Instruction: Jack Lumpkin, Brian Harman find success with ‘old-school teamwork’

Brian Harman skipped football practice one day when he was 