An Instant Golf® Special Report 6/2010

Putting Tips from Tiger Woods

 

by Robert Cotter
Professional Golf Ball Engineer
Director of Instruction, Instant Golf®

Last season, I had the opportunity to watch Tiger Woods take on the best in the world at the CA Championships in Miami. I was particularly interested in analyzing his putting stroke; the best in the game.

It was his 2nd tournament since returning from his 8 month layoff for knee surgery.

We arrived just in time to walk 9 holes with him during Wednesday's practice round. He was playing with his buddy, Canadian sensation Mike Weir.

If you have ever been to a practice round they carry a pretty relaxed atmosphere. The players often joke around between shots and these 2 had their fun. Weir even had to back off his shots a few times after addressing the ball as the jabs were flying from his buddy Woods.

Tiger finished tied for 9th place after the 4 rounds were over on Sunday. He hit it beautifully all week, but by his standards, he just couldn't make a putt.

With opening round rounds of 71 and 70 he hit it well enough to score in the mid 60's, but the rock just wasn't dropping on the greens.

Now, here's the interesting part. Tiger wasn't making many putts during the practice round or afterwards on the putting green either!

But he was working, and working hard on his putting stroke and technique. Here he is at the end of his round. With the rest of his group presumably headed for lunch, Tiger's still trying, searching, working to reclaim the feel and technique that makes him the best putter in the game:

Hey, where's everybody going? I'm on to something here...

We also watched him for an hour in the afternoon working on his putting with caddie Steve Williams. Again, he was in deep concentration mode with no conversation. He was drilling direction and pace. From our vantage point he was still missing plenty.

Here he is working on a favorite putting drill. See the tees in the green? He has a "gate" setup for the putter head to pass through for path precision (one tee on either end of the putter head). Another tee is set behind the putter. This keeps also the head on the correct path, and acts as a backstroke limiter for short putts.

Tiger working hard with caddie Steve Williams.

Tiger hits dozens of putts with 2 hands, and then hits them with only his right hand on the grip. Years ago I heard him say he doesn't finish this drill until he sinks 100 in a row. How's that for engraining brain-muscle memory. Try this drill, it works.

After the CA Championships in Miami, he took a week off to prepare for his next tournament in Orlando. Can you imagine how many putts he stroked to prepare for this next assault?

Did he find it, that magical putting stroke that earned him 65 PGA victories and 14 majors?

You bet. As the golf world knows, he rocked the golf world again with another stunning holed putt on 18 to win his 6th Bay Hill/Arnold Palmer Invitational. The dynamic duo got to celebrate for the first time in 9 months:

Tiger Thrills at Bay Hill!