Golf - The Most Important Club in Your Bag

Which do you think is the most important club in your bag? Is it the driver, that gives you those big drives, but occasionally costs you a shot as you go into deep rough? Or is it one of your mid irons that you can use to get to the green from most places?

No, it is none of these. Just think for a moment: which club do you use most? Well, on the average course you use the driver 12-14 times, depending how narrow the fairways are. On a strange and narrow course you might use it much less, but on average, let's say 14 times a round.

Most other clubs you won't use more than 5 or 6 times, unless your course has very small greens in which case you might use your favored chipping club a bit more on some days.

Get good with the putter

But what about the putter? Even the best golfers hit the ball 27-28 times a round, and most of use it for 34-38 times - maybe more if the greens are very large. OK, so let's say we are playing fairly well and the greens are quite large, and that we take 36 putts a round - nothing to be proud about, but not too bad.

This means that we pull that putter out of our bag 18 times - well we might chip into the hole now and again - and use it two and a half times as much as the driver. This is why I realised that the putter is the most important club in my bag, and why I practice my putting quite a lot. My home club also has some very large greens - on at least three you can be faced with 30 yard putt - so although I work on my driver and irons, I make sure I practice with the putter.

Putting is a different game from the rest of golf. True, you use the same ball, but the club is quite different - some putters are wildly different - and the action is different. You meed to develop a repeatable action that always hits the ball where you aim it - precisely. Then, you need to develop a fine touch so you can lay the ball up close - within a two foot diameter circle is a good thought to have in your head - from the edge of the green.

On top of that, you need to read subtle and steep slopes, whether you are putting uphill, downhill or across the hill, or from a low tier to a higher tier. It is really demoralising when you hit two good shots to the green of a long and difficult hole and then to push your put eight feet past the hole, and see a three-putt looming.

Keep practising - on the carpet will do

What's the answer? Quite simply to practice your putting swing and touch as much as you can. Say, you are taking 90 shots and 38 putts a round. Well, reduce the number of putts to 32 and you are going round in 84 - that has to be the easiest way to knock four shots off your handicap. And the great thing is that you can practice your putting every day on the carpet at home. Of course, you want to practice on your course as well, but you will soon adjust to the speed of the greens.

Take my word, the putter is the most important club in your bag, and the carpet the most useful practice area you have!

Get good advice on golf plus the latest news at http://www.swingingagolfclub.com, run by John Hartley, who has been a student of golf and an avid golfer for many years, and has played amateur golf at a high level. Having had a lay-off for 20 years, he has been relearning the game, and so is the ideal person to pass on tips.

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