This is the *real* key to Cameron Smith’s incredible putting stroke

That’s the question my co-host Reed Howard and I break it in our inaugural episode of the Play Smart podcast. The podcast drops twice a week (on Tuesdays and Thursdays) and each episode only spans about 10 minutes, so it’s a tidy way of getting some smart golf information in small, manageable doses.

When it comes to Cam Smith, we break down a few interesting things he does that help him perform so well. Smith himself says he pays extra close attention to his setup position, taking about “20 minutes” per day to make sure everything is aligned. He’ll also forgo practice strokes and instead rely heavily on intense visualization before he hits his putt.

But the true key? Making sure his follow-through is shorter than his backstroke.

It’s the opposite of what most of us have been taught, but it’s something Cam Smith’s putting coach Grant Field have worked hard on in the past, and there’s a good reason behind it, says Reed:

“If you hit a stable piece of mass, like a golf ball, that actually takes speed off your putter, and therefore creates a shorter follow through,” Howard says. “If you’re trying to speed up your putter through the ball, you need to compensate with the muscles in your arms and wrists. There’s no manipulation of the putter in [Cameron Smith]’s putting stroke, he’s just using gravity to let the putter hit the ball.”

You can listen to the full 13-minute episode where we dive a little deeper below, and subscribe to the Play Smart podcast on iTunes, or on Spotify right here.

Luke Kerr-Dineen

Golf.com Contributor

Luke Kerr-Dineen is the Game Improvement Editor at GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com. In his role he oversees the brand’s game improvement content spanning instruction, equipment, health and fitness, across all of GOLF’s multimedia platforms.

An alumni of the International Junior Golf Academy and the University of South Carolina–Beaufort golf team, where he helped them to No. 1 in the national NAIA rankings, Luke moved to New York in 2012 to pursue his Masters degree in Journalism from Columbia University. His work has also appeared in USA Today, Golf Digest, Newsweek and The Daily Beast.