I use Ben's putting tips effectively. Inside what I call my makeable range I use an extremely light grip, no tension at all and using the feel of the grip in my hands to get the proper rhythm and speed. It's a pendulum motion at pendulum speed. On longer putts where I'm not likely to make it and more concerned about lagging it up, I take a stronger grip with my upper hand and get better distance control. Works like a charm.
D1 college player here... I have found that when I hold my breath on pressure putts, I can feel my heartbeat and then I control my breathing through my nose to calm myself down during my pre shot routine. Another tip, for pressure putts, focus on the pain in your back (the muscle that is flexed when moving your arms and shoulders in sync to complete the stroke). This helps remove the thoughts of that $20 putt to win the nassau or when your 5 under putting in front of everyone sitting around the club house drinking and talking. I've played in front of a crowd of about 250 people about a handful of times. These tips will make a huge difference when your trying to shoot lower than the average 80-90's. Hope this helps -
You also need a preshot routine - helps putts feel more natural. Watch what tiger does before every putt that he hits, it is the same pattern every single time. This helps him feel more comfortable. Every scratch player or better does the same on all drives, irons, chips, and especially putting
Ben Crenshaw's putting stroke is a thing of beauty. Reducing tension in the shoulders and arms and being sensitive to grip pressure is very helpful. Also, emphasizing "rolling a putt" vs. "hitting a putt" reinforces the idea of being tension free.
This is a great video! But you have to FEEL Crenshaw's love of putting and his FEEL for putting! It's like poetry......you read into it whatever you want! There is so much technical SEVERITY in today's coaching of all areas of the game and this is one of the greatest putters of all time explaining putting as FEEL. In my opinion, you can make putting a science, but you can't make a great putter, just by teaching him that science! You have to feel it and love the experience of feeling it.
Crenshaw had his share of technical lessons as well. It's like saying Da Vinci just "felt" his paintings. True but he also had a lot of technical training. Crenshaw had lessons from the time he was a boy. He didn't just grab a putter and start making putts.
I golf with our club champion about every other weekend. He's the best putter I've ever played with, and I've played with many fine players, including mini tour etc... What he has is an unbelievable belief of two things; he's read the putt and the contour of the green perfectly (or nearly so), and he's aimed at the exact spot that he wants to hit the ball perfectly etc... He's usually surprised that anyone else can't see how a putt should break, or having bad aim. He's not at the PGA tour level of course, but for a scratch player he's basically that because of his putting. I'm pretty sure these putting legends, like Crenshaw, Tiger, Jack etc...underestimate the gift that is having so much talent IN ADDITION to a great stroke. There's a lot more to putting than meets the eye, or the ear. 2c.
Im a young golfer and Ben's videos help me a lot! I have always had problems with me grip and this makes me understand how to hold it with out letting the club slide and with out holding it to tight.
such a valuable video. I have built my putting stroke around these ideas. Its funny coming back and watching, I had misremembered some stuff, I thought his putter was longer
"Swing that thing up there." [Minute 5:01] That folksy description of what he is doing with his stroke and watching Crenshaw's body thru impact shows he putts "straight thru" on the intended line, not arcing thru impact to the inside. His hands passing impact do not come closer to his thighs, but swing straight thru slightly rising vertically.
I caddied for him once at the course I used to work at.. His speed on his putts was impeccable, whether it was 5 feet or 50. I have caddied for 20 years for touring pros to beginners. One thing everyone has in common is the pace of putts, the higher handicap you are the less speed control you have, its alot more important than line with 2 exceptions, putts under 8 ft and big breaking putts, then line is "slightly" more important. But 80% of time its speed
Light grip is the key for everything in golf. Recently I've been thinking about getting the tension out of my hands and forearms and getting more distance too. Putting is such a heartbreaker though.
Did you hear that folks! Super light grip pressure = better feel = more holed putts, that was my takeaway from this lesson from the great Ben Crenshaw. Soft hands feel the weight of the putter head = smoother strokes = better distance control and more putts holed.
It would be so much better and useful if the video included the ball on the green with the putter setting up to it. verbal explanation is good but visual is better. Thank you
This was great, I been tryin to find out about "putt a golf ball" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Have you heard people talk about - Graysonyon Putter Prolific - (just google it ) ? Ive heard some incredible things about it and my cousin got excellent results with it.
He has a video like this with Tom kite and the one thing they dont go over is toms putting! Dave was one of the best putters in the 70s but tom kite was more consistent and great with irons.
I really appreciate that statement.."If I grip it to tight, then the club face feels lighter, If I let it be then it can do its job." That little bit is going to help me tomorrow at the D.R. Thank you Gentlemen.
Nice skinny grips and not the base ball grips sold today...hard to release anything..even on tour the best putters use skinny grips and blades..tiger , the guy who won last sunday at wells fargo...
Could you please put up the entire video without the top and bottom cut off as i would love to see it in full........The dvd was never released in the U.K.......Thank You.......By the way.....I have a Gentle Ben putter that ben hit a few putts with on the practice green for me at the 1989 Open Championship.
MW, I here about that match. I read about it in Golf Week, albeit it was in the back of the magazine. You hang in there you will get him next time I bet.
I watched daves video with tom kite and there was no putting with Tom. Kite was better with his irons than dave and ben so i guess dave wouldnt need advice on putting from him lol
IMO Ben Crenshaw's best putting tip is not even on here. In another video someone asked him what part of the ball he looked at on impact? He said no one asked him that before, but in fact he didn't look at the ball at impact, He said that he looked at a spot a couple of inches outside the ball at impact. . If you don't look at the ball at impact its a lot easier to stroke through the ball and not at it. Also focusing on a spot instead of the ball helps you keep your head down through impact. I tried this and it cured my yips
wow players were still good putters back then. No fat grips, no putter made from modern space age materials, no computer analysis of his swing or fancy claw grips or other things, just a good old fashioned forged blade, I am going out to get one to improve my feel on greens.
