Gary Nicol - The Lost Art of Putting

We will start not by telling you anything but by asking you a simple question. Why are you here?

Just pause for a moment and think about this particular question.

Of all the things you could be doing in your life you are sitting reading a book on putting. We thank you for that!

By the very nature of asking questions, as you will discover later in the book, you have probably already come up with some form of answer to this line of enquiry.

Your brain will have instantly gone to work on the reasons why you bought this book.

You will have encountered a personal experience of how questions hold your attention while you search for an answer. Questions are weapons you will be able to use in the battle to have your attention in the places you want it to be to serve you the best in your quest to hole more putts.

This simple but profound point will be a cornerstone of what you are about to read.

As the 2010 US Open champion Graeme McDowell once said to us: Questions are indeed the answer!

One such question which really got us thinking is: Does the putt create the stroke or does the stroke create the putt?

We have asked this question many times and the resultant answers heavily influenced the content of the following pages. Take a moment to think about this question, and indeed this concept, as it is vitally important if you are to remove your current putting shackles and enable you to embark on an amazing journey with us.

But more on questions later in the book. We will now make something of an assumption.

Our guess is that in some way you find yourself reading this as a result of your past experiences on the greens being something less than you either wanted or expected.

You havent yet become the putter you wish to be.

It may be something of an arrogant assumption on our part, but we are assuming you find yourself here not as a result of being a great putter but as a result of being something less than you know you potentially can be. If you are not in that category and you are already great on the greens then we apologise but please stay with us anyway!

It is with this idea in mind that we want to share with you what we hope is a different perspective.

Note we didnt say the correct perspective. Golf is full of interpretation and opinion and if the way you currently interpret the best way to roll the ball into the hole is working for you, then the most important thing is you continue to do exactly that.

If there is one single truth the two of us have discovered in the best part of 60 years combined coaching experience, it is that the game of golf is not about finding the way to do it but more a case of discovering, or perhaps more importantly uncovering, your way to do it.

However, the perspective and concepts we want to share with you are ones we know have the potential to liberate you not just on the greens but in the whole of your golf game and, as much as it may seem a push, the rest of your life.

It is our firm belief you can create a cascade of golfing improvement by having some personal breakthrough on the greens through your understanding and application of our Putting Performance Principles.

The way you are in one part of the game will often be reflected in other parts. The perspective we want to share with you is not a do this my way or do it because x tour pro does it type of coaching but rather a set of ideas you will need to personalise for yourself. Putting strokes and styles are like fingerprints they are unique and our own.