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Bill McKinney's
Pirate Putting

A lot of the troubles that you will experience with putting are caused by your eyes literally playing tricks on you. I first want to tell you that a big reason I became a pro was because of my exceptional putting skills, although I assure you that putting is actually Easy when you know just a couple of cool tricks.

Now it's time for you to discover four ways to train your EYES to allow you to permanently eliminate a lot of your putting troubles.

You see, the eyes are of extreme importance in the ability to play golf. You may be thinking that you are doomed because your eyesight is poor. But it is not the EYESIGHT which determines the skill but Vision - which is a constellation of skills done by your eyes and brain.

We'll discuss four areas that you can develop your eye skills including... Fixation... Saccaduc Eye Movements... Visualization Accuracy... and Foveal Fix.

Fixation

One of the skills... Fixation... is the maintaining of a steady, central vision on a target. Clearly this is what we have to do with the ball during the swing.

Fixation Exercise: If your eyes wander during the swing, practice sitting and looking for some minutes at one of the dimples of the ball. Sit still, breathe deeply, and stare at the dimple. If you can keep your mind clear, you can tell everyone that you meditate because that is what you are doing.

Saccadic Eye Movements

Another is SACCADIC EYE MOVEMENTS. This is the ability to focus on one point then the other. It is part of the movement system your eyes have.

This is valuable when sizing up the line of a putt or planning a short shot. The eyes move from your target to your ball to the intermediate target (where the ball lands) and back to the ball and it all becomes one. The mind comes up with an appropriate response in relation to the information it receives.

Saccadic Exercise: Practice changing focus by looking at objects at different distances swiftly. Just look and let it come to you without trying too hard.

Visualization Accuracy

Visualization Accuracy is the ability to see and interpret information quickly and accurately. In golf it is necessary to aim and judge distance. In putting, we must be able to see if there are tiny hills in the green to allow for break. We must be able to align ourselves with our targets as well.

Visualization Accuracy Exercise:

use clubs on the ground to keep checking your alignment for long and short shots. Set your putter up and then step behind it on the line to check your face alignment. You must do this without moving the putter even one millimeter! Your eyes will begin to recognize what is correct.

Foveal Fix

Foveal fix is the imprinting of an image on your seeing cells. To get an accurate image it must be done face-on. The image lasts about 8 seconds, so go through your routine efficiently so as not to lose the image of the target.

It is necessary in golf to be target-oriented and not ball-oriented. It also creates optical illusions to stand to the side of the line and trying to see the image (how we stand to the ball).

Foveal Fix Exercise: Practice looking at an image and then closing your eyes to see how long it is still there in your mind. Really see the image. When playing golf, always begin your aiming routine standing behind the ball on the line of play. Take in the target and learn to give your mind and body permission to play a great shot. Just try to do it without too much time lapsing from the aiming routine to the start of the swing.

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