That's exactly what you should be doing and that's How you will really truly learn to putt. I'm not an old man telling you this, I'm 35 years old. I acted like I knew how to putt when I used to use my spider and other large mallets. truth was, they were sledgehammers with the modern head weights of 360+G Plus which lacked any distance control and precision. When I bought a Scotty Cameron Studio stainless and pro Platinum a 8 months ago made circa 2000ish was when I really learned how to putt. I absolutely despised those blade Putters when I began. They were some of the most harsh awful feeling Putters I'd ever hit, which left me wondering why anyone wanted a Scotty Cameron. Then I studied tiger stroke and started doing his drill. most important thing is finding the center of the clubface exactly where The Sweet Spot is and learning how to repeat that. Those Putter's truly taught me how to putt and come to find out they are some of the most buttery precise Putters ever made when you find the center of the clubface repeatedly. I asked myself how exactly did Scotty Cameron design this Putter, and what does it want me to do to get along with it? Then you watch videos from Jim Furyk and tiger and experiment until you become harmonious with that Putter and feel The Sweet Spot. It may take an hour a day for quite a while. Some days it would be several hours. I Learned feel, feedback, and distance control. My stroke became repeatable my head became steady. My goal is to wear out the center of the Putter Face the way Tiger has done over 23+ yrs.
If Ben's video doesn't help, see mine. One handed, face-the-hole method. It's like tossing coins or bowling. You can get very accurate because you look at the target, not at the ball. Beat many great putters at the Golf Hall of Fame Putting Championship using this method.
Ben a true gentleman. not just a great PUTTER. a fine golf swing Also. all RHYTHM, LIKE PAYNE STEWART. SADLY WE DON'T SEE THAT NOWADAYS.BUT LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE IT WILL RETURN. PURE SKILL WILL PREVAIL.
Can we get a massive F in the chat for the cameraman or whoever cropped this video? How do you cut off the most integral part of the video.. the putter.
Is it just me? but the ratio of your camera means that you cut off the top and bottom of the screen and therefore we can see the ball and putter head in most of this video...
Ben Crenshaw was such a good putter that he broke his putter in frustration after Eamon Darcy took him to the cleaners in a singles match during the 1987 Ryder Cup. I know what it's like to miss putts as well! Perhaps it would be better to take lessons from another American professional golfer to give lessons!!!
Christopher Walsh Ben Crenshaw was not a very long driver of the ball and not like the rest of the long hitters on the tour meaning he would have to hit longer irons than most of the players to the green. Longer hitters would hit wedges compared to 7, 8 or 9 irons into the green. Crenshaw was truly one of the best putters in his time.
BECASUE THE LARGEST, MOST UN-TALKED ABOUT PROBLEM IN THE WORLD IS LACK OF SELF-ESTEEM, WORLDWIDE. NO WONDER WE ARE ONE OF THE MOST FUCKED UP SOCIETIES IN THE WORLD. TOW MALE DORKS, LACKING SELF, ESTEEM, MISSING A PUTT TOTALLY SUCKS . PULL THE PLUG SOON GOD. WE ARE FUCKED UP.
A 320 yard drive, a 250 yard 3 wood, a 90 yard wedge and a 3 foot putt all count the same on a score card. Take all the energy and motion and excitement of a 320 yard drive and ask yourself how much pressure you have to utilize to get all the energy, motion and excitement muted and compressed into the calm stillness and tension of a 5 foot put for $1,000,000.
Interesting that all that is talked about is mechanics, nothing about reading greens. If you can't read greens, I don't care how perfect your mechanics are, you are NOT going to make putts. Rory McIlroy proved that in the fourth round of the British Open. His stroke was perfect but nothing went in. But he was amazing the previous three days. Perhaps Ben Crenshaw should do a video on reading greens.
Its amazing watching guys like rory, JT and DJ who can hit the ball a mile and shape any shot but can't chip and putt.. it sounds arrogant but i know i can read a green better than those 3 lmaoo
Classic example of a great golfer not knowing what he is actually doing. At 2:07 Crenshaw says (with an arm motion) that he is trying "to go through that putt". But he does just the opposite by decelerating the stroke. His follow-through is half the distance of his take-away. He doesn't go "through" it at all. Feel vs. real.
Charlie Crenshaw Wow, I struck a nerve! What part of "great golfer" didn't you understand? I stand by my comments that what he's saying and what he's doing are two different things. Maybe your commentary can be more constructive next time.
Sean M I think you got confused by the gesture he made with his hands when he said he's trying to go through that putt. He doesn't do it with an arm motion as he says right before that statement that he's letting the 'clubhead do all the work'. So when he says he's trying to go through that putt, he means he lets the clubhead fall through the putt. u are right that his arms slow down but if u notice, the slowing arms act as a counterfall and result in a very soft wrist action which allows the clubhead to accelerate through the putt while providing more feel. don't be fooled by an abreviated follow through, he goes through that ball solid and the clubhead is accelerating; it just stops quicker than u are used to seeing.
I should add that he's not consciously slowing anything down but remaining soft and passive with the hands as he feels the swing of the head of the club. last statement in video sums up his philosophy well: "the lighter the grip and the more swing, the easier it becomes to LET the putter go right on through"
Robert Johansson a pure feel player, not only in his putting but also the full swing. The only thing he was good at was playing the game at it’s most fundamental level. Get the ball in the hole.
Wtf do you know? Crappy? Please. A guy on tour right now who putts very much like Ben, is Rickie Fowler. Generally regarded as a top 5 putter in the world today. Would you say that his mechanics are crappy, as well? Gtfoh, Clown.
