News: Instruction

Mark Wilson focused on a small dot on his golf ball while putting last week at the Humana Challenge.

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Mark Wilson is a player that is comfortable in his own shoes and certainly knows how to get the most out his game. Wilson is not a real long hitter or a flashy player, but one of those guys that when you add them up in the clubhouse, it’s another 67 or 66.

Although there are many things we could learn about Wilson’s overall game, it was his putting stroke that took center stage this week. Heading into the Humana Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation, Wilson discovered a very specific thought when putting: Keep your head still.

Sometimes the challenge to putting is just learning to keep things quiet or passive through impact, whether it’s your hips, weight, hands or that dreaded head movement. It’s just so easy to want to peek and have the head move to soon as the putterhead moves through impact.

To help quiet things down this week in California, Wilson made a dot on his golf ball and focused on that as the putterhead made moved through impact to quiet down the eyes and the urgency to peek. Such a simple thing can be so effective to help keep the head still.

TRAVIS’ TIP

Another tip that can lead to keeping the head still when putting is to get the mind to think more past impact to what we call the “end point” at the TOUR Academies. A simple cadence to follow is A-B-C. Allow “A” to be the backstroke and “B” to be the end point. Focus on the putterhead coming to a complete stop at the end point and then allow “C” to occur where you turn and track the ball with your trail eye.

Again, a very simple cadence but yet when focusing on it can really provide structure to the putting stroke allowing the head to remain still during the stroke leading to more trust and consistency.

Travis Fulton is the Director of Instruction at the TOUR Academies at TPC Sawgrass and the World Golf Village. For more information on the TOUR Academy, click here.