The Putting Science Institute

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Putting Science THE PUTTING SCIENCE INSTITUTE

CLINIC FOLDER

http://www.theputtungscienceinstitute.com

Introduction

Almost at the end of a lifelong career in golf teaching and coaching, I feel I have to share some more knowledge. Having worked as a fully PGA qualified golf club professional - teacher - (national) coach - course constructor and golf course manager, I have started a new golf life. After a short break, I reignited my golf career in 2010 when I came in contact with a British putting coach at the wonderful golf resort of Hacienda del Álamo in the region of Murcia - Spain.


Member at St. Andrews GolfclubTeaching groups at Aelderholt-Holland In the putting lab

Inspired by him as well, I set out to find out more about putting, the part of the game that was least taught. I researched and helped setting new frontiers in knowledge in putting, and with that, for the short game as well. I saw that putting techniques and methods need to be tested further than our empirical obsevations. To get proof and support in our teaching efforts by scientific facts. My entrance into the field of neuro science, as my daughter, a neuro science Phd student, put me onto this track. Cognitive Neuroscience, where theories in golf instruction and training can be seen in relation to the complex workings of the brain. Where theories can be proven to become facts. I found that a number persons well advanced with research, in particular into putting, had made major steps in this field. But to name just one would give too little credit to the godfathers of putting instruction like Dave Pelz, Harald Swash and Dr. Paul Hurrion. These professionals have functioned as a starting point for my research and with the putting coach putting me onto the next level, I felt, I had a great start.

But if I have to mention some separately than that would be Geoff Mangum and Dr David Wright who have majorly contributed into the scientific background of putting science, and are an inspiration for my own research.


The Institute

In my experience golf teachers and coaches learn their profession in many different ways. One important way is by sharing knowledge and insights from colleagues and other professionals in the field. Through conferences, by watching instructional videos on the net and by talking to each other. This last matter can be done on a day to day basis via the web and without all the golfing world looking in. That was my motivation for the Institute. A web based closed community for all professionals in golf. Where we can share and compare, where can be seen what the colleagues are thinking about instructional theories. And finally to study some interesting theories at scientific levels. To have the essentials clear to everybody. To turn theories into facts. The Institute is by professionals and for professionals. To share the new found facts among each other. For all colleague teaching- and playing professionals, coaches and other type of professionals involved in the sport. For us all to have an advantage.

What follows here are some of the theories of the founder of the Institrute and putting scientist……….

HOW GOOD DO YOU NEED TO BE…… YOUR BEST EVERThe Putting Science Institute sets the goals to succeed on tour or for which ever level of play, within your potential.

For Prospect Touring professionals and anybody who really would love to be that…

When working with Putting Science you will be asked to work many hours learning on how to develop your golfing potential from technical skills, through feel development to tournament planning, preparation and play. And to be a successful touring pro, you need dedication and loyalty to your own program, as otherwise iyou will not succeed. And besides great swing and short game techniques, what else do you need more?

Ask yourself this question “As a playing professional”, do you want to be in twenty percent of the field that gets eighty percent of the prize money or in the eighty percent of the field that shares what’s left? “As a top amateur” do you want to know how to be even better and what it takes to do that?



“As a day to day lover of the game” would you want to know how to practice efficiently in the little time you can spare so you will play to the best you feel you can? A Putting Science Institute professional can show and coach a player along the desired path to success and much more enjoyment. How do we do this? By making you understand how you can and must excel in the scoring game. By letting you putt better, feel better and score better. But that is not where it stops. That is where it begins!

WHY A PUTTING SCIENCE INSTITUTEYou might think how can putting (academy) be useful to all my golf shots and techniques.

Well first of all as it is the most played single shot type in a round of golf, it is also the most definite one in relation to making your score. A bad drive can be recovered without losing strokes. A missed putt that you could or should have holed always means a higher score.

Secondly it is the smallest and slowest movement that does not requires great physical potential. Do not mistake that for “it needs no great amount of technique” as putting needs a finer technique with more hand - eye coordination and touch than any other stroke.

And because of the fine, detailed and miniature size swing, it is the perfect base for all the other swing movements, the “mother of swings” you might call it as it will give you insight and understanding what and how things happen….even more if you are given information obtained through scientific research.

In most if not all action sports slow motion and fine motion tuning are fundamental training methods for learning technique and feel. Putting can play that role in golf. It requieres slow motor control, fine eye hand coordination and great feel. Understanding these elements are also essential for the bigger swing movements.

And finally almost everybody recognizes that the short game and putting especially is important in scoring, but hardly anybody can tell how good realistically you need to be at each type of different putt at your specific level.

