Watching the LPGA event in Hawaii. Michelle Wie is hanging onto a 1 shot lead on the back nine, and has done so due to a couple great putts. Michelle has always been a little iffy with the putter, and often looks completely shocked that the ball missed the cup. Today however, Michelle is sticking closely to the concepts of Banana Putting, and is rolling some tough putts into the cup.
Thanks to the great television angles, I have observed at least 4 putts in Michelle’s round that were perfect demonstrations of the concepts in the Banana Putting System. Did I teach Michelle my system? Not yet…maybe one of these days she’ll get the opportunity. I can watch a player, and tell you if they are adhering to the important concepts that I teach.
At least for today’s round, I would give Michelle a pretty good rating on her performance. One of the key components I watch for and measure when I teach putting is what I call “SLV.” When you follow the Banana Putting System steps, you want to have a very low SLV. A higher SLV means you’re putting the ball all over the place, and probably muttering to yourself…”what kept that out?” We’ve all had days like that, right?
Michelle’s SLV is pretty darn low today, and it’s got her in the lead. As I’m typing this post, she just holed another good putt to keep her lead through 12. Looks to be a great finish, and if she wins she can tell everybody to get off her back. Hope she closes the deal. I’ll keep watching, and if I see anything interesting, I’ll let you know.
Can you guess what SLV means? Remember…low is good, high is bad, just like your score.
Happiest of Valentine’s Days!