I love the great camera angles that we get to see when the players are putting. There were a number of occasions yesterday when you could see right down the players line towards the cup. I paid particular attention to Jim Furyk’s putts and how he was rolling the ball down the line. Jim had a great day, and shot a nice round in the 60’s that got him within one shot of the lead. He somehow posted that great round while breaking one of the main rules of my Banana Putting System.

Why do I say that? Pretty simple. Jim got lucky a couple times. Jim Furyk…one of the best players in the world, got lucky? I believe he did. Jim had at least three putts that he misread or misaligned, and then made a corrective stroke that got the ball to go in the hole. If you watch the putts closely, you can tell if the player is starting the ball on the intended line or not. In at least these three cases, Jim didn’t start the ball on the line he thought he would, but the putt found its way into the cup.

What’s wrong with making those putts? Not a thing! I hope he continues to get them in the hole and he wins the event. Nobody is going to take away the trophy if he pushes or pulls a couple putts into the cup, right?

What I will tell you is that the reason Jim hasn’t putted that well, and the reason he has to work so hard at his putting is that he isn’t getting committed to and rolling the ball on his intended line. Eventually, that catches up to you. The guys play a long season, and if they get into the habit of manipulating their putts, at some point, they get bad results.

Maybe when Jim comes to Dublin, Ohio for the Memorial, we can talk about how Banana Putting could get him to putt his ball a little more consistently.

Good luck Jim!

Right handed golfers struggle with left to right putts because the target, or the cup, is very clearly in their field of vision. Because you can easily see the cup, your eyes tend to look towards the final destination rather than down the start line of the putt. Where your eyes look is where you are most likely to putt the ball, resulting in a start line that is well below your intended start line. This gets the ball headed to the low side.

Righties usually fare better on right to left putts because visually it’s easier for your eyes to look down your intended start line. It becomes difficult to sneak a peek towards the hole when the cup is hidden behind your front shoulder.

The lesson to be learned here is to closely monitor where your eyes are looking. Where you look = where the ball will go. If you’re missing all those left to right putts on the low side, its because your eyes are wandering toward the cup rather than the start line.

If you’re left handed, all of this stuff will apply to your right to left putts.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to spend some of your day “Going Bananas!”

I did get to listen to Tiger’s interview this morning, and saw the footage of his winning putt, and a couple things jumped out at me as I watched and listened.

Tiger said a couple things during his interview that really struck a chord with me. As you know, I’ve spent the winter compiling my putting system into a book called Banana Putting, so I’m kind of tuned into what the Tour guys and girls say and so regarding putting. Tiger’s comment about his winning putt was that he “hit it right where he was looking.” Excellent concept, and a great thing to do. Where do you suppose he was looking?

Many would reply at the hole, or at the “apex” of the putt. I have a difference of opinion. Tiger was looking down his start line, not at either of the targets mentioned previously. Watching the footage confirms this. Tiger’s eyes were looking down the start line of his putt, and that was his only focus. Under my Banana Putting system, this would receive an impressive A+ for adhering to the rules.

Tiger made another comment about his putt that is interesting. I’ll paraphrase, but he said something like “…I knew if I played it far enough left…” Great stuff. He knows that thinking in terms of playing more break versus less break will give him a great chance for success. One of the things I discuss in my book is how golfers have a hard time aiming the ball very far away from the cup. Tiger used one of my key points in finding a reason to play more break. Again, I give Mr. Woods an A+.

I’m happy to tell you that I just got my book back from my graphic designer, and the ebook is just about ready to go. Jump over to the sign up box on this site to stay updated on the release date.

One of the guys that’s headed home early is the reigning Master’s champion Trevor Immelman. Trevor had a chance to get his match down to a 1 hole deficit with 1 hole to play. All he needed to do was coax a 4 foot putt into the hole on #17. Sounds pretty simple for a major winner doesn’t it?

Unfortunately, Trevor struck his left to right putt, and as soon as he hit the ball, walked after the putt as it missed the cup on the low side. It seemed that he knew immediately that the putt was missed. I propose that he knew even before he hit it that something was wrong.

Any time I see a player hit a putt, and start walking, I know that the putt confirmed a thought they had in their head BEFORE the putter swung back. There’s the key. If a miss confirms what you were thinking, why were you having that thought?

Banana Putting is designed to place the golfer in a state of total and complete commitment as they stand over the ball. Once you have that, your great putting stroke shows up. Lose the commitment, and you lose your stroke, and miss the putt.

Trevor lost his commitment, and missed a key putt. I could also contend that he followed that up with another uncommitted effort on the next one, which he missed to lose the match.

3 putts from 4 feet from the Masters champion. Cost him the hole, and ended his tournament in the first round. I see things like this every week. Even from the best in the world.

I hope I have the chance to share my concepts with Trevor, and bunch of the other guys on Tour. I know it will make a huge difference in those critical few seconds before the putter swings.

More to come.

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!

Many will receive their copies via email, and I plan to distribute some at the PGA Show. The manuscript is still a little rough…I’ll tell you that right up front. My graphics guy has my book on his list, and we’re hoping to have the book looking great in a couple weeks. I am mainly interested in getting some feedback from my circle of golf experts on what they like and dislike. What do I need to add or delete? I promise to listen!

If you would like to look through the manuscript, let me know. I look forward to some great feedback, and some discussion. I’m hoping that you’ll find the concepts interesting, and that you find them immediately helpful as many do.

I think most golfers would consider this information invaluable. I know I would. When my Banana Putting System is released, you will have all the tools to carefully analyze your performance. You will be able to make adjustments as quickly as from one putting green to the next.

Banana Putting is a cool new way to look at putting. I give you my spin on getting ready to make putts, and a series of steps that will place you in a great frame of mind prior to rolling your putt. The final step in my Banana Putting process is a quick and easy analysis of how you performed the previous steps. The data on your performance will immediately tell you where you were lacking in the process.

A golfer could use this information to putt better on the next green, or the next round, or later in the season. The choice is up to the golfer. 

Intead of shaking your head and mumbling about how it’s going to be “one of those days”, you can quickly see which part of the equation was off, and immediately fix it. I’m not going to promise you that you’ll make everything you look at in your next round. I will promise you that if you give my system a solid try, you’ll learn to do every single step in the putting sequence better than you ever have. With this improvement comes more made putts…that’s what we all want.

Send me your questions and comments – love to help!

What differentiates you from Tiger Woods is the results, and this is what you’ll learn to improve with Banana Putting. Banana Putting is about making the golf ball go in the hole. Plain and simple. Inside the book I’ll explain how you can putt as well as Tiger.

Banana Putting is a step by step method. It will add zero time to your speed of play, and may reduce your speed, along with your score.

Most golfers putt poorly because they arrive at that point over the ball where they are confused and uncertain. I will show you how to eliminate all those crazy last minute thoughts and feelings that you normally have.

Banana putting is simple. Banana Putting is easy, and you may already be closer than you think to becoming a great putter.

Drop your name and email in my opt-in box over on the top right, and I’ll keep you posted on the release of he book and all the other goodies.