4 Words Every Golfer Should Hear

Last week when Brandt Snedeker was interviewed on t.v. he said something I thought was oh, so important.  I’m not sure anyone else really noticed it though.  It was the night before he won the Tour Championship and the Fed Ex Cup.  The newscaster made a comment about  Brandt’s outstanding putting.  He asked Brandt “what in his opinion would he credit for his great performance on the greens.”  The FIRST words out of Brandt’s mouth were “I practice it alot.”

Those are 4 words I think every student of the game should take to heart.  These guys weren’t just born great.  They put in a tremendous amount of time, work, effort and concentration to improving every facet of their game.  Through my years of competing I never knew a great putter who didn’t put in hours and hours on the greens.  You could actually spot the best putters in the field before you even teed off  because where were they…on the greens.  They didn’t practice just because they were good at putting and enjoyed it so much.  They were good and enjoyed it because they practiced.

Back in the days of competing it was common for collegiate players and young pros to pull their cars up to the putting green, crank on the lights and night putt.  If you really wanted to be good, you never stopped.  While playing in tournaments we would putt and chip in the hotel rooms, even using the lines on the tiled floors in the bathroom to perfect our strokes.  What’s great about putting is all you need is to put in the time and you can do it almost anywhere and any time of the year.  You don’t have to be really strong, athletic or coordinated, you just need to practice.  I just asked a student yesterday when was the last time he spent an hour on the green practicing putting.  The answer….”never.”   Believe it or not that is the answer I always get!

Back to Brandt for a minute though.  What has all his hard work and putting practice gotten him?  The largest winning in golf history for one thing.  $11.4 million was Brandt’s take home pay last week after winning the Tour Championship and capturing the Fed Ex Cup!  Brandt is currently 3rd on the PGA Tour money list this year, first in Fed Ex Cup points and of course earned a spot on the Ryder Cup team.   Brandt is first in strokes gained putting and 2nd in total putting,  proving that his tremendous putting is to credit with most of his success.  What can you learn from Brandt?  Practice it a lot!!!