WATCH: Brad Faxon reveals unbelievable and game-changing Ben Crenshaw putting tip
Brad Faxon was well known across the globe as one of the greatest putters the PGA Tour has ever seen.
Since he retired from tour he has now become one of the game’s great putting coaches, spending his time honing the performance of the world’s best players on the greens.
But before the entire process began he was lucky to be given a great piece of advice by another putting genius – the two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw.
“When I was a struggling PGA Tour player in the late 1980s I got an unbelievable tip from Ben Crenshaw,” he says.
“It really changed my putting life and it changed my putting statistics as well.
“But it’s not something that you would expect a tour player to tell you,” he explains.
“This is what Ben Crenshaw said,” he continues. “He said, ‘When I putt I try to make my backswing longer than my follow through.’
“Now that’s unusual because we’ve been taught to take the club back low and slow and short, and follow through and accelerate.”
To further explain Faxon demonstrates the typical style of putting and then puts three tee pegs in the ground to reveal Crenshaw’s better technique.
“I put the ball down by the middle tee,” he says. “It’s about a 25 feet putt. I’ll take the club back to the back tee, I’m going to make sure my putter gets back to this tee, and I’m going to stop before the third tee.
“It gets the putter back and gives you enough time to have a nice hit on the ball, and you don’t gave to have that long follow through you see lots of amateurs have.”
He prepares to hit.
“Watch the symmetry here,” he says.
“I’ll take the club back and the follow through will be short.”
The putt almost drops.
“You’re going to have better distance control and you’ll be a better putter for sure,” Faxon concludes.
It’s also worth beating in mind that Cameron Smith, the 2022 Open champion, uses a very similar technique.
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