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Eyes Should Focus on a Spot an Inch In Front of the Ball, On the Target Line
Eyes Should Focus on a Spot an Inch In Front of the Ball, On the Target Line

Golf: Eye Focus in Putting

Dick Moss, Editor, PE Update.com

Dave Stockton was a former Ryder Cup captain, two-time PGA champion, and one of the best putters in golf. He was so proficient on the putting green that LPGA all-time great, Annika Sorenstam, came to him for advice. He was also credited in 2009 for having helped multiple Masters winner, Phil Mickelson, with his putting.

Here is one of the tips that he passed along to Sorenstam.

Eye Focus
Rather than focus on the ball, Stockton advocates focusing on a point one inch in front of the ball, on the putting path that you want the ball to take.

The ball will still be close enough in your peripheral vision for you to make solid contact, but that contact will automatically occur at the spot that will cause the ball to roll over your focus point.

Stockton claims that he always knew whether the putt would be successful a split-second after making contact. If it went over his focus point, it was online and probably going into the hole.

How to Teach
When teaching putting to your students, instruct them to line up the putt by using their eyes to follow a path across the grass from their putter to the hole. They then follow that line in reverse, from the hole to their club. An inch before the line reaches their club is where they should focus their eyes when they putt the ball.


References:
1. Brent Kelly, “Brent's Golf Bag - Quick Tip: What Stockton Told Sorenstam,” About.com-Golf, 2006. 
http://golf.about.com/b/2006/08/08/quick-tip-what-stockton-told-sorenstam.htm
2. Dave Stockton, Wikipedia, 2010, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Stockton


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