The US Open usually supplies armchair golfers with great drama, the scene of many incredible comebacks and heartbreaking chokes. The 2001 version provided one of the strangest finishes in Open history. Three golfers had a chance to win it all, and all 3-putted the 72nd hole.

While all three collapsed on the final hole, Stewart Cink’s demise will probably be remembered for all time since it cost him a chance to qualify for a Monday 18-hole playoff. Thinking that Retief Goosen would surely 1- or 2-putt from a short distance, Cink, having missed his lead-tying putt, casually putted his 2-footer without much attention to what he was doing. Figuring it didn’t matter whether he made or missed the putt, he just slapped the ball towards the hole. Knowing what happened after he missed the putt will probably make him think twice about being so casual and assuming an outcome before it happens.

I have been asked many times by students what caused Cink to miss a putt he would probably make 99 of 100 times. My reply was that it’s the same reason that Brooks and Goosen missed their short putts: eye movement. In Cink’s case, the eye movement was caused by lack of concern. In Brooks’ and Goosen’s cases the eye movement was caused by the pressure to succeed.

Eye movement results from information the visual system sends the brain. Peripheral vision is very sensitive to movement, especially if the mind is allowed to wander. Since Cink was somewhat unconcerned about the outcome, his mind was not focused on the task at hand and his peripheral vision may have caused the eyes to move because they unconsciously saw the clubhead moving. Peripheral vision makes up about 99 percent of the visual system.

The other one percent of your visual system is referred to as central vision. Central vision is connected directly to your brain’s central processing centers. Central vision causes the eyes to move because of where you direct your attention. For example, if you are concerned about your putting mechanics, your attention to what the putter is doing will cause your eyes to follow the putter. If you’re concerned about whether or not you’ll sink the putt your eyes will dart to the hole. If they dart to the hole before you putt, it will destroy your putting mechanics. Unfortunately, most golfers are concerned about their mechanics, the ball, and where the ball is going so their eyes are darting all over the place.

The only way to cure this malady is to keep the eyes and mind completely focused on a single task or thought, neither of which should be your mechanics or where the ball is going. If you regularly miss short putts, you need to control both your attention and eye movement. Just trying to keep your eyes on the ball may not improve your performance because the fear or uncertainty of missing the putt could cause your eyes to move involuntarily. You need to keep your conscious mind occupied with information that will not only direct your eyes to focus on the ball, but to keep distracting thoughts pop up unexpectedly in the middle of your putt and cause you to miss the hole.

At 1-Putt Golf Schools and Total Performance Golf we provide golfers with a variety of strategies that help them improve both their attention and control of their eye movement so that they don’t miss those short ones like three top tour players. So that you don’t Cink It, Goosen It, or Brooks It, learn to keep your eyes and mind focused and you will sink more short putts.