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Summary: Avoid "the yips" and stay relaxed and focused during your putts. Learn golfing techniques on how to stay calm and make putts in this free golfing instruction video.
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About the Expert
Johnny Miles Johnny Miles is the Director of Golf Operations at Lake Powell National Golf Course in Arizona. He is a Quarter-Century and Lifetime Member of the PGA of Amer... read more
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Questions & AnswersThis is Johnny Miles from The Lake Powell National Golf Course in Page, Arizona with another hot golf tip for Expert Village. The most feared golf shot. The 3 footer to win, the 4 footer to tie. Somebody just pressed you and all the money’s on the line. When I ask people, especially my students, what they’re thinking of over a 3-4 foot put, their general answer is I’m trying to make it. Wrong answer. The right answer is I’m going to just swing the club at my target. Anytime that you say I’m trying to make it, you’re making the hole the target. You’re creating pressure. You’re making an outcome, you’re creating an outcome. You don’t want to do that because it creates tension, and tension boom, ruins the stroke. Think about it. 90 percent of the time on a green the center of that cup is not the target. It could be the right lip, 2 inches outside the right lip. On a long put it could be 4 feet outside the left lip. The speed of the green, the slope of the land, how fast you strike a put; that determines the break, but what you can do is swing the club at your target. What I’m going to do is I’m going to aim it at the right side. Aim the club at my target, square my body, and I’m just going to take it back, and I’m going to swing my club at my target, and that ball is going to curve into the hole. I don’t want to create an outcome. All I really want to do is swing the club at my target. You’ve heard of that great word the ‘yips.’ Well the ‘yips’ is a person is trying to create an outcome. They’ve created so much tension that it’s really difficult to make a smooth stroke. There’s only 2 things that can happen when you swing a putter: tou can make it or you can miss it; and if all you do is take the club with your hands, start it back, and use your arms to swing at your target, you’re going to probably succeed more often than you fail. So practice this on your short puts, and I promise you, you will be a better putter.
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Good tip! The short Putt is 90% mental with any kind of stroke at all.