Travis Fulton Blog: Inside Johnson's putting changes

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Poor putter angle at address kept the ball out of the hole for Zach Johnson during most of the 2008 season.

At 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, the Sony Open at Hawaii concluded with the 2007 Masters Champion, Zach Johnson, atop the leaderboard. While we don't get to see a lot of golf action in prime time, Johnson has certainly become a prime time player, capturing his fifth PGA TOUR title and second in his last six starts.

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The TOURAcademy's Travis Fulton breaks down the keys to Zach Johnson's victory at the 2009 Sony Open in Hawaii. Click to listen

Johnson went into Sunday with a one-shot lead and held off some big names, including David Toms, Adam Scott and Charles Howell III, which led to an exciting finish for big crowds at Kapalua. Eighteen-year-old sensation and Hawaii native Tadd Fujikawa was impressive after Monday-qualifying his way into the field, then blistering the course with a 62 on Saturday to put himself in contention before fading during the final round.

This win for Johnson continues his momentum from last fall, when Zach won the Valero Texas Open. This impressive stretch now makes me wonder if Zach is ready to make another run at Augusta. With solid ballstriking and an improving putting stroke, Johnson could be poised for another Green Jacket.

What Can We Learn

Last year, the first half of the season was "a tale of two cities" for Johnson. On one hand, Zach was enjoying one of his best ball striking years in his career, where he was fifth in Driving Accuracy and 28th in Greens in Regulation. On the other hand, Zach was having his worst financial season on the PGA TOUR. Not because of his ballstriking, of course, but as a result of one very important stat: Putting.

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Johnson worked to get his hands in line or ahead of the ball during the stroke.

From tee to green, Zach was rock solid in 2008, but just couldn't get the ball in the hole on the greens. During the Fall Series, Zach started working with swing coach Mike Bender and putting coach Pat O'Brien to make a few changes with his putting.

Their analysis showed Zach was imparting too much backspin on the ball. This backspin was a result of the putter shaft leaning too far back at address. With the putter shaft leaning back, Zach was adding loft to the putter face at impact, making it very difficult to control distance and direction.

Johnson was convinced by his coaches to lean the putter shaft more forward at address. Since doing this, Zach has been able to put a better roll on the ball, allowing for a more predictable end-over-end roll coming of the putter face.

This simple adjustment at address is something we can all learn from to make sure we get the putter shaft perpendicular to the ground or just slightly angled forward at address. The amount of lean that will be most effective will depend on the putter model and loft you currently use, but in general, most putters are designed to work better with a perpendicular or slight lean forward, rather than backward lean at impact.

Another interesting dynamic you may have noticed this week about Zach's putting is his grip. Zach is the only player on the PGA TOUR that I know of that uses his full swing grip when putting. Zach's full swing grip is what you would classify as a strong grip, where his hands are rotated way to the right. Although this works for Zach, it is often easier to putt with a different grip.

Generally, your putting grip should sit more in the palms and not the fingers. This will decrease the amount of rotation in the putter face and make it easier to align the forearms on the same plane as the putter shaft.

Just Because

Well, I certainly feel better after venting my frustration last week about how bad my teams played in 2008. After further counseling this week, I want to promise that I will now let it go......for awhile.

I must admit, it didn't help watching the Pittsburgh Steelers win on Sunday to go back to the Super Bowl. Every time I think of Pittsburgh it just brings back all those horrible calls that went against the Seahawks in the 2005 Super Bowl ...uhhhhhhh! Alright, alright, alright!

On a better note, it has been a great week. I got to spend some quality time with my sister. She's not much of a golfer, so it was a nice break to get away from the game for a couple of days. We decided to work on some projects around the house that made for some good laughs -- but tested our patience.

One special project that I care to never participate again in was the hanging of new curtains. This, my friends, is not any easy task. I don't think I have ever seen so many little things that have to come together to make just one curtain rod sit level atop a motionless window. Let's just say those curtains will be staying with the house long after I've moved on.

Next week, the PGA TOUR celebrates the 50th Bob Hope Classic with Arnold Palmer. This tournament is always an entertaining event and the perfect fit to kick off the West Coast Swing.