar period of

his career, from 2002 to 2005, Tiger had 1,540 putts

from three feet and in. He missed only three of them.

Woods isn’t as technical as some other players on

Tour, relying on good fundamentals and terrifi c feel.

His setup is fundamentally perfect with everything

square to his putting line. If you were to place a club

shaft across his forearms it would aim parallel to his

target line. Move the clubshaft across his hips and toe

line ... same thing, parallel to the putting line.

With a setup like this, combined with one of the

best strokes in the game, it’s no wonder he holes a lot

of ‘must-make’ putts.

78 AUGUST 2019 | golf australia