I was working with a student on their putting and I asked what they thought was something they needed to improve on in regards to their putting.
"Centeredness of contact" was the answer. He felt that if he could hit the center of the putter face more consistently, he would be a better overall putter. Sounds pretty good, right? We had been hitting 30 footers for about 5 minutes and I'd say the worst he'd done was blown one about 3 or 4 feet by. I put two tees down on either side of his putter head (a common drill widely known as the "gate" drill) and told him to hit a couple more. His next three putts barely got half way to the hole. There was a quick realization that maybe hitting the center of the club face wasn't a big problem.
"Centeredness of contact" was the answer. He felt that if he could hit the center of the putter face more consistently, he would be a better overall putter. Sounds pretty good, right? We had been hitting 30 footers for about 5 minutes and I'd say the worst he'd done was blown one about 3 or 4 feet by. I put two tees down on either side of his putter head (a common drill widely known as the "gate" drill) and told him to hit a couple more. His next three putts barely got half way to the hole. There was a quick realization that maybe hitting the center of the club face wasn't a big problem.
This individual has a problem that almost every golfer has. He is a Prisoner of Perfection. I myself, have done a couple stints in this non-correctional facility. You see we all train, practice, and grind chasing the idea that we will one day find "it" and hit every shot exactly as we intended. As amazing as that sounds, it wouldn't mean a whole hill of beans when it comes to scoring. Perfect shots rarely have perfect results. From my experience, I've seen a whole heck of a lot more "non-perfect" shots end up closer to the hole then well struck ones. This goes for everything from driving to putting.
What I saw on that putting green was a very good putter of the golf ball become a very poor putter by focusing on something that wasn't critical to success. I'm not saying it's not important, but I betcha he has made more putts with off-center hits then perfectly centered ones (probably because he/we only hit the center of the putter face 1 in 100 times).
Moral of the story. Perfection isn't necessary and sometimes the pursuit of it can be debilitating. Remember this: Practice is training. Practice is exercise. Practice is a confidence builder. Practice is therapy. Practice enhances "feel". PRACTICE DOES NOT PRODUCE PERFECTION….and it doesn't need to.
JL
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