Our putting learning strategy gives you inside view to the way you function and what you need to be able to do in each section of the game if you want to reach your potential. How good does your putting need to be. From which distance do you need to be able to hole out. How close do you need to chip, pitch, hit your bunker shots to… how long do you really need to be from the tee to make par!



HERE OUR 5 STATISTICAL BASICS THRUTHS THAT DETERMINE THE QUALITY OF A GAME.

1. 70 to 75% of all shots played are from 100 yards and in! -Of that percentage more than 50% is putts.

2. For a touring pro, to win some money, to keep his card and to be succesful on tour, needs to maintain par on each hole at all costs! -To do that he or she needs a superb short game as otherwise that is statiscally impossible; their difference in quality is not in the long game but the quality of their short shots!

3. 80% of three putts are made when the first one is downhill !-To avoid those you need a positioning approach game.

4. Your putting qualities will determine the degree of difficulty of your approach shots in the game!- but also that of the other 25 to 30% of your game which consist of full swing shots and drives from 100 yards and over.

5. To improve on your game you have to practice what you play!- Which means (in time or balls hit); 25 to 30 % full swings including drives; 20 to 30 % approaches, bunkershots, etc.; 40 to 55% putting.



THE INSTITUTE’S ANSWERS TO THESE BASICS

1. Improve your putting and you improve on all shots on the course, not only your score.

That the level of qualities of all your other shots, outside putting, will be detemined by how good your putting really is. It will influence the short game and finally your longer shots. Our motto is one of, the all time great and 18 times major winner, Gary Player, who states that if you want to improve your game you should improve your short game by turning 3 into 2 (meaning: “playing only 2 shots where you used to take the three final shots on a hole"). Think about this simple logic. If you can do that on 50% of the holes in a round, you improve your score by 9 shots!

2. To give you realistic targets in practising all the types of,100 yards and shorter, shots. Including and to start with putting.

Based on average and peak performance tour statistics of 2013 we explain “How good do you need to be” at:

• each type of putt; • greenside chips; • greenside pitches; • greenside troubleshots • greenside bunkerplay; • 30 yards approach shots; • 50 to 75 yards appraoches; • and finally 75 to 100 yards approaches.

Note: This does not mean that other techniques and matters outside putting should not be taught, but the Institutes professionals see themselves as putting specialists and refer to short game coaches, such as Tommy Horton, swing coaches and physical health coaches, etc., for the other parts. But these will only be able to succeed in their efforts in improving your game, if and when your putting is up to it.



CONCLUSION

With our feel method and comparable targets within each shot of the game, practicing becomes fun as you understand and can measure your level and progress. It sets out realistic goals and makes you understand how to exploit your specific talents inside this wonderful sport.

Our Method

BETTER ZONE BY ZONE

In my years as national youth coach for the Netherlands Golf Federation, I found that we were mostly lacking a number of statistics that can show for each type of shot, how good a player is, or needs to be. Around the same time (1996), as a club professional, I developed the “Better, Zone by Zone” system for my pupils. That proved to be my first attempt to measure one’s progress, outside someone’s handicap. This “Better, Zone by Zone” system starts at looking at someone’s ability close to the hole and than works backwards towards the tee, rather than the other way around. All good golf starts (still my conviction of today) at a player knowing from what distance he or she is certain to putt the ball in the hole (bet your money on it) and thus only playing one final shot from there into the hole. Because without that specific knowledge one does not know how good any of the other shots need to be. Let me explain: Let’s say a player is certain to hole out from 1 yard distance. Outside this 1 yard not! Than inside that 1 yard distance is the realistic minimum target for all other shots further away. That distance from where one is sure to hole out, I call the 1-shot-zone (circle). So let’s say that the same player can play from a 25 yards distance into that 1 shot zone, than with that a 2-shot-zone would emerge and that 2-shot-zone would be the target for shots even further away from the hole, etc, etc. Resulting in a possible play play from zone to zone, taking into account the difficulties and dangers on the course, instead of trying to hit each type shot as good and far as possible. This strategy is what I call course management and what I see most pro’s do on tour. They are very well aware



of their capabilities and play accordingly. This should also be the way for all other quality players, be it that the size of their zones would be different from that of the touring pro. Some call this “playing the percentage game”. Which is great, but than one has to know the percentages and this “Better, Zone by Zone” system would just give them those. The trouble is that most players have no a clue what they are capable of per each type of shot, especially not of that final stroke into the hole.

