Scott Mayer is a PGA-certified teaching professional who works at Nonesuch River Golf Course in Scarborough. He has written two instructional booklets, A Golfing Philosophy to Play A-Round With and Golf is a Concept and produced an instructional video, The Fundamentals of the Mind. In the spring of the 2004 he was named the State of Maine Teacher of the Year by his peers. Throughout the summer he will be providing me – a 16-handicapper with a propensity for banana slices – with a weekly golf tip. I’ll hit the range or practice green to put the tip to practice, then I’ll write about my experience with it – what worked, what didn’t, etc.

Mayer’s take on putting:

“In terms of putting there’s only two things you ever need to concern yourself with. One is line and one is distance. What’s more important – line or distance? It’s always distance.

For instance, if I hit this (eight foot) putt and my line is off by eight inches but I have perfect distance I’m still only eight inches away from the hole. As long as you always have the right speed or distance you’ll only be as far away as your line is off.

The first thing you do is set up for line. Your line equals your set up. Then, you roll it for distance. If you’re thinking of anything other than distance at the moment you make your stroke your distance is going to suffer and you’re going to three-putt.

So, in order to get your line, you should start behind the ball. I like to pick a point that I’m going to roll the ball over directly in front of the ball. That’s called an intermediary target, something in between. Then what I’m going to do is get behind the ball and line my (ball) label right up with that intermediary target that’s right in front of the ball.

Then all I have to do is take the lines on my putter and line them up with the label. Then, I take my feet and line them up with the putter. In this position, the front edge of the putter is slightly ahead of center in my stance, which puts the ball halfway between center and left heal. I’m in a position with very little knee flex, with a lot bend at the hips so the chest is facing the ground and the eyes are over the ball.

You then roll it for speed. As a general rule, for putts inside of 10 feet, you go back an inch per foot of backstroke. Once you get outside of that, generally speaking, an 18-inch backstroke is all you ever need to hit any putt. It then becomes a matter of pace on your stroke.”

CJ’s rant:

Mayer makes it sound so simple. And, when you break it all down step-by-step it really isn’t that complicated: check line, set ball on that line, take stance, bring club back one inch per foot, knock ball into hole, pump fist violently, mock opponents, move on to next tee.

Why, then, does it only occasionally work out this way? Why do we all three-putt so much?

“One of the biggest problems of putting is the anticipation of the outcome or result. And that anticipation leads to anxiety, creates tension, and it makes you move because you’re looking for the outcome,” Mayer explained. “You need to be more task-oriented. Complete the task of making the stroke. Create good contact with little movement, then the results will take care of themselves.”

Okay, Mayer, my man, let’s hear it: How can we “create good contact with little movement”? How can we eliminate the anxiety that has us so afraid we’ll blow the ball 10 feet past the hole that we leave it 10 feet short instead?

Mayer’s tip – the trough drill:

Movement in putting is your enemy and movement occurs in one of two areas, the head or the body. Head movement comes from wandering eyes, which have a tendency to watch the putter and the ball. To eliminate eye movement look for the grass under the ball after the ball is gone, and listen for your ball to go in the hole. Body movement comes from weight transfer. To eliminate body movement place 85 to 90 percent of your weight on your left foot and keep it there. A good putting drill to help you practice staying still and to encourage successful putting is the trough drill.

What you want to do is find a straight uphill putt, which is three to four feet from the hole. Next, line up two irons to create a trough or an alley that is slightly wider than your putter. Place a ball in the trough with the label facing up and lined up directly at the hole. Then, place a club across the trough four or so inches behind the ball you are going to putt to limit your back stroke and to encourage a good acceleration through the ball to the hole. You should learn to chase the ball to the hole with the putter. Learn to stay still by looking for the grass under the ball and listen for the ball to go in the hole.

CJ’s take:

When Mayer and I worked on the trough drill together he immediately saw that I was pulling my head out early, which created movement and errant putts – even from four feet.

To make me stay focused, Mayer held his hat by the side of my face so I couldn’t see if the ball went into the hole. This forced me to watch the grass beneath the ball and wait for the sound of it dropping into the cup. And once the head movement stopped the ball was actually dropping into the cup consistently.

When I went back to Nonesuch to work on this drill alone, I quickly came to the conclusion that it will become part of my pre-round routine along with a few other less-complicated drills Mayer showed me.

With the trough drill, I started with a four foot putt and worked my way back to six feet, then eight feet. When I felt like my stroke was grooved, I took the trough away and practiced the same putts from the same distances with my eyes closed. I had success from four feet, but as I moved back I needed to open my eyes – who did I think I was, really? – to feel comfortable. By this point, though, my head was trained to stay down and, as a result, I made eight of nine putts from eight feet. This had me feeling good, imagining that the other guy on the green was awestruck by my putting prowess. Seriously. So, I moved back again, this time to 12 feet, where I was quickly humbled. My line was good and I remained still, but my distance was off.

This was where Mayer’s “leap frog drill” came in handy. It’s simple, and it works. Hit one ball five feet out, the next one five feet past it and so on. I found it was best to use 10 balls, leap-frogging five out past each other. You then reverse the drill and work back toward your starting point with another five balls. Do this drill out and back three times, and you’ll have a better feel for the speed of the greens and the pace of your putts.

If you’re still not feeling the flow, go home and don’t come back. Kidding. Try another Mayer recommendation, make some long putts “to an area” rather than a hole.

If this doesn’t work, maybe you should go home.

To contact Scott Mayer, call 838-5731, or visit his web site at www.mainegolfteacher.com.