English Major Golfer

Ever heard of the “Rhyming Peg-Word System”? 

It’s a memory trick that a magician taught as a class on a cruise I took last year. What intrigued me was the concept of linking memory with visualization. 

Most of us “passionate” golfers – I didn’t say obsessed – can remember specific golf shots associated with memories on the course. For example, very clearly I can remember an eagle-hole-out on Foxfire GC in Pinehurst, NC: Par 4, down hill, dog leg left. I hit a 9 iron draw and it took one bounce and disappeared into the hole. I can see in my mind the flight of the ball and remember the shock watching it into the hole.

That happened in 1998. 😳

Processing the memory class on the ship, I thought: “What if I could develop a similar system that accessed those memories to support visualizing a shot during a round?” The memory would act like a visualization-starter and perhaps create a clearer picture in my mind.

I began messing around with this idea during practice on the range and during rounds. I had a peg-word system/memory for a draw, a fade and a knock-down shot. Like the memory technique, I would determine the best shot needed for the situation, say the peg-word in my mind: “One – Gun – Draw” and I would remember a draw shot I have successfully hit in the past. I would hold that memory at address and then take the shot.

I was surprised at the effectiveness this produced in my shot making. 

At the same time, I also began thinking about how to adapt this on the putting green. And while I continue to tinker around with the peg-word system for tee shots and approach shots, this technique has been most effective in improving my putting. And as things evolved overtime with experience and experimentation to something a little different from the start.

Visualization to Word Cadence

I love watching the robotic putting machines – seriously I do 😂. It affirms to me that the essence of the putting stroke is a rhythmic – mechanical motion. Combined with the correct alignment, the ball will find the hole from any length with the corresponding rhythmic motion. The shorter the distance – the quicker the rhythm; and vice versa. 

I used rhythm as a tool for the golf swing in a related blog – here.

As I was working through the idea of the peg-word system, I realized that I could combine rhythm with memory/visualization. This is where word cadences come into play – the words help create the rhythm for the timing of the putting stroke.

A way to demonstrate this is to think of a basic word rhythm – “tick – tock” like the seconds on a clock 😉. Stand over a short putt – maybe 3 feet away – and on the takeaway of the putter, say out loud: “tick”; stopping the backward motion at the completion of the word – “ick”; then move the putter forward and on “tock” strike the ball. 

The key here is not to “force” the putter movement. The force you used to move the putter away from the ball on “tick” is the same and equal force through contact on “tock”. If you are correctly aligned to the hole, the ball will roll into the hole “almost” every time.

“Almost” every time because once in a while, even on the simplest motions – like a three foot putt – our conscious mind will interrupt: KEEP THE PUTTER FACE SQUARE!!! And then of course we don’t because suddenly our wrist makes the slightest smallest twitch and we miss a three-foot-straight putt.

And while not perfect every time, the word cadences really began to help me particularly in long putts (over +18 feet). My visualization could remain focused on the line of the putt and then match the distance to the speed and line with the corresponding word cadence. 

Here are my word cadences to distance with greens running ~10 to 11 (fast):

Couple of important notes as you might try to experiment with this technique:

1. It’s very important to pace off every putt. My steps are roughly 3 feet. So a lot of my table above and the break points in the different word cadences are grouped in 3 feet increments. Walking off the putt helps the brain with data…don’t guess.
2. Depending on the situation, I add or subtract steps given slope and grain. For example, against the grain is +1 step; up a slope is +1 (or +2 if it is a large slope); and then the opposite: -1 with grain; -1 down slope.
3. My word cadences are attached to visualization clues that I didn’t express in detail here. They wouldn’t make sense to someone else, for example “Rock Hill” for my ~36 ft putt – this is tied to a memory where I made a 40 foot putt at Rock Hill Country Club to win a putting contest in front of a huge crowd. Therefore, as you experiment with this, think of words that can tie to either a strange or uncommon image or a specific memory you have of a putt you made. 
4. The word cadence isn’t tied to making the putt – this is an important detail. What I mean is the word cadence is simply a technique to deliver a putt of a particular distance and speed. Only with the correct alignment/line will the putt go in. And while I AM trying to make the putt from 36 feet away, I am not relying on the word cadence as some kind of magic word to make the putt go into the hole. The word cadence is there to help me rhythmically and somewhat mechanically deliver the ball at the right speed and distance. 

Lastly, this is a fantastic technique to busy the conscious mind! The real putting master is that Second Guy. I want him to putt. So if my conscious mind is busy with word cadences, stepping off distances, and visualizing the line for the putt – this will feed that Second Guy all the data he needs to make the putt. Then GET OUT OF THE WAY and SHUT UP 😂! Hit the putt.