If you want to become a genuinely great putter — and every golfer should aspire to that — you're going to need your 7 iron.
Why would you need a 7 iron to improve your putting?
Don't worry — we're not asking you to chip or putt with a 7 iron.
We're going to show you how to incorporate your 7 iron into a simple putting drill that unifies your body and eliminates handsy, inconsistent strokes.
Most amateurs dedicate far more practice time to ball striking than putting, so let's begin with a story that illustrates just how much putting matters.
A Story
At the 2007 PGA Championship, Tiger Woods fired a Friday 63. His playing partner, Woody Austin, shot even par — 72. In the post-round interview, Woody made a remarkable admission: he actually outplayed Tiger tee to green that day. He hit the ball inside Tiger 10 times and found significantly more fairways.
Yet Tiger beat him by nine strokes. The entire difference came down to putting.
Getting outplayed tee to green while winning 63 to 72 is staggering when you think about it. Nine strokes in a major championship, all determined on the greens.
Invest in Your Putting
Elite players understand how critical putting is to scoring, which is why they dedicate substantial practice time to it — even when they're already world-class.
We encourage every amateur to invest significantly more practice time in putting. If you genuinely want to shave strokes off your game, the putting green is where you'll find them most efficiently.
And we have a powerfully simple drill to help you get there.
If you've worked through our other putting lessons, you already know how we want you to set up — shaft aligned with the forearms, proper grip position, etc.
Today we're showing you how to use your 7 iron to unify the entire stroke.
Simply hold the 7 iron horizontally across your chest, tucked under both arms. Then take your normal putting grip.
This locks your arms and chest together into a single unit. Now as you take the club back and through, you have no choice but to simply rock your shoulders — there's no room for independent arm or hand movement.
Remove the shaft and notice how much your arms can move independently of your body.
You can flip through impact. The more your elbows bend and your arms hang, the more handsy you'll become.
Without the shaft restraint, you can move the putter all over the place with arm and wrist action alone.
In a proper putting stroke, you want the shoulders to rock back and through as a unit — and this drill is the most effective way to feel that connection. It looks deceptively simple, but give it a try and you'll immediately feel how powerful it is.
Place the shaft back under your arms and just rock back and forth without a ball at first. Then start hitting putts. Practice with it for 30 minutes — practice until your chest is sore from the contact. That's how effective this drill is.
The "Trampoline" Effect
Tuck the shaft under your arms, connect it to your chest, and simply rock your shoulders back and through. Hit as many putts as possible in this configuration — ideally 20, 30, even 40 putts with nothing but a shoulder rock.
When you've done that, something remarkable happens — similar to the "trampoline effect." After spending 20 minutes bouncing on a trampoline, you step off and feel like you're still bouncing. Walking feels strange because your body has internalized the rhythm.
The same principle applies to this drill. When you remove the 7 iron, it feels like it's still there. Your body has unified the putting stroke, so the connection between arms, chest, and shoulders persists. You can roll the ball with a pure shoulder rock because your body has memorized the feeling.
That residual sensation is exactly what makes this such an effective drill.
There's no reason not to do this every time you play. Make your pre-round practice putts with the 7 iron tucked under your arms and you'll develop a tighter, more solid stroke every single session.
The goal is to feel controlled and unified. Do this drill daily, every time you practice putting — you can even do it at home on carpet. It's a great indoor drill.
Hold the shaft under your arms, keep it pressed against your chest, rock your shoulders, and watch your putting consistency improve dramatically. For the same kind of structured improvement on your full swing, try a free AI swing analysis that identifies your specific mechanics. To practice with real-time coaching, check out a free AI golf lesson.
Watch part 2 now to see how you're moving your body in the opposite direction of the pros!
Arms can get very mobile, which is bad for the putting stroke
Place a 7 iron up under your arms
Rock the shaft
Make some putts with the shaft in place
Make some putts with the shaft in place - down the line view
