Cameron Smith has has a career-high 2022 with victories at the year-opening Tournament of Champions, the Players Championship and the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews.
And, of course, he won in just his second outing at a LIV Golf Invitational.
His improved ball-striking this year has given Smith more opportunities to go low with his scoring and he’s grabbed those chances often.
At the Players Championship in March, he one-putted eight greens on the back nine Sunday afternoon to card a 66 and claim the title. In doing so, he set a Strokes Gained: Putting tournament record of +11.521. That’s right, he gained 11 strokes on the field on the greens. Across the four rounds, he made an incredible 401-feet, 10 inches worth of putts. Not quite his personal best, which stands at 415 feet.
It was a similar story at St. Andrews, where he grabbed the halfway lead of the championship with a putting display that reaffirmed to the golfing world, he is the best putter of his generation.
The PGA Tour’s Shotlink was unfortunately not operating at the Open, but R&A stats had Smith making an incredible 255-feet of putts in his second round eight-under 64. While unofficial, it would have beaten the PGA Tour record of 240-feet, four inches set by Brent Geiberger at the 2005 Booz Allen Classic.
Smith had 28 putts in the first and second rounds at St. Andrews and 29 in his final round 64. His 35 putts in the third round, which he later described as “just one of those days”, saw him out on the practice green after dark hitting putts in preparation for the final round.
And it worked.
Smith’s rise has shone a spotlight on his game and, in particular, his prowess with the putter. Here, we’ll give you an insight into how Smith putts, from his technique, to his pre-putt routine and to holing out. It’s a stroke of genius.
PREPARATION
It sounds obvious, but practice, practice, practice is a crucial key to improving your putting.
That said, it doesn’t need to be hours and hours hitting putts. It should be effective practice, which, for Smith, all comes quite naturally.
“I definitely keep on top of it (putting),” Smith said after winning The Open.
“I think, for me luckily, putting comes quite naturally. For me it’s just about getting back to the same set-up position, basically.
“I practise with a mirror for probably 20 minutes a day, and to be honest, that’s about it.
“I don’t really hit a lot of long putts at home. I try and focus probably 10 to 15 footers and in and just seeing those putts drop.
“When I get out here at the start of the week, I start hitting some more lag putts and just getting the speed right.”
Pre-round it is also important to have a mental image of the ball going into the hole.
Having missed several putts during his third round at The Open, Smith spent some time after dark on the practice green to hit some putts and “just see them going in”.
“I shrugged it off pretty good, hit a few putts. I just wanted to see a few putts go in,” he said.
“I didn’t think there was really anything wrong technically. I just wanted to see a few putts go in before I went to sleep, and that kind of put me at ease to know that it really wasn’t me, it was just kind of one of those days.
“Yeah, I think that was the best thing I did all week.”
LINING UP
After getting a read on a putt, Smith picks a spot near the hole as the point that he wants to start his ball on. Some players, like Rory McIlroy, prefer choosing a spot close to the ball.
He then sets his ball in front of the marker. Can you see something different with the way Smith aligns his ball (pictured below)?
He has a line marked on his ball but he doesn’t use this to align to his proposed putting line. Instead, it sits horizontally out in front and he aligns the ‘Titleist’ branding on top of the ball with the chosen spot near the hole.
ROUTINE
If you want to putt consistently well, you need to adopt a pre-putt routine.
A pre-putt routine allows you to cope with pressure – even putting for three-pointers in the Saturday comp has its own pressure – because it puts you in a ‘non-thinking’ mode before pulling the trigger on your putting stroke.
Your pre-putt routine needs to be simple but exactly the same every time you putt.
If you watch Smith closely, after making a read on the putt he’s about to hit, he steps in beside the ball. As he does this, he pulls the putterhead up and wipes the face with his left hand (pictured below). This may well have started as a habit when he was younger but now it’s an ingrained part of his pre-putt routine.
Interestingly, Smith does not take any practice strokes as part of his pre-putt routine.
THE SET-UP & STROKE
Once Smith has moved into the ball, he is quite deliberate with his set-up and alignment, which is something he works hard on using the aforementioned putting mirror.
The palms of both hands are facing each other and the thumbs are pointing down the grip, which indicates the putterface is square in his hands.
He also tucks both elbows in so they are almost touching his ribcage, which allows him to simply rock his shoulders back and forth without any other influences – like wrists and hands – on the putterhead.
By closing the gap between your elbows and ribcage, your upper body can work as one free-moving unit.
Smith’s stance is quite narrow, and there is very little flex in his knees. This makes him stand a little taller over the ball (below). If you are too hunched over the ball, there is a tendency to have more bend in the arms and they will move away from your body more.
With his set-up established, Smith takes one long last look at the hole.
“I don’t take a practice stroke,” he says. “The last thought of mine is to take a long, hard look at the hole and really feel the putt.
“Taking that last look, seeing the ball roll over the front with the pace that you like, doesn’t matter whether it’s two feet or 100 feet … It’s something I’ve always done and I think it’s key.”
Once he’s visualised the putt, he looks down at the ball and pulls the trigger on the putt almost immediately
The Open Champion says his stroke is all about getting back to impact in the same position he established with his set-up. And the rest is good tempo.
No matter what the distance or speed of the putt, Smith aims for a 2-to-1 in timing of his backswing through to impact … 1-2 going back and 3 stroking through at impact. That’s right stroking. Smith doesn’t hit putts, he strokes them with a free-flowing putterhead.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
His prowess on and around the greens is all based on that very premise of keeping it simple.
It doesn’t matter if it’s his pre-shot routine, his visualisation of putts rolling in or adopting a set-up that allows him to simply stroke the putter back and through consistently on the same square-to-target path. It’s all simple stuff that, when worked on in short bursts, can greatly improve your ability on the greens.
If you can learn to do the simple things well, consistently well, to the point where it becomes second nature – like Smith’s putting – you will nurture the confidence that you can make even the most difficult putts, in pressure situations.
Think back to Smith’s putt around the Road Hole bunker on the 71st hole of The Open Championship (pictured above). He had enough confidence in his simple but effective putting stroke that he was never going to putt that ball into the sand, like so many others have done in Opens past. He picked his spot, visualised how the ball would react across the ground and pulled the trigger. It was a tough shot, but Smith’s approach was like any other putt … simple.
Of course, he rolled the next putt in as well, saved his par and won The Open.
Related Articles
He's got the game: Cam Smith doubters have been warned
Form out the window for Cam Smith amid Masters bliss
