Follow Jack Buchanan’s lead and make more putts that matter
At the 2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur at Royal Melbourne, I asked Jack Buchanan’s parents to film every putt. And there were plenty.
What we noticed was that there was no consistency in his routine before each putt. Sometimes he’d have four practice strokes. Sometimes it’d be next to the ball, sometimes it’d be behind the ball.
Making putts when it matters is a combination of process and skill competency and a lack of a pre-putt routine was holding Jack back.
When establishing any pre-shot routine, it is important to tailor it to the individual’s personality. Jack is quite fast-paced and relaxed, so we built a routine that was a little bit quicker than most others but enough time to soak in the information that’s required.
Green-reading is an element of the routine but the actual process of hitting the shot consists of a practice stroke behind the ball, stepping in, right hand on the putter, left hand on his left thigh and then he takes the grip and goes for it.
He did that for every putt when he won both the WA PGA Championship and the Webex Players Series South Australia in October, but there was one putt that stood out to me.
It wasn’t the putt to win in Kalgoorlie [pictured], but the 12-footer Jack had to make at the first playoff hole. Jordan Doull made a 20-footer for birdie and Jack had to step in and match it to force a second playoff hole.
If you want consistency, you must do things consistently. A pre-shot routine is a great step towards that.Â
Adrian Wickstein is the golf performance manager at Kooyonga Golf Club in Adelaide and the state high performance manager – SA at Golf Australia.