That is not only highly frustrating but also greatly interruptive to the process of learning and improved play on the course. As a teacher, I was sometimes confronted with reactions from players, who after several lessons complained that their performances on the course had not improved, sometimes even worsened. Not withstanding that their swing qualities had improved. This is because technique lessons on itself is not enough if you cannot relate to the qualities you need for each type of your shots. And how much, you need to improve on some of those shots to effectively better your game or handicap. You would not really know what to practice on and how to practice it. At the Institute we have practice targets for all type of shots of the game and putting in particular. Your golf success will ultimately be determined by your ability to write lower golf scores on your score card in tournaments. Therefore your practice effort should always be driven towards development of the key golf skills that have the greatest influence on reducing your golf scores in tournaments. To start with the practice on the putting green.

Putting Technique

Everybody knows how important putting is in relation to the number of shots you take on any given round. But very few understand that bad putting will effect everything else you do on the course such as playing the next tee-shot. But it has another effect on a player as well. The psychological one. For players with an outstanding short game, the pressure on the longer shots are not as high as for someone who can not putt. The mental pressure on the latter player will be much greater from tee to green, and even more so when on the green. Taking it back to the tee, it would mean that the poorer player (who just three putted the last green) feels really in need for a fantastic drive (long and straight) to get close enough to the green, so the next shot not only can end up on the green but relative close to the hole, all because the uncertainty in their putting!



That why we are convinced that good scoring starts with good putting.

We know from stats that for tour pro’s it is crucial, in order to regularly play under-par rounds (to make real money, etc.), to maintain on each hole par or better at all costs, and without a superior short-game and recovery skills they will never be able to achieve that. And the better they putt the better and easier the short game will be. We all have experienced playing under pressure and what it does to your game. So let’s have some fun and take some of that stress away by putting better and improving your game.

Set Up

WHAT COMES FIRST

BODY SET UP

Logically one should start with the set up of the body alone. No putter needed yet. We talk about a solid set up posture that creates an active athletic balance, like in skiing, receiving serve in tennis, etc. Unlocking the torso from the hips and legs. A body posture that is set up parallel to the targeted aim line and arranges the feet so far apart that it will fit the specific body type. That proper width of stand will result in the natural hanging of the arms and hands from the shoulders. This latter part also encourages both the arms to swing parallel to the shoulder line with the hands in a natural perpendicular position (backs facing towards and away from target aim line). At the institute we sort out each individual posture and mark it on practice tour sticks so the player can check this later again at any time.

PUTTER TO FIT

Secondly, with the posture set, we enter a putter into it. Now the length and lie of the putter has to accommodate this posture and not the other way around. Type of putter is purely individual choice, length and lie are not! If needed we can adjust the putter to fit the player’s good set up posture. The thickness of the grip on a putter has some remarkable reactions in the brain. If the putter grip is either too fat or thin, the perspective view of the targeted aim line and that of the whole green changes. So the putter grip must have the right size accommodating the size and shape of someone’s hands and give a sound view of the target aim line.



HOW TO GRIP IT

The grip must be neutral relative to the targeted aim line. This to place the wrists and fore arms parallel to this line as well. The putter grip will be in the palms of the hands and not in the fingers, as it is with a full swing grip where hinging (cocking) the wrists is important, whereas hinging in putting this is very undesirable. When the grip is held with the fingertips instead of the palms, the brain is signalled that the main action has to come from the hands instead of the larger upper torso muscles. The results would be very confusing to the brain. The hands say “Go” and the shoulders say “No”. Freezing, yips, jerks, recoils, etc can be the results of this conflict. An Uncertain feeling for sure!

AXES AND EYE LINE

The axes of your spine and neck must be straight in relation to your body upwards. As explained in the part about “Body Set Up”, the upper body is tilting forward, keeping an active balance. The eye line must be parallel to the targeted aim line (which is not always the straight line to the hole). This in order to look parallel along the aim line of a putt towards the hole and back (gaze). The parallel eye line will correspond in the brain with the physical aiming of the body and creates the right view of this line. When the eye line gaze pattern is used, the neck turn establishes a plate in the neck that interfaces the still shoulder frame with the turning head. The turn itself is characterised by angular amplitude and by the smoothness and pacing of the turn. The simulation of the perfect roll by visualisation, combined with the smooth pursuit gaze for targeting, fixes the smoothness and pace of the turn in quite a natural and experientially valid manner. The distance of the scan along the surface from ball to target fixes the angular amplitude of the turn. This angular amplitude corresponds exactly to distance, so that for a given person using this sort of pattern, a ten-foot putt is always exactly the same degree of turn, and a twenty-two-foot putt also always has a corresponding angle of turn. Consequently, over the course of practice and playing, the repetitive use of this gaze pattern engrains a consistent, repeating, veridical registry that correlates neck-turn with distance. Moreover, the "plate" in the neck turn mirrors or prefigures an identical "plate" in the shoulder frame-head interface during a shoulder stroke, in which the head is fixed still while the shoulder frame pivots about the same axis. Because of this, the dead-eye gaze in targeting not only locates the target as described; it does so in a fashion that "teaches" the body how to perform an efficacious shoulder frame motion by prefiguring a pace and an orientation of the motion.



