Have you tried a belly putter to improve your short game?

FRIDAY, MAY 25: I used a longer ‘belly’ style putter for seven years in a bid to correct the ‘yips’ a nervous stabbing at the ball.

My stroke especially on shorter putts was nervous and not rhythmical which made my short putts somewhat of a lottery.

A year ago, I went to a regular length putter and putted okay and then gradually the dreaded stabbing at the ball returned.

I have now returned to my old belly putter and my three putting is all, but eliminated!

Anchoring a putter against the belly or sternum provides a third point of contact between golfer and club and that serves to prevent hinging in the wrists making a pendulum-putting stroke.

Many believe our hands should be the only connection to any golf club and anchoring provides an unfair advantage.

I have found that with a properly designed ‘belly’ putter here is no need to actually anchor the putter just the fact the putter is much heavier than a normal putter makes it harder to swing with that jabby stroke that I am liable to under pressure.

The major advantage I found is with makeable putts 4-10 feet I was much more successful.

However, I found that longer putts suffered, which was because now I had to do a longer stroke to because I could not simply accelerate harder into the putt. A little practice should solve that.

In recent weeks Matt Kuchar has won with a clever putting method. where he braces the longer handle down his left forearm, similar to how Bernhard Langer has done for the last 20 years. This makes the stroke super stable and is really worth trying.

What you can do is simply lengthen a regular length putter, the longer grip and extension are not cheap costing around $60, but is a lot cheaper than buying a new putter.

I have to say that using a long putter is going to make your technique so much better which will reflect well into using a regular putter. If you are serious about golf, you should have a belly putter, even if it’s just to practice with.

Ideally, the putter head should be a little heavier at least 365 grams and maybe as much as 400grams.

The Coutour brand has these as an option and we have them in stock at Tucker’s Point. We even have an adjustable putter that you can borrow and find exactly the right length for you.

Coutour Putters can be fitted and made in around five minutes so there is no waiting around for the putter to delivered.

Paul Adams is the PGA director of golf at Rosewood Tucker’s point.