Lesson Learned

A tough break for Martin Laird Sunday at the Barclay's.  He needed to two putt from 25 feet on the 18th hole to secure the victory.  Unfortunately, he ran his first putt 7 feet by the hole and then missed the comeback.  Certainly it's hard to tell how severe the slope was on TV.  But it begs the question was he worried too much about the line and not enough about the speed?
Fast forward to the game of golf for everyone that doesn't play on the PGA TOUR.  Putting comes down to distance and direction.  In watching my students, the distance factor is the tougher to master of the two.  To me, once the line is determined your attention should go exclusively to the speed of the putt, the length and pace of your stroke.  Becoming a better lag putter allows you to become a better green reader.
A great lag putting drill is to practice putting to the edge of the green.  Take the hole out of play and just work on distance control.  You can do this exercise from any distance.  The better you lag putt, the better your scores become.