Distance control and the 4 second rule

Distance control and the 4 Second Rule.

For me this putting instruction that you are about to read is the real "Gold" in putting instruction. Whoever masters distance control in putting...... is the person you should fear on the putting green.

Most of putting accuracy and precision begins and ends with distance control. Distance control comes from touch for the given green plus targeting. Once distance control becomes automatic, you never need to worry about it much and can devote almost all your practice, attention, and on-course focus to reading and hitting the correct path into the hole.

Getting Distance Control

Every green has a different speed and the speed changes during the day and from day to day. Hopefully, the speeds of all greens on a course are close, but this is only within a certain range. So distance control inevitably entails some green reading for speed and some "touch" just for that particular speed.

Once you have a touch for the particular green speed calibrated, and have taken advantage of your experience and senses to judge speed conditions variation from green to green, distance control is a matter of targeting. By targeting I mean the physical procedures you use to localize the hole or target in relation to your body and your body’s action. This is only partly a matter of vision.

Learn to Use the Neck Turn for Distance

Once beside the ball, you have to resettle the brain, since you’ve just stopped moving. Then focus steadily on the ball and turn your head to carry the gaze along the path on the ground at the speed your experience and touch tells you the ball will likely roll in the perfect putt. It’s not the eyes that matter here. It’s the pacing and extent of your neck turn. It helps to have the eyes in plane with the putt plane, but the real important cue is what your neck muscles tell your brain about distance. So pretend you really are following the ball to and into the hole.

Focus on the Hole Itself for at Least 4 Seconds

Once your gaze is at the hole, keep it there at least 4 seconds. Three seconds is not enough because the brain gets bored and wants to get on with it, so you have to override the urge to look away. It takes at least 4 seconds for the brain to form an enduring image and to sort out the distance fully. Also don’t let your eyesight jump or wander about. Look steadily at the hole or even some point on the lip or down into the center of the cup. This procedure creates an anchor point as your body assesses direction and distance, and it also creates an image of the apparent shape and size of the hole that your brain uses to assess distance as well. (This aspect of the routine also helps with orienting the body for a stroke on the proper line.)

At this time, mentally the only thing you want in your mind is a sense of the "thereness" of the hole: the hole is exactly there, not to the left or right, or nearer or farther, just there.

Scan Along the Line from the Hole Back to the Ball

Then, look from the hole along the path with a smooth neck turn back to the ball. At this time, you have about as vivid a sense of the location of the hole in terms of distance and direction as you are likely to get, and you have an internal mental image of the appearance of the hole. You also have a kinetic, rhythmic sense of the neck turn and a memory of just how far to turn the neck to get back to the hole.

That’s It.

Just Putt.

The actual stroke is automatic from here on

You do not need to think about the force of the stroke, and in fact it probably hurts to do so. Just let the neck turn’s pacing and extent work its magic by mimicking this in your stroke’s tempo. The length of your stroke will adjust itself without conscious involvement. All you want consciously is the thought: use your athletic ability to "roll the ball into the hole." All the way, at the best speed for capture.

Making This Part of Your Game. Try this routine on 10 foot putts. Use it with the Core Putt to see how it works.

Then try longer putts. Over time, I believe you will find you begin to trust and respect the consistency and accuracy you gain, and these procedures “solve” far more problems than other ways you try. In particular, the still focus on the hole plays a much more pronounced role in getting distance control than one would ever suspect.

Once you have exquisite distance control, you feel liberated to concentrate solely on line and break. All putts start to look very similar, regardless of length. Leaves and comebacks only become a concern when severe down-slope is near the hole on the far side.

In a word, you’ve reduced putting’s problem in half and thereby doubled your rate of progress toward excellent putting on a permanent basis.