Black Putting Out

GET READY TO START MAKING EVERYTHING

- Jordan Spieth

▶Drop Three feet, and what can anyone say? Other than maybe you had a strong feeling each was going in, probably not much. But I recently hit upon a term that, at least, begins to describe what I feel when I’m putting great: blackout. ▶ When I’m in “blackout,” I have zero thoughts about my set- I’m not even thinking up or stroke. about speed. There’s no challenge in my stance, no body parts pushing for position. I just step in and I’m immediately comfortable. All I see is the arc of a putt with enhanced clarity. Say, the gentle swoop of a 12-footer that breaks a foot. The blur of the ball’s path and that path alone burns in my mind—nothing else. My stroke is simply a reaction to make that path come alive, to come to be, with the roll of the ball. ▶ Now all that might sound goofy. It’s a hard thing to explain. What I can state clearly is, I’m not always in black out, as much as I wish I were. And as out, as effortless as I might make it out to be, it takes work and preparation to get in that mode. I make no guarantees, but I can show you how I’ve been able to get there. Maybe you can, too.

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