The key neurophysiological phenomenon for golf putting is the relationship between targeting and stroke movement. Optimal putting technique will most likely be founded upon the integration of targeting e.g. Eye Line and focus point, with movement control. In the brain, the somatosensory mapping of the body in space, for purposes of voluntary goal-directed action with reference to a target in the environment, nourishes and guides the motor processes of movement planning and execution.

Furthermore there is the question of the leading eye and the dominant eye, which we found are not always the same eye. The leading eye, that lines up straight towards a target should be in place on top of the ball. The dominant eye is tends to do this however and in case the two are not the same (as it is in my case), a conflict of head positioning will occur, with the resulting ball positioning changing in relation to the swing line, having effect on the impact.

This sounds all very technical and frankly it is. But nevertheless very important in paralleling your body and vision to the targeted aim line and programming the swing motion accordingly. At the institute we will adjust these positions and are developing a gadget, like a Google glasses, to get these eye line matters fixed.

Stroke Motion

READY TO GO

When the set up is finally done, one is ready to putt, and to putt well. In fact the motion has been set now, and only a very few things can still go wrong. This was the main part of the work. Pfff…. but not done yet…we still need to make the stroke motion……

When standing in the correct individual set up position and posture we need to learn to play with our feel. But what is feel exactly? There can be many different scientific signalling that is received and translated in the brain as “ feel ”. To make things workable and not too complicated, we have selected 5 different feel factors and use these factors in instruction, from “us to you” and for “you to you”. With this method the motion is triggered and led by a “ feel “ that someone can turn on, instead of hoping to have it at a given moment.



Feel Factors Explained:

1. MENTAL FEEL

Mental feel is a feeling that can be described by such phrases as “I feel happy, confident, insecure, good, bad (not in the health meaning), etc. Over this “ feel “ we have no direct control, but is a result of all other matters we do. When you follow our methods you will feel good, relaxed and confident about your putting. Being in the zone is one of these mental feel matters that one can get when everything goes right. And although consistency is not a feel factor, consistency is the main factor in feeling confident.

2. INNER OR INTERNAL FEEL

Inner feel is the feel in your muscle groups inside your body. For instance when you tense up your fore arm muscles, you will feel that and that is what we call inner feel . A sensation in your muscles, tendencies and joints. This is the most important feel for using as a tool. To create the correct movements by the correct muscle groups. Some people call it squeeze other tension or the lack of it (loose). The arms are connected to the torso by a large muscle group in the chest, called the pectoralis. By holding them slightly tensioned or strung on, we connect these two body parts, letting them work together. With a little training one can learn to feel this sensation and to use it to start the motion. The same for a perfect transition and a solid contact at impact. And only if all the other matters are done correct, this feel will ensure a proper swing path and speed.

3. EXTERNAL FEEL OR TOUCH

External Feel is what we sense on the outer layer of our body like the skin. The feeling of a putter against the skin of your hands, the sensation of the arms touching your chest, the feel of your feet on the grass (when you would be bare footed). This “ feel “ tells where your putter grip is making contact in the hands and if and when the upper arms are loosing the contact with the chest, etc., this feel will signal to the brain what is happening with parts of the body. David Leadbetter uses this feel (erroneous to our



opinion) for creating and explaining connection. We do not; we use Inner feel for that. This external feel or touch is what you become aware of in a positive or negative way when putting well or bad. Players express this feel with sentences like; “I had a great touch on the green” or “ Today no feel at all !!”. This “ feel “ is always there, but difficult to use on its own as it would create total loss of coordination between the different body parts.

4. SURROUNDING OR SOUND DISTRACTING FEEL

Sound can play a supporting role in the accomplishment of the Inner feel factor as a leading way to putt. Sound can also be distracting and keep the conscious brain from interfering (Inner Game by Timothy Gallwey) as well as in helping to set a regime in executing a movement under all circumstances.

