Instruction index

Golf Digest, Jan, 1999 by Roger Schiffman

How to achieve your putting potential Putting is a many-splendored thing, at least when exhibited by someone like Golf Digest's 1998 World Player of the Year, Mark O'Meara, or Golf Digest Playing Editor Justin Leonard. But it can get ugly, too. Just ask Vijay Singh. Earlier this year, he ranked next-to-nothing in tour stats on the greens. He had tried the long putter and a very short putter, with inconsistent results. When he followed his wife's advice and shifted from a conventional grip to cross-handed, suddenly he won the PGA Championship and the Sprint International back-to-back, then led the Tour Championship for four rounds before losing in a playoff. At one point, Singh jumped some 50 spots in the putting category. We show you, on page 67, why going "left hand low" works for Vijay, and why it might work for you, too. If you can use some further help with your flat stick, note also what O'Meara has to say about making clutch putts under extreme pressure, as he did to win the Masters (page 50), and what Leonard reveals about plumb-bobbing, a technique he employs in reading the break (page 52).

With all of this putting advice, maybe 1999 will be the year you come into your own on the greens.