Must read for golfers: PGA putting coach Phil Kenyon reveals secrets to help amateurs make more putts

It’s boring, it’s tedious, but practicing your putting is essential to knocking strokes off of your scorecard. Just like most parts of the game of golf, putting requires feedback and that’s where golf instructors can really help you on the greens. The name everyone is talking about is Phil Kenyon and our friends at Grosvenor Sport helped us get in touch with the putting coach of the stars, who gave us some interesting insight that can help all of us sink more putts.

Q. When you look at other coaches, do you ever think you shouldn’t be doing that or is it each to their own in terms of what others do?

PK: I don’t really look at what other people are doing. You’re so busy doing your own thing. It’s very easy to look at another player and what they’re doing from the outside. You don’t know what it’s like until you’re actually in a player’s head. I see so many people be outwardly critical of other people when I’m able to see more.

Over the years, I’ve been non-judgemental. You hear a lot of shit talking and some of the things you hear in golf media, particularly on TV, they’re unfounded and not a true perspective of what’s actually happening. In any walk of life, it’s your subjective opinion.

Q. I’ve been told putting isn’t about technique, it’s mental and it’s all between the ears, what’s your opinion? What are the fundamentals of making a good putter?

PK: It’s part of the game which is mostly about mentality. It’s a fine motor skill. Your state of mind has an impact on your hand-eye coordination. Every golfer would appreciate it when you’re nervous that it’s hard to putt. You’ve also got to have great touch in order to control your speed and you’ve also got to be able to read a green. There’s non-technical but also creativity and imagination that’s required when it comes to putting.

There’s an element of science in terms of understanding technique but there’s a lot of art to it and cultivating those other skills. It’s a game within a game which is why there’s been specialist approaches to it, it’s a unique part of the game.

Q. If you had to recommend one style of putter or a putter with 2 or 3 specific features, what would you recommend for the average golfer?

PK: Firstly, getting fit is important. The basics of having the correct lie and loft has an impact on how you set up, how you aim the putter and how you move the putter. The putter itself can constrain a player’s technique so you need to go and get fit for the basics. The head shape, the design and the alignment features can have a profound effect on your ability to aim. If you’re aiming it poorly you have to compensate on the stroke. That’s why fitting is important because you can change a player’s aim just through the fit alone.

It’s the technique rather than the tool for the most part. A lot of good putters can use a variety of different clubs but the main thing is getting fit to enable you to develop technique and it’s the technique that enables you to become a good putter.

Q. Aimpoint putting: Yes or no?

PK: It’s neither a yes or no really. I like AimPoint, I can teach AimPoint to students. It’s a method and if you look at skills in general, there’s a variety of different methods you can deploy to develop skill. AimPoint is one method, one technique.

There’s some that don’t use AimPoint that are more intuitive when it comes to green reading. They’ll look for other elements of information or use their intuition more. Particularly an elite level, it’s finding what the best strategy is for you as a personality. What some of your traits are as a golfer, that can take a bit of working out.

AimPoint can help average golfers because they’re so poor with their green reading that they have no solid concepts. If you learnt AimPoint it would help your basic principles to get good feedback and develop something of a skill there. I’ve seen a lot of club golfers that are poor with their green reading.

You see it a lot on a Pro-Am. For a lot of players, the low hanging fruit can be green reading. AimPoint is great for club golfers because their green reading is so far out that traditional techniques can’t get their putting in a better place whereas AimPoint can give you a structure to get some good information.

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So, quick recap: Get fitted for a putter, practice your technique to help you gain confidence and learn AimPoint to read the greens better and make more putts.

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