Putting

Even Tiger Woods, under the watchful eye of Butch Harmon, is constantly adjusting his putting stroke to suit the conditions.

As winter takes hold and the greens become slower, bumpy and softer, your putting stoke can suffer because you need to hit the ball so much firmer to get it up to the hole.

Its always worth a swift overhaul of your stroke to adjust to the slower geens without completely losing your touch.

Here are three useful pointers:

Point 1 Lengthen your stroke . Concentrate on lengthening both parts of the stroke.

The extra inches the putterhead moves back and through will naturally allow you to hit the ball firmer without any more effort, and with no noticeable change in your rhythm.

The golden rule is to keep the stroke going back and the stroke going through the same length, so don't overdo this change.

Point 2 Widen your stance - By slightly widening your stance, you'll compensate for any loss of balance you might have incurred by lengthening your stroke. Its vital to keep absolutely still through the ball.

Point 3 Accept the conditions - Its easy to blame poor greens or bad weather. Its also just as easy to start believing that you've lost your putting stroke. But the truth is that putting gets more difficult during the winter, and everyone has to face the same conditions. So accept that you may miss a few more putts than you might do during the summer, and you'll find yourself be under less pressure to hole out so consistently.

Summary: As greens lose their condition during the winter, its worth lengthening your stroke to compensate. A wider stance helps, as does a healthy and realistic attitude.