Joe is the developer of Symple Swing marketed by Simple Golf LLC. He is also the President of GolfHelp.com, the #1 golf only search engine. Joe has been involved in teaching golf for almost 40 years and for the last 15 years has been a golf writer and publisher . He is a nationally known golf lecturer.
His background includes degrees in teaching and coaching. He has taught the traditional swing, was a certified Natural Golf instructor and now teaches Symple Swing. His passion is helping beginners and higher handicappers become successful golfers.
To be a great putter you absolutely have to have a really consistent putting stroke. By that I mean you have to repeatedly stroke the ball exactly the same way, stroke after stroke after stroke. Many of us think we have a consistent stroke but when we analyze our stroke few of us really do. If you have a very consistent stoke you can be a good putter even with bad technique. I played for years with a guy would hit all his putts with a big slice. He had an outside to inside stroke with the face of his putter open so all of his putts sliced. However, he was a good putter because he always putted exactly the same way (with a slice). He didn't read this month's golf magazine and try some new way of putting each month. I wouldn't recommend that slice stroke to other folks but it worked for him and he'd been putting that way quite successfully for decades. With good technique you can be a very good putter if you work on your consistency. With the Symple Putting technique, you can be a great putter even easier because Symple Putting have some consistency built-in because there are fewer things that can go wrong. Using the Symple Putter and the Symple Putting method it is demonstrably (and measurably) easier to develop a consistent putting stroke. We've used high tech putting analyzers to measure the consistency of a golfer's path and face angle at putting impact first with their regular putting method then using the Symple Putter and Symple Putting method. When they switched to Symple Putting the golfer path and face angle at impact became dramatically more consistent. By that I mean the variation in path angle and the face angle at impact became very much smaller. For high handicap golfers it meant their "path and face angles" started matching those of low handicap golfers and they immediately started making more putts. With any putting stoke it takes work to be a good putter. You need to understand your stroke and you need to truly know exactly what you are going to repeat each time. You need to know exactly how you're going to place your hands; you need to know exactly how you are going to stand. You need to have practiced the physical move enough so it automatic. When you stroke the ball both hands contributed to the force and direction of the putt. You want to maintain the same balance between you two hands on each putt. I AM NOT SAYING YOU SHOULD HAVE A 50-50 BALANCE BETWEEN YOUR HANDS. I am saying what ever the best balance with each hand that works for you, then that is the balance of force between your hands that you should maintain on every putting stroke. With Symple Putting most of the force and control should be done mostly by the top (or leading) hand. The bottom (or trailing hand) should provide some guidance but not very much power. The bottom hand is more along for the ride. If the bottom hand gets over active you're likely to start pulling your putts. You need to grip the club the same what every single time! Exactly how you grip the putter very much affects the balance of power between your hands. Here's just one example, with my bottom hand if I wrap my bottom hand thumb and index finger around the shaft I will automatically grip the club too tightly. That too tight grip will generally cause me to pull my putt. However if I loosen my grip taking either my bottom thumb or bottom index finger (or both) off the shaft then I don't have the "urge" to tighten my bottom hand. When I don't tighten my bottom hand I have a very nice repeatable and accurate putting stroke. Each of us is a little different and you may want to try a slight variation with your grip to compensate for one of your tendencies. You may putt much better (more consistently) just with a minor modification to the placement of one of your hands. A little experimentation especially if you a re having some problems can be a very good thing. The goal is to have a consistent stoke that returns the putter head to square through impact every time. Even the actually shape and size of the physical grip that you have on your putter can effect the balance of your hands. We are just now testing various sized and shaped putting grips. If you have any input on a type of grip that you like, please let us know at Support@SimpleGolf.com. FOR SOME PEOPLE DEVELOPING A CONSISTENT STROKE SEEMS TO BE EASIER WHEN USING AN OVERSIZE GRIP ON THEIR PUTTER. You can become a great putter with the standard grip on the Symple Putter but at least for some people using an oversize grip seems