Legendary golfer Sam Snead was one of the best golfers to ever play the sport, however despite his huge talent he still had times where he would be putting extremely bad. This occurred during the 1960′s when he was in his fifties. This was when Snead decided to switch to the croquet-style of putting. Putting croquet-style suggests that you stand square to the putting line with your feet straddling the ball. It give the golfer a clear angle of the line and what the ball does after it begins to move.
Nevertheless this kind of putting was banned during the late 60′s and was deemed illegal by the USGA. Even now you can’t make a stroke with your stance astride or touching the line of the putt or an extension of that line behind the ball.
Snead then modified his stroke to the sidesaddle putting stroke. He took both of his legs to the same side instead of straddling the putting line. He bent over a little in order to see down his aim line, finally he kept his hand position the same to stop any hinging of the wrist.
Now you’ll ask yourself why does putting sidesaddle work? Well, by keeping the putter face square down the line and eliminating the rotation of your forearms that causes you to open and shut your face in the stroke, you prevent any hinging of the wrists so helping you to keep your putt in a perfect line with your aiming point.
By using a longer putter, another alteration of the sidesaddle putting stroke would be discovered. This would permit you to stand straight and simply bend over the ball, putting your weight on the leg nearest to the line. To ensure that the putter is anchored in place , you can place it into your armpit rather than holding the club right in front of you.
One of the primary issues some golfers have when using this technique is the lack of distance control. This may make longer putts hard to get close and short putts with lots of break harder to make.
I’m all for trying different styles of putting if you’re having troubles. Often just mixing up what you are doing and then returning to your conventional form will fix the yips. Don’t be frightened to try the side saddle stroke out on the practice green and if it works, use it out on the course.
Jamie Faidley offers golf putting tips and more at his site Easy Pars. If you are looking for content on how to golf better you can contact him there.
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