Make more putts – score lower – have more fun. Sounds great doesn’t it? 
But it’s difficult to find the time to practice and since most recreational players don’t know the basic do’s and don’ts of putting. Most often if they practice it simply more deeply ingrains bad habits.
So, how about lining up lessons with an instructor? Well that also takes time from an already busy schedule and it’s sad but true, when the lesson’s over trying to remember everything is difficult if not impossible.
That leaves most golfers with the desire to improve their putting but without the knowledge of how to go about it.
Enter Frank Thomas of Frankly Golf. Thomas is recognized as an expert having served as technical director of the USGA for 27 years and for the past dozen years as a golf industry consultant. Most recently a study of putting and putters he conducted to better understand that part of the game where the average golfer takes 43% of his or her strokes. Significantly as a bye product of the research, Thomas found there was a need for a better, more effective way to teach putting.
What was required was to teach golfers “how to putt” and “why it’s done” a particular way; in other words the principles of putting so students could understand what they were doing.
In a recent interview Thomas talked about the program to teach golfers putting which grew out of a continuing education course he and his staff developed for PGA Professionals called the Certified Putting Instructor course. Applying the ideas used to teach-the-teachers for the benefit all golfers took some thought and effort but the outcome is well worth it.
The course entitled Fundamentals of Putting may be taken online in whatever size bites are comfortable. Typically the full course takes between four and five hours to complete but many students go back to parts of it time and time again, even weeks later.
“We felt the average golfer would really gain benefits from improved putting not the least being more enjoyment,” said Thomas.
To illustrate one of the basic ideas, Thomas said, “Hold your right hand out in front of you, thumb up and palm facing the target. Turn your shoulders to the right. See how the palm moves away from the target in an arc? That’s the core to a relaxed, repeatable putting stroke.”
He continued, “What we teach in the online putting course is not a ‘method’. The course is based on sound, scientific principles which will help you understand what is important to work on, cutting through some of the clutter which surrounds putting instruction.”
The course modules cover 12 putting fundamentals in depth plus there is helpful information about putter technology including putter design, styles and rules with a final admonition – “Apply what you have learned!”
Thomas estimates there are 2 million hardcore avid golfers in this country who really want to improve and most importantly, want to make lasting improvements to their putting. This course is just what they need. Further information may be found at OnlinePuttingCourse.com.
