LPGA star Michelle Wie West discusses the foundations of her unique tabletop putting technique and how you can leverage the skill to improve your game on this episode of GolfPass’s Lessons with a Champion.
» Subscribe to Golf Channel: https://www.youtube.com/golfchannel?sub_confirmation=1
» For the latest news around golf: https://www.nbcsports.com/golf
🆓 Try GolfPass free for 7 days: https://golfpass.social/slp
⛳ Sign Up for our free Daily Video Tips – sent straight to your inbox: https://golfpass.social/q1l
Welcome to Golf Channel’s official YouTube channel. We are the #1 destination for everything golf – 24/7. Find golf instruction tips, sneak peeks to our original series, news and tournament coverage. We are part of the NBC Sports Group.
GolfPass is the one membership that connects golfers to every aspect of the game. Members enjoy unlimited access to all GolfPass video content, receive $10 monthly tee time credits, world-class golf instruction, travel tips, credit at popular resorts and other benefits included. GolfPass combines the very best of golf into one convenient, affordable membership.
Get more content from GolfPass:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mygolfpass/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/golfpass/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GOLFPASS
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mygolfpass
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/golfpass/
I unfortunately was uh struggling with the giips I had fullon putting I just wasn’t making anything she just goosed it just a little bit and I was like watching this really short golfer that was making everything and I was like you know what I think I’m like too tall to putt and I
Was like you know what she’s putting well because she’s closer to the ground it makes sense so I literally just bent over more um didn’t realize that it was 90° didn’t realize it was that Dr looking and after the round the reporters were ask me what’s up with the
New py show I like I just you know bent over a little bit more I didn’t realize what the big deal was until I saw a picture of myself from that moment on I literally made everything looks good there’s a good solid stroke there by Michelle we welcome to lessons with a champion
Golfer I’m Tom avot alongside Omega Ambassador Michelle W West it’s great to see you I know it’s good to see you good it’s been a while let’s talk about putting and we’ve got to get into your tabletop to start with that’s kind of the most famous method that you use I’m
Going to ask you a little bit about that and how it came about and kind of demonstrate how you actually started doing it for sure I mean it may look weird but I did wi the US Open with it so you did which is very important to
Remember yeah um so as I mentioned I changed to it because I just I was really struggling with my putting um you know couldn’t make anything felt like I was really far away anyways I changed it mid round um so the technique behind it
I had a kind of a wide stance too um that I really wanted to feel stable um because when I didn’t putt well I felt really unstable I just felt like I was moving all over the place and just couldn’t really balance myself so wider stance um the question I get asked the
Most is did your back hurt the answer is no because I really bent forward using my hamstrings but really get to that 90° angle and then like really anchor your arms close to your body so the main thing about this stance is stability and um just making sure that nothing moves
Except for the parts that need to so I’m creating one one solid unit here uh like a y and I’m really feeling like I’m doing this so I’m trying to do this feeling where it almost feels like this is anchored into my stomach and I’m just rocking my shoulder back and
Forth I go here oh that feels good maybe I should bring that back it’s coming back for your for your Renaissance on the LPG where were you feeling the method was it the shoulders was it in your body in your hands like where where were you feeling
At the most yeah this one takes the hands completely out of it which you know if you’re feeling uneasy in your putting that’s where you feel like you know you want to well that’s where the Yips come from right is your hands do like weird things that you shouldn’t or
Your head moves or something um so this eliminates I felt like all of it I felt like I was one with the ball um I felt like the club was literally coming out of my body so it was glued onto me and this was really pressed into my shoulder
Or into my my lats so nothing moved and then just rocking my shoulder back and forth two in a row I know it’s it’s back now you used a number of different methods in your career can you just talk about some of the fundamentals that were always in your mind when you were
Putting yeah my fundamentals in my putting were always ball position um I always had a tendency to get too close to the ball so one thing I always did no matter what my putting stance was was to make sure I was in the right place so I
Kind of would drop a ball make sure see it’s right there I just want to be a little bit inside the ball so I I wanted my ey line to be just on the inside part of the golf ball because for me if I was
Too close I would kind of cut it and I just wouldn’t be able to see the line correctly I always felt like if it was just in front of me I would see it better I always wear a watch when I play I signed with omegas when I was 16 and
You know I was terrified of taking it off I know a lot of players take off their watches during golf but I was 16 with a very expensive watch and I didn’t want to lose it so I’m like I’m this is going to be now glued to my body so I
Actually started using my watch as some drills like for you know really short putts you know I really think that this the face of this watch I’m just trying to keep it towards the hole and it really helps when you’re doing left hand low you know you just want to feel like
Boom like there that’s that just that easy that easy feeling when you were playing how how did you uh gauge when you needed to change technique what you know what was the the the process of of changing technique and and how often did you really think about it um you know I
Was a very I was very much a field player um I know it’s a lot of times it didn’t look that way um was kind of a head case about putting too so maybe changed my feel one too many times but I just kind of Bas it on what felt
Comfortable um you know with my swing too I just kind of really latched on to that one really good feeling when you’re over the ball about to pull the trigger um in tournament play what is going through your mind when you’re putting I’m just basically making sure that my
Speed is right um you know everything that I’m doing up until the point that I’m ining the ball is making sure the line is Right making sure I’m Marrying the line and the speed correctly and now all I have to do is I always line up my
Ball I always line up my ball um so that for me is preparation and once I’m over the ball I don’t need to figure out where I’m aiming because that’s already done now I’m just figuring out what the speed is and just making sure that I I
Make the right stroke to get it there are you flag in or out when you’re putting you know I am flag out on short putts okay let’s take it out flag in for long putts okay okay so I think this is going a little left to right so what I just try
To do I just look back and forth back and forth really fast I don’t look at the line really long and then look at the hole really long I just like kind of make sure that I keep looking back and forth so you know with your vision you
Kind of see maybe like a little bit of the line and the hole and just kind of meshing it and that’s where the feel comes into play you just want to make sure you feel like it’s in the right place and sometimes you know I kind of
Look back I’m like okay that is that right sometimes I just go like this make sure that it looks the same over the ball and then behind the ball because putting is all about perception you know where your lines are there’s you know Illusions when it comes to slopes so you
Just want to make sure that everything is right so I go here so what I do is always line my putter up first and then you bring your legs in making sure everything feels okay there we go right in the middle what one of the things that I find
Interesting when you’ve got the line on the golf ball is second guessing yourself when you’re over the ball did you did you ever have that issue where you’re thinking this line is left Edge and I don’t know if it’s actually left Edge how difficult was that process to
Maybe back away or you know you’re always kind of committed to that line aren’t you I hate playing slow I’m a very fast player so you know there were times that and I had to work on this where the line didn’t look right and I
Would just like hit it so I’m like I’m sure it’s right but you have to just pull yourself out and that’s kind of why I like to make that my pre-shot routine I just have a quick look being like okay this is right just so when I know when I
Go in it’s not the first time I’m looking at the line that way so look back go in line the putt up right and then like at this point I really try to look at the hole like instead of the ball because I already know my club face
Is right and kind of bring the hole back to the ball so I’m trying to create this like trail of it going in the hole there it is spot on well I have some one piece of bad news for you is that over time I think the table has become a little
Wonky you’re not as flexible as you were back then it’s like this instead of like that oh so good it might come back you never know it might come back maybe that’s what you needed the wonky table the wonk table table doesn’t work Michelle that was great it’s always good
To get inside the mind of a champion and hopefully Michelle’s tips will help you at home to improve your potting