The human brain is subject to entrainment by internal and external oscillations, whether by the cycles of daylight and night, wind noise or by the rhythmic sound waves of entrancing music. Byron Nelson is reputed to have credited his victorious final round in the Masters with the happenstance encounter with a lady performing Strauss "Blue Danube Waltz” on the piano the morning before his tee time, and he is said to have played the tune in his head throughout the day, crediting his performance with the beneficial effects of the tune. Regardless of any specific tempo that may be considered as optimal in a golfer"s putting, the performance can likely be kept close to the desired tempo with the use of sound as a training protocol.

We use, amongst others, Geoff Mangum’s two methods in this. The BOOM sound or the Bird whistle method. Other sound related methods, like playing your favourite tune in practice can be also powerful tools in the combination with our other feel settings.

Reading the Putt5. DIRECTIONAL FEEL

Finally we talk about directional feel. But that is really the sensation and feeling a body has because of targeting e.g. body set up, balance, eye line and focus point, with movement control. In the brain, the somatosensory mapping of the body in space, for purposes of voluntary goal-directed action with reference to a target in the environment,


THE PUTT


nourishes and guides the motor processes of movement planning and execution. So directional feel is handled in the set up and pre stroke routines by the way the head and eyes are looking towards the intended line of play and on a hole, reading from the fairway, taking in the lay of the green in the wider context of the surrounding terrain. It continues walking onto the green as the view of the surface contour changes. To pick a “high” point and a “low” point on the greens edge.

The feet and one's sense of balance (Inner Feel) come into play, as one moves about on the dance floor sensing its tilt and speed. There are many general tips for reading greens and putts, grain, drainage patterns, putts -- one of these is reading from behind the hole.

Three Bits of Science about reading the green or putt

1) A "read" comes together in time. Our various sources of information for reading a putt are channeled together to form a "holistic" understanding of the putt. For many, this is mostly visual, with mental images of the path and its shape. For others, it is more a feel for the speed of the putt as if in a movie or a feel of the stroke itself. For some, it is a combination.

2) When you move, you lose. The brain for targeting and sensing targets in space in relation to the body wants a still body, a still head, and still eyes. "Quiet" is a better word. It's hard to get a good fix while any of these are moving, and when you WALK after a targeting effort, you pretty much dump it all in anticipation of doing the next thing, unless you are good at concentrated focus.

3) The stroke you make must match the read you take. The putt's read ultimately controls the motor program of the stroke. The read acts like a mental blueprint or map when standing in the address position that guides our forthcoming stroke movement for direction and pace more into the correct pattern. If you don't feel comfortable as you prepare to execute the stroke, the stroke is not matching your read and you will very likely have an episode of "second guessing" in mid-stroke.

The Institute methods of working with this knowledge

We have worked out several identifiable regions in putting that are guided by our most dominating and powerful part of the body, the brain.



All these matters we have tested and researched within our limitations as teachers of the game. Our own added parts in these theories are proven correlationally and anecdotally. By seeking backing through studies done like f.i. Cognitive Neuroscience students within a Phd course, we hope to see matters further proven or disproven. To see more details and have an even better foundation in our teaching and coaching methods. Our own greatest interest is going to eye line, leading and dominating eye theories and of course “our” feel factors and their workings in controlling movements. But there are so many more to be explained.

Our own methods in teaching and coaching is within this knowledge, during specialised clinics. Simplified and aided with tools that specifically let someone have a feel experience that he or she can repeat or as we call it “re-feel”. Feel enhances the experiences for the player. For us this method is the most “educated” way of instruction.

All in combination with our statistically based targets for each kind of shot in the game. So someone can practice technique with set goals per shot, to measure him or herself, to see progress to the next level, shot by shot, step by step and to obtain the best possible results in play.

Finally

Our search started from the question that we teachers asked ourselves dozens of times of “wouldn’t it be great if we could use feel as an instructional tool instead of verbal cognitive instructions”. A Haptonomic approach (the science of Affectivity, letting somebody feel instead of understand) has been my personal start in teaching golf when I became an apprentice with Tom O’Mahoney, friend and colleague (Professional of Noordwijk Golfclub and head coach for the Netherlands Golf Federation for decades). He is a great example of teaching the swing in that way. His overall knowledge and insight in combination with his “unique feel“ method made him the great teacher he was and is.

I hope to follow in this line and help players and teachers alike with the next steps in putting.

Pieter Losecaat Vermeer

Founder Associate

The Putting Science Institute




Calle Cuevas del Buitre 13 Torreguil

Sangonera la Verde - Murcia Spain.

[email protected]

Tel. mobile: +34 699 419 504 Tel. fixed: +34 968 34 9195

Fax: +34 968 34 9343

PUTTING SCIENCE

THE PUTTING SCIENCE INSTITUTE


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The Putting Science Institute

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