Christiaan Bezuidenhout pays the bills with his putter, which a lot of his fellow pros wish they could say.
The 30-year-old South African ranks 10th in SG: Putting, fourth in one-putt percentage, fourth in three-putt avoidance, and ninth in Approach Putt Performance.
Bezuidenhout is, simply put, an elite putter across the board.
"It's always been the strong spot in my game," he says. "I love spending time on putting. I love working on my putting; hitting different putts; reading the greens. It's something that I enjoy."
So what can we learn from him? That's what I asked him at the Travelers Championship last week. Bezuidenhout said learning Aimpoint really helped his green-reading and recommends it to the rest of us, but it's his daily routine, above all else, that the rest of us can learn from.
Bezuidenhout's 'dialed' drill
Before every round, Bezuidenhout sets up a little putting station:
- He finds a flat six-foot putt
- He draws a chalk line on the ground
- He places two tees outside of the putter head
- He places two more tees a little wider
- He uses the line on his golf ball
Once he's all set up, Bezuidenhout spends 10 or 15 minutes simply hitting putts, trying to roll the line on his golf ball down the line on the ground. He'll also reserve about 30 putts which he hits with only his left hand.
The tees are there to make sure he hits the ball in the sweetspot of the putter, and with a square putter face.
"I use the same setup every day," he says. "It helps me get my start line dialed, and keeps my stroke consistent day after day."
A few minutes of this every day, perhaps on a putting green at home, and you'll come out the other end an improved putter, too.