Zach Johnson Has Won 5 Of His Last 8 Champions Tour Starts. Try His Putting Trick Next Time You Play

Zach Johnson is making his rookie season on the Champions Tour look easy. Six wins so far, five of his last eight starts.

Johnson has always been known as one of the better putters of his generation so I went digging to see what putting advice he’s shared over the years. Here are my favorite tips and drills from what I found.

The “two looks” drill

This is the one I started using as soon as I read it. Before every putt, Johnson takes two practice strokes, one looking down at the ball to get himself parallel and settled and one looking up at the hole to lock in speed. That second look isn’t a glance back at the target; it’s a full practice stroke done while looking at the hole instead of the ball. By the time he sets the putter behind the ball, all that’s left is feel.

He’s also talked about keeping the stroke itself simple, describing a rough 60/40 split between backstroke and through-stroke. He lets the putter swing back naturally and then lets gravity and the weight of the ball shorten the follow-through instead of forcing a bigger finish. Less manipulation, more letting the stroke do what it wants to do.

Try it next time you’re on the practice green. One practice stroke looking down to get set, one practice stroke looking up at the hole to feel the speed and then trust the stroke instead of steering it.

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Two other putting drills worth stealing

The Four Tees speed drill. Johnson sets up four stations at 15, 20, 25 and 30 feet with an alignment stick planted about two feet behind each hole. The goal is three putts in a row that reach the hole without touching the stick. Miss and you start that station over.

The 40-foot two-putt gauntlet. This is the one he leans on during tournament weeks. He picks four or five random putts from around 40 feet and has to two-putt every one. One three-putt anywhere in the sequence and he starts the whole set over. It’s a way to simulate the pressure of a real three-putt on the course.

Redefine what a “good” putt actually means

Johnson said his sports psychologist doesn’t ask him if he made the putt; he asks if he hit a quality putt. That means the routine looked the same, the two looks were consistent, the rhythm of the stroke matched and the contact was clean off the center of the face.

It’s a small mental shift but one that works for amateurs as well. Grading yourself on makes alone means most of your practice reps feel like failures, even the well-struck ones that just missed. Grading yourself on quality contact and a repeatable process means you’re tracking the stuff that compounds over time.