‘oo “— “ oad Putting it away in one THERE’S nothing more frustrating than reaching the green in two, then three putting. Often practice and relaxation arc key to successful putting. Putting Fundamentals 1) Relax hands, forearms, and shoulders. Good putting requires feel and a delicate touch. If your hands are too stiff from gtipping the putter too tightly it restricts free movement of the putter head and takes away your feel. Hold the putter softly but firmly so you can feel the putter head swing freely. Key thought: Hold your putter like you would a new born baby, softly but firm. 2) Eyes are directly over the ball. Ts is an important fundamental because it lets you sec the line of the putt and set up the putter head square to the target. Key drill: Take your putting stance and drop a ball from your eyes, it should hit the ball you are putting. 3) Accelerate through the ball. It’s very important to have the put- ter head gaining speed as you make contact with the ball. This will promote solid and consis- tent contact. What happens when vou are cruising along on a bike and all of a sudden you hit the brakes? If you are like most people the bike will start to swerve a bit as you slow down. It’s the same with the putter as you slow the putter head through the ball the heel of your putter starts to lead and the result is usually a weak putt missed to the right. Key thought: Peddle your ball to the hole! 4) A firm left (for righties) wrist throughout the stroke. Have you noticed the increasing number of touring pros that have switched to cross handed putting? The main reason they do this is because it keeps their left wrist firm through impact. When the leading wrist breaks down it causes the putter head to twist and turn like Elvis. Key thought: Having trouble with those four- and five-footers? You might want to experiment with a cross-handed grip! Lag Putting The most important element in long putts is speed, but often this is the most overlooked aspect of putting. For most golfers two putts from 25 feer or more is a welcome event, so give yourself'a nice big target. Visualize the hole the hole being three feet in diameter, five feet deep and glowing bright red! Giving yourself a nice large target will help you to relax and bring teel Shaking the sand out - SAND shots to the green can often make or break a hole. Here are four tips for improving. 1) The first is the secret sand shot grip. This grip is guaran- teed to get the ball out of the bunker! Start by gripping your sand wedge with your regular left hand grip(for right handed Ifers), then turn your ictt hand 90 degrees to the right so the Bute of the club is facing the hole. Now place your left hand on the club in your. regular fashion. This grip.opens the club fice and more importantly positions the club so the “bounce” of the club hits the sand first, which leads us to point number two. 2) The sand wedge is designed with a large and heavy bot- tom called the bounce of the club. This is what contacts the sand first to blast the sand out of the way and lets the club head slide under the ball. The biggest problem I see with weekend golfers in sand is that they use the leading edge of the club like a regular shot and all this does is dig the club head deeper into the sand and the result is the ball is left in the sand trap. 3) Set up with an open stance and then start the back swing by cocking your wrist straight up, like you were choppin; wood, and to the outside of the line so you come into the ball with an outside open swing. : -4) Follow through with an open club face. A lot of weekend - golfers stop when they hit the sand. The problem with that is ~ the bail stops too. ~ CUSTOM MADE CLUBS $325.00 $485.00 | $3/club .§ Irons 3-SW (steel shafts, tour wraps) ‘ vons Oversize (graphic shafts, tour wraps) _ Regrip Special (tour wraps to size) SEFFERSPORTS | CUSTOM GOLF EQUIPMENT THE RIGHT CLUBS AT THE RIGHT PRICE $93-9893 1577 PEMBERTON AVE. N. VAN {ACROSS FROM THE CACTUS CLUB) into your hands. Finally try to rid yourself of any mechanical thoughts and just visual- ize the hole and stroke the putt, just like you would shoor a basketball or throw a baseball. Key drill: Take three or four balls and tind two holes about 20 to 30 feet apart with some undulation. Practise putting the balls back and forth with only the speed of the putt in mind. Try to stop the putts exactly even with the hole, don’t worry about the line. You might be surprised to see how many putts go in the hole. Short Putts A firmly stroked putt in the back of the hole has the best chance of going in. Pick a spot in the back of the hole and aim for that spot. This will help you to stroke the ball firmly. Another advantage of a firmly struck putt is that you can play less or no break in the putt. Key drill: This simple and time test- ed drill will promote confidence and firmness to those testy three- to six- footers. Take five balls and place them three to six feet away from the hole. Practise making all five in a row from four sides of the hole. Start with a flat putt to really gain confidence then move to a hole with some break in it. NEWS photo PUTTING is one of the most important parts of the game. olf camps | Seymour Creek Golf Centre 315 Seymour Boulevard, North Vancouver Just east of Highway #1, enter off Mt. Seymour Parkway. For information & appointments: 987-8630 _ Adult camps *7O « June 8 (Tuesday). - 6pm, 77m & Spm. June 10 (Thursday). - 6pm, 7pm & 8pm. ¢ June 12 (Saturday). - 10am. e June 14 (Monday) - 10am, 6pm, 7pm & 8pm. e June 16 (Wednesday) - 6pm, 7pm, & 8pm. © Baginnere and Intermediate. , ¢ 4 hrs. of group instruction (1 per evening). Junior drop-in clinics Every Saturday at-10am. Adult drop-in clinics Every Saturday at 1pm (men & women). Ladies’ Drop-In every Wednesday at 2pm. Ciubs repair By Canada’s only CPGA Class “A Clubmaker. 11 piece re-grip with “Golf Pride Special”. Lie and loft check. | free bucket | Buy a driving range token & get one free! (One/day until June 20/99) de ee ae de ee