I was fortunate during my career to spend time around Ben Crenshaw. I’ve never seen anyone control the speed of a golf ball off the putter face quite like he did. I can’t recall a single putt he struck, no matter the distance, where the ball didn’t roll at precisely the right pace.
There was never anything violent about the way the ball left his putter. It seemed to come off the face as if struck with a cashmere insert. There was no hit in his stroke, no jolt, no tension — only rhythm. His motion flowed like music. His hands, relaxed and unforced, looked as though they simply belonged on the club. Nothing about his setup or stroke ever appeared contrived.
When I teach putting, I tell every student that there are two elements we must marry: line and speed. But I always emphasize this: speed comes first.
When I take a beginner to the putting green, I hand them three balls and ask them to roll each one toward a general target. They rarely send a putt thirty feet right or left; instinctively, they roll the ball toward the objective. What they struggle with is distance. The first ball might race thirty feet past the hole. They look at me, puzzled. I ask them to adjust. The second might finish fifteen feet short. I nod and hand them the third. More often than not, it ends up much closer.
What’s the difference between the first ball and the third? It’s simple: experience.
The brain learns beautifully through repetition. Give it the same task again and again, and it begins to self-correct. If I stood there for an hour with that same student, rolling the same putt, those balls would soon finish within a few feet of the hole, time after time. Some call it repetition. I call it learning through experience.
I’ve always believed great putting begins with great pace. When you own your speed, your line improves naturally. Watch a Ben Crenshaw highlight reel sometime. The putts that fall feel almost inevitable.
And it’s all because the ball is rolling at the correct speed.
