The ‘Old Country Gentleman Golf Teacher’ is not prone to many new attitudes or directions. He does not believe in many ‘Golf Dildos’… Training Aids. He has believed for over 40 years that golf is played bare-footed and naked on a ‘150 Acre Grassy Billiards Table’ with only a ball and oddly curved stick. Pretty purist? A bit!
When you learned to drive, you had to master ‘Parallel Parking’ … “Oh what a testy and fearful chore” that was! Better to run over an orange or red cone than someone else’s property, but ultimately one had to pass the test in the real world of ‘Curbs and Third Party Vehicles! It was your wheels and tires against the curb! It worked to varying degrees and has survived for eons!
Being a good ‘Parallel Parker’ stems from ‘Work Smart Conditioning’. So too does being a good putter and chipper. Golf too is a real-world functional test that strives towards ‘Small Number’ on a scorecard!
Here’s the point at hand … ‘The Two Tee Putting Gate Drill’! You all know the drill. A nice white tee about ¼ to ½ an inch from each end of the putter head … Heel & Toe … with a nice new white ball just on the other side of the gate. You have to miss the tees and hit the ball on its ‘Ballistic Point’ with the ‘Sweet Spot’. Is it a coordination drill or a perception drill? Well, both!
Purely speaking, the gate is summarily useless. It is not necessary. The pure task is impacting the ‘Ballistic Point’ with the ‘Sweet Spot’. (see ‘Center Of Mass’ – COM) Most of our ‘Putter heads’ have a line marking the ‘COM’. What we are striving to accomplish is to connect this line with our ‘Ball Line’, while both are aiming ‘Dead Stick’, with enough ‘Delivered Energy’ to roll the ball 12-17 inches past the backside of the cup if we miss the hole.
Practising Putting is doing what is real!
Not nice white tees necessary!