to give them more control and much more consistency. We suspect this is because with the larger grips it may be a little easier to keep a looser grip with your bottom hand and still keep control of the putter. The most repeatable putting stroke is a swing of the putter (with the top hand controlling the stroke) rather than an attempt to stab at or hit the ball with the putter (controlled by the bottom hand) . A swing will be more consistent and stay on-line much, much better that "a hit". When Symple Putting the putter should swing almost like a pendulum in a clock (albeit a pendulum that is swinging at an angle). Your goal in your putter stroke should be to create a repeatable pendulum swinging motion of the putter. Rather than "hitting" the ball your goal should be to make a good stroke swinging the putter through where the ball happens to be. In the US with most sports we were taught to hit things with our dominate hands coming from a trailing position. That how most of us hit baseballs, ping pong balls, tennis balls or most any sport we were taught. Most sports are now realizing that core power (shoulders, chest & abdomen) swinging rather than dominate side hitting is more effective. For example, most all the major league hitters are now core power hitters, only the guys hitting singles to right field are still using the dominate side hitting method. I started off in golf in the 60's emulating Gary Player's definite hitting or rapping type putting stroke. It does work but especially as you get older that "hitting" stroke gets harder to control and repeat. Swinging the putter is a much more consistent type of stroke. By target line I mean the desired line that you want your putt to start off on. All putts start off start straight toward a target even if the putt eventually curves on its way to the hole. You need to know exactly where your putter face is pointing at address and you need to square up to that target line at address. You stance definitely needs to be consistent. Slight variations in you stance will cause variations in your putting stroke. Whether for Symple Putting or conventional putting I'd recommend a square stance for most people. It's easier to get into a square stance and it's easier to repeat a square stance. If you use an open or closed stance that fine as long as you have some way to repeatable set-up in exactly the same position each time. The easiest way to make a putt is to not concentrate making the ball go in the hole but instead concentrate on making a good stroke. NO MATTER WHAT YOU THINK YOU CAN'T ACTUALLY CONTROL WHETHER THE BALL GOES IN THE HOLE OR NOT. The one thing you can control is whether or not you make a good stroke. Yeah, I know "you think you can control whether the ball goes in" but actually once the ball leaves the putter you can't control it any more. At that point, the grain of the grass, the slope of the green or something falling out of the sky could affect the ball. Hopefully you've chosen the right line and the right speed but the fact is anything can happen. If you normally sweat over a three footer this one tip can make putting enjoyable again. Mentally, the goal of "making a good stroke" will make you a much saner and happier golfer. Rather than standing over a three foot putt and worry about "missing it" you now just concentrate on the positive action of making a good stroke. That helps you keep a positive attitude when putting which can result in significantly better physical performance. We have a nice long aiming line on the Symple Putter to help you line up exactly to your target line. We strongly recommend that you put a line on your golf ball like the one in the picture. Then you when you mark your ball you line up the line on your ball at the hole (assuming that's your desired putting or target line). Next when you address the ball all you have to do it line up the line on the putter with the line on the ball (like you see in the picture) and you're good to go. Some folks like to have their playing partner stand behind and help them line up. That works too although your partner has to move away before you actually putt the ball. If you miss the putt don't flail you arms and yell obscenities no matter how good that might feel. Just keep watching the putt to see how the ball breaks past the hole. That will give you enough information to make it much more likely you'll make your "come back" putt. The Symple Putter will likely be played for the first time in a professional tournament this weekend. A Champions tour player is planning to use the putter in this week's Outback Steakhouse Tournament. We can't mention his name because we're not paying him to do so but keep your eyes open if you're watching TV. Get $20 off the amazing Symple Putter which is guaranteed to improve your putting. We are dedicated to make you successful with your golf game so if you have any question please feel free to e-mail us at Support@SimpleGolf.com. Joe Davidson Simple Golf LLC
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Joe Davidson