Browsing: putting

Golf instruction is ever-evolving, but the best advice stands the test of time. In GOLF.com’s new series, Timeless Tips, we’re highlighting some of the greatest advice teachers and players have dispensed in the pages of GOLF Magazine. Today we look back to our December 1988 issue for a putting tip from Paul Azinger.

Putting can be a maddening skill to struggle with. Although it typically constitutes the shortest strokes, mastering your touch on the greens can at times feel impossible. Even the pros have difficulty with it from time to time.

One such example? Twelve-time PGA Tour winner Paul Azinger. In the mid-1980s, Zinger had yet to win on Tour and ranked outside the top 100 in putting. So, he turned to fellow pro Corey Pavin for some help.

What Pavin shared with Azinger was an unconventional putting grip and technique to use on the greens. And although it looked a little funky, it was highly effective. After putting the grip in play, he started stacking up wins, culminating in a major victory at the 1993 PGA Championship.

In the midst of Azinger’s putting resurgence, he joined GOLF Magazine to show our readers how the funky technique worked — and how they could implement it into their own games. Check it out below.

Azinger’s unique putting technique

This is my putting grip [below]. Pretty strange looking, right? It may look weird, but it works. When I picked it up from fellow Tour pro Corey Pavin late in 1985, I ranked 134th on the list of putting leaders; this year, I rank fourth.

I recommend this grip, especially if you think your putting stroke is too wristy or if you want the putter to feel like an extension of the left arm.

First I’ll explain how to take the grip. As you practice it, read on: I also have some unorthodox thoughts on the stroke and a strategy for holing more putts that differs from most pros’.

Paul Azinger’s putting grip.

GOLF Magazine

To take the grip, place your left hand on the club in a very weak position, the palm almost under the handle. The right hand goes on very strong, also underneath, so the fleshy heel of the hand covers the left middle and ring fingers. Extend the left index finger over the back of the right hand so the tip lies between the two middle knuckles. Be sure the left thumb falls over the right fingers, not on the shaft.

The main advantage of this grip is that it stabilizes the left wrist so the left arm and putter shaft work as one. With the wrist locked, neither hand dominates the action. This keeps the putterface square to the target line as you draw the club back and swing through.

But the grip isn’t all I do differently. I like to “zing” the ball with a short rap, not a long, flowing swing. I never worry about how long to make a backswing. Instead, I stand over the ball and imagine the line I want to roll the ball on running away from the front of the ball, then I “pop” it along that line. I make sure to follow through toward the hole, and I hold my finish position — the blade up and away — instead of recoiling.

My stroke may be firm, but I’m not an aggressive putter, that is, I don’t try to bang the ball home by bouncing it off the back of the cup. To do that, you must roll it right over the center of the hole, and if you’re off by just a little, the ball will most likely lip out. I stroke softly enough so that if the ball doesn’t catch the hole dead-center, it still has a chance of catching the lip and dropping in.

Charging the hole has another drawback: A long second putt. If you miss an aggressive putt, you’ll probably face a three or four footer coming back. When my soft putts miss, I have only an eight to 10 incher to negotiate. If my second putt is longer than that, I feel I’ve hit it too hard. My feeling is that if I miss my birdie, I prefer to have an easy tap-in left instead of a missable three footer to grind on. I would rather have a “gimme” par putt than risk a three-putt bogey.

My plans change slightly on long putts. With 40 or more feet to cover, I try to get the ball within a two-foot-wide bucket around the hole. And while I normally don’t like to leave the ball short of the hole, I don’t mind a long one finishing a little shy, so long as ’m left with nothing more than a two-footer for my second putt.

A case sometimes made against rolling the ball softly on short, pressure putts is that it’s more reliable when you’re nervous to make the firmest stroke possible and bang the ball into the back of the cup. I don’t buy that argument because you still have to hit the hole squarely to make the ball drop. I still prefer to make a soft approach even on the most crucial putts, thanks to a pre-shot routine I’ve developed to calm my nerves. I control my breathing: I inhale to a slow, leisurely count of four, then exhale to a count of four. If you’ve ever watched me walking up the fairway to face a pressure putt, you can be sure I’m doing this, and that I continue to do it while I prepare for the stroke.

This routine calms my pounding heart, which helps me avoid making any nervous, jerky motions that could interfere with the stroke. The routine also gives me something to think about as I get ready, helping take my mind off the pressure of having to make the putt.

Reducing the amount of three-putts you have per round is simple. All you’ve got to do is dial in your speed control.

When you’ve got proper speed control, you can get away with not starting lag putts on the perfect line. Typically, your dispersion front to back will be much greater than from left to right, so improving your speed is the best way to tighten up that circle of your misses around the hole.

Now, improving your touch on the greens will always be easier said than done, but if you’re serious about limiting those score-killing three-putts, it’s important to dedicate some time to dialing in your speed. In the text below, GOLF Top 100 Teacher Trent Wearner shares a drill you can use to do just that.

Do this drill for fewer 3-putts

There are many ways to reduce the number of putts you take during a round. For some players, it’s about improving their routine and mindset over the ball. For others, it comes down to setup, stroke, or green reading. But for many golfers, the biggest opportunity lies in developing better touch and feel — the ability to control distance.

Speed control is something you should be intentionally working on every time your feet hit the putting green. It’s such a critical element of good putting that ignoring it means leaving easy strokes on the table.

Here’s a simple drill that requires only a few tees and a spool of thread.

Setup: Tear off two pieces of thread, each about four feet long. Place one piece three feet behind the hole and the other along the front edge.

Set 1: Place tees at 3, 6, 9 and 12 feet. Your goal is always to make the putt — but pay attention to speed. Tour players typically hit short putts with enough pace to roll about four feet past the hole (if it were covered). That’s a bit aggressive for most amateurs, which is why the back thread is set at three feet.

With one ball at each tee, aim to make the putt. If it doesn’t drop, it must finish between the two threads. Complete all four distances in a row before moving on.

Set 2: Move the front thread one foot short of the hole and leave the back thread three feet past. Place tees at 15, 20 and 25 feet. Again, each putt should either go in or finish between the threads. Make all three in a row before advancing.

Set 3: Now move the front thread three feet short of the hole, keeping the back thread three feet past. Place tees at 30, 35, 40 and 45 feet. Same rules apply: each ball must stop between the threads or you start the set over.

As mentioned earlier, great putters adjust their speed depending on the length of the putt. On short putts, they hit the ball a bit firmer; on long putts, they die it closer to the hole.

Here’s a fun bit of perspective: the circumference of a golf ball is 5.277 inches — meaning one full revolution rolls the ball just over five inches. So, if you’re trying to hit a putt one foot past the hole, that’s only about two revolutions. That’s how precise elite speed control really is.

The New York Mets are now in jeopardy of missing the 2025 MLB postseason after their 3-2 loss to the Washington Nationals on Sunday.

With that defeat and the Cincinnati Reds’ 1-0 win over the Chicago Cubs, the two teams are now tied for the third and final wild-card playoff berth in the National League at 80-76. If the Mets and Reds finish the regular season with the same record, Cincinnati would win the tiebreaker with its 4-2 mark versus New York.

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The Mets finish the season with a six-game road trip, facing the Cubs and Miami Marlins. Meanwhile, the Reds split their final six games with a home series versus the Pittsburgh Pirates and then visit the Milwaukee Brewers to close out the regular season.

Facing a nearly must-win situation, the Mets fell behind 3-0 in the second inning with Jorge Alfaro driving in Daylen Lile on a one-out single. Sean Manaea then got Brady House to ground out and looked like he might escape the inning with only run allowed. However, he grooved a 91-mph fastball down the middle of the strike zone, which Nasim Nuñez hit for a 2-run home run. That was Nuñez’s third homer of the season.

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The Mets managed a scoring threat in the third with Luis Torrens and Cedric Mullins leading off the frame with consecutive singles, resulting in one run scored. But Francisco Lindor then hit into a double play. That especially hurt when Juan Soto followed up with a double. He was stranded when Brandon Nimmo lined out to left field.

Lindor cut the Mets’ deficit to 3-2 with a solo home run to lead off the sixth inning. Soto then walked to put the tying run on base, but he was out at second on a grounder from Nimmo. Pete Alonso singled to give the Mets two runners on. However, reliever Mitchell Parker came in to get Jeff McNeil to pop out and struck out Mark Vientos.

The Mets appeared to score the tying run in the ninth when Francisco Alvarez hit a deep drive to left-center field. Yet Jacob Young made a leaping catch above the fence to rob Alvarez of a home run.

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It was the Nationals center fielder’s second highlight grab of the game. In the fifth, he got a glove on Brett Baty’s fly ball to straight-away center field. Young initially didn’t catch the ball, but it caromed off his foot without touching the ground and he secured the out.

The Mets, who led the NL East by 1.5 games on July 27, have lost 11 of their past 15 games to endanger their postseason chances.

“We have to keep going,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “… A lot can happen.”

Tigers hang onto 1 game lead atop AL Central

Another team that faces missing the postseason after a late-season free fall is the Detroit Tigers. Detroit faced squandering what was once a 15.5-game first-place lead on July 8.

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With a loss Sunday combined with a win by the Cleveland Guardians (84-72), the Tigers (85-71) could have been tied atop the division with six games remaining. Not only was losing the division a very real possibility, but Detroit could get squeezed out of the postseason altogether by missing out on one of the AL’s three wild-card playoff spots, finishing behind the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros.

Yet for one more day at least, the Tigers are still in first place. They lost to the Atlanta Braves, 6-2, on Sunday, getting swept at home to a 73-83 Atlanta team. Detroit starter Casey Mize allowed three runs in 5/23 innings, while the Tigers lineup couldn’t score against Spencer Strider in five innings. The Braves put the game out of reach with three runs in the ninth off reliever Tanner Rainey, who didn’t record an out.

Detroit was spared losing its division lead with the Guardians’ 6-2 defeat to the Minnesota Twins. That ended the Guardians’ 10-game winning streak and was only their fifth loss in September (16-5), potentially showing the Tigers some temporary mercy.

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Cleveland allowed three runs through seven innings, but Royce Lewis hit a 3-run, pinch-hit homer off Hunter Gaddis in the eighth to put the game out of reach. Sunday’s game was only the second in September in which the Guardians’ pitching staff had allowed more than three runs.

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