Phil Mickelson says this is the key to making every 3-footer
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Three-footers are sometimes scooped up on the weekends, however whenever you’re enjoying for one thing, these putts could make the knees shake. Pros and different high-level gamers are fairly good at making these testers. Weekend warriors? Not a lot.
Leaving your lag putts inside the leather-based ought to at all times be the objective, however that’s solely half the battle. To make these lag putts really matter, you’ve received to make the clean-up putt, too.
The shorties are straightforward to ignore, however essential for scoring. A 3-footer may not seem to be a lot, however when you miss a pair, they’ll make you sweat. Everyone — execs included — has missed a three-footer earlier than, and it’s by no means a enjoyable expertise.
The solely manner to be sure to’re up to snuff on these putts is to follow them (clearly). But as a substitute of mindlessly swiping away on the placing inexperienced, you need to go into the follow session with a objective.
In the video beneath, Phil Mickelson particulars the key to making all of your three-footers, and an important drill to enable you to follow it.
The 25-75 rule
Mickelson has wowed followers together with his wedge play his whole profession, however he’s tidy with a putter in his arms, too. And a few of that may be attributed to a tip he discovered from Jackie Burke Jr.
“The trick that Jackie Burke taught me is 25-75,” Mickelson stated. “We want to go back 25 percent [and] through 75 percent. That really helped me because when I was going so long [in the backstroke] my face angle would move as I would ease into the ball.”
By shortening the backstroke, it gave Mickelson’s putter face much less time to open or shut throughout the stroke. And moreover, it promoted a extra aggressive stroke by the ball.
“I want to hit this ball aggressively, but still have it die into the hole,” he stated. “That’s the basis for the technique.”
To follow this when hitting his three-footers, Mickelson used what he known as the three-foot circle drill the place he arrange 10 tees in a three-foot circle round the cup. Before he would go away the placing inexperienced, Mickelson would go round this circle till he made 100 putts in a row.
“I do it three or four times a week while I’m competing,” Mickelson stated. “This is the foundation of it.”
If you possibly can bear in mind 25-75 whereas doing this drill, you’re certain to make greater than your fair proportion of three-footers.
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