Golf Tips: Snedeker's secret to putting success

His peers are tweeting about it, fans are talking about it, and commentators are writing about it. But what makes Brandt Snedeker the hottest golfer on the planet right now?

Up there with the favourites to win a major in 2013, the man they call ‘Sneds’ came close last year, leading the Open Championship after 36 holes and eventually finishing third behind Ernie Els.

But despite a brisk repeating swing and a pace of play that might have others breathless, the key to the 32-year-old’s success is a slow, smooth putting stroke that Ben Crenshaw would be proud of.

There’s a lot of Crenshaw in the blonde Tennessean from Nashville who likes to keep his game up-tempo but neat and simple for added consistency.

Currently rated as the best putter in the world featuring at No.1 on the PGA Tour in single putts and strokes gained from putting, Snedeker also converts more birdie chances than almost everyone else.

So what his secret?

“I seem to have a great natural instinct for putting and have a couple of basic keys that every great putter has and does the same way,” says Snedeker, whose preferred flat stick is the Odyssey White Hot XG Rossie.

“The putter shaft travels as an extension of my fore arms, to keep the putter on the right path when I rock my shoulders.

“All great putters I’ve seen keep the pad of the left hand square against the square grip face of the putter handle, following the lifeline in their hand.

“And I don’t get too encased in the line of the putt; I like to keep it simple. It might be a ball, outside the cup or left edge. I just want to keep the ball above the hole and give it a chance to go in.”