The Putting Zone concept is based on that feeling a player gets when they are putting really well and seem to be in that unconscious ZONE of great putting. The term ZONE refers to when a player is putting with a feeling of automatic performance. The PUTTING ZONE truly recreates that feeling of what a player experiences when putting is automatic.
When a player is in the ZONE of automatic putting, the player is not watching the putter head go back and through with an intense focus on keeping the putter face square. When putting in the ZONE, the trick is a player’s visual perception needs to blur out the tracking putter head and putter face. The putters head and face becomes one with the putting surface in a washy blend. (Similar to looking at one of those pictures with a collage of colors but when looked at deeper into the colors a hidden object appears from within.) When a putt is struck, the stroke should wash through the ball without any sensation of hit or guide to the ball. The player should be looking at the ball but not trying to hit it. Rather the stroke should carry through the ball with the ball leaving the field of vision without the eyes following the ball which is often referred to as the bad habit of looking up.
Try this the next time on the putting green; blending the ball with the grass beneath the ball to create a blur effect. Good luck and better putting.
Source
2002 SCGA Magazine
