Feeling the slope

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This drill video is training feeling the slope.

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So if you're going to use your body and you're going to use your feet for

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feeling the slope,

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you have to calibrate that skill and get it to where you can feel the slope

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pretty accurately.

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So I highly recommend getting a level.

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I would recommend the digital level that's wide enough, so about a foot in

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length.

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This is a husky level, works really well, because when you're practicing

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feeling the slope,

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you want to always assume the same stance.

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So I recommend you hold the putter kind of horizontally the same way, and you

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want your

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feet to not be too wide and not too close, kind of a comfortable distance,

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about pelvis

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width apart.

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So this kind of covers the space that my feet would be able to feel.

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So one way that you can practice is by finding a graduated slope.

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So here at our practice screen, we don't have a whole lot of really flat slopes

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, but we

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have this general hill going down this way.

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So what I did is I took the level and I felt, or I measured, I've got a 5, a 4,

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a 3, a

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2, a 1.

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Now ideally, it would be flat in the opposite direction, meaning if I'm

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standing this way,

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I wouldn't want to have a lot of heel toe.

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I wouldn't want to have a lot of slope this way, but this green is a little bit

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tougher

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for doing that.

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So for the ease of making a video, I put them on the slope here.

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So now I can practice what I preach.

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I'm going to put the level down so that I can, see, there we go, I always have

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the putter

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head on the right side, kind of like this, so I'm going to place it like this.

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I close my eyes just for a second and I feel where in my foot, or where my

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weight goes

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into in my toes, or my heel, or something like that.

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That was a 5, this is a 4, it's slightly less, this is a 3, slightly less, 2, I

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've got to

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change angle just slightly, and then 1, I have to change angle even more, I can

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feel

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that it got less and less, and it's helpful to go from extreme.

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So I might go from 1 to 5, or 1 to 4, might jump around.

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This can be useful for just dialing in my feel that day, after you've done it a

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number

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of times you won't have to do this very much, but you do want to do it facing

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both directions.

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Most people have some type of asymmetry in their pelvis causing some type of

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leg length

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issue, so you might feel it better one way or the other, but this can kind of

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help you

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calibrate.

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Then what I recommend is when you're on the course, or if you're on the putting

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green

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and you're practicing, you're going to use the level to kind of calibrate each

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shot.

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Now I do have a couple different students that like to practice at home, and so

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there's

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a gentleman in New York who makes these boards that has just kind of a

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graduated little

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step here, so now if this was flat, I could feel a 1, a 2, a 3, a 4, a 5, and

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there's

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a little attachment where you could even work on the halves, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5,

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because I do

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recommend if you're going to use this and you're a competitive golfer, you've

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got to

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get it where you're pretty accurate in being able to feel it, otherwise you saw

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if you're

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guessing a 2 and it's really a 3 on a long putt, that could be a foot of

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difference.

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You could be not even in the right ballpark, so you want to get to where you

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feel it in

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order to do that.

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You have to practice your reps.

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I like doing the gradual hill, the slope board for practice, or using the level

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.

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One other way that you can do it is what you'll feel is when you face straight

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up the fall

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line, that's going to be pretty much a 0.

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So when you're straight up the fall line, your feet are level and when you're

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at 90 degrees,

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that'll be the greatest, so you can practice just kind of standing in place and

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use the

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level and kind of get the little map going around there.

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Again, that doesn't always give you true flat heel to toe, but it gives you a

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good ability

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to feel left side right side.

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So if you're going to use the method of feeling the slope, you have to be able

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to feel the

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slope and then you have to be able to aim it, either with your fingers or math.

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This is the way that I've found for most of my golfers to quickly get good at

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being able

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to feel the slope.

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One of the two key steps for green reading if you're using your feet instead of

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your eyes.