Padraig Harrington – Just Do THIS and You Will Start MAKING PUTTS

Padraig Harrington shares his tips on how to set up your putting stance, grip and mindset and start making more putts right away.

Welcome to Golf Channel Academy. I’m your host, Martin Hall. We’re here at the Grand Cypress Club in Orlando, Florida, and I’m delighted to be joined by three-time major champion Podrick Harrington. Obviously, we’re on the green. This is your putting special. Tell us what you think people should be doing to putt better. Podrick. Yeah, this is a little bit of do as I say, not as I do. So, if I was teaching somebody, first of all, I get them to get a nice wide stance. That gives stability here. Then I’d like to see them put both hands facing each other. Now I like to go left hand below right. And I would teach somebody this purely because it brings the left shoulder forward. So if anything, you’re going to get a slightly inside stroke. Sometimes if the left hand is high, your shoulders get open. It could cause you to cut across it, which isn’t great for getting the ball to spin down into the hole. Okay. So slightly wide stance. Ball position always about an inch, inch and a half ahead of your sternum to the left hand side. This encourages underneath your sternum will be the lowest point of the stroke. After that, the putter’s rising a bit. Again, helping to give a little bit of top spin on the ball. Okay. So, once we’re in position, hands facing each other, I’m basically looking at a smooth stroke, not a very slow stroke, a smooth backstroke, and a slightly longer follow through. I want to hold the finish. Okay? Always very important. Smooth stroke, slightly longer follow through. Again, we’re not taking a slow stroke and pushing. We’re more looking like I like to think of it if I had my right hand and I was rolling the ball into the hole. This is how I control pace. So, I’m never trying to hit a putt. I’m always just taking a little longer a stroke in order to make the ball go further. Again, hands slightly forward. This putter doesn’t have enough loft for this, but in general, your hands slightly forward. eyes over the ball. And here’s one change I make. I think compared to a lot of players, I like to teach to watch the ball. Now, in modern teaching, or for years, people would say, “Keep your head still. Keep your head still.” I actually teach, and I think this is a great thing. If you can, it can become a habit. Watch the ball with your eyes. That means your head won’t move. So, as that ball is traveling out the first couple of feet, my eyes are tracking it. No need to move my head. that I can see it. It tracks it for four or five feet with my eyes and then my head will move up. If I can make that a discipline, there’ll be less chance that I’ll move anxiously to see where it’s going because it is absolutely natural for any human being to watch the ball as it’s going to the target. That’s normal. So, why not teach yourself to do it properly rather than spend your whole life, which a lot of guys like me trying not to look up or we’re trying to stay nice and still. It works, but it’s not natural. So for a young guy, a person coming to the game, I would teach them to watch the ball running here in the first couple of feet of the putt with their eyes and then their head will move up rather than when you see a bad foot, the head moves first. And actually, they don’t even see the ball running for the first couple of feet. Well, yeah, I was going to come to that. Obviously, that is important to you. Can I ask why that’s so important? because some would say the ball has gone. What difference does it make? If you can get to this position where you’re balanced and held your finish to get there, you’ve done so many things right in terms of accelerating at a nice pace through the putt. People, a lot of people who struggle with putts, they have this rebound effect and that’s actually a deceleration and then you’re coming back. By holding the finish, it should help to ensure a constant momentum through the putt. It’s not a huge acceleration. There’s a nice rhythmical back swing and a nice acceleration through. It’s certainly nothing fast and jerky, but again, it’s not slow either. Slow is not a good thing in in any part of the game. It’s smooth, but it’s the same as as a right-handed person, you’d roll the ball at that pace. So, that’s the rhythm on my putting stroke. I put the putter down, good, solid base because I want to keep this stable. I want to keep my body stable. I want to keep my head stable. The only thing moving here is my shoulders and my arms. My hands are neutral against each other. Slightly forward. Line up and watch the ball. Just like that. Maybe I should do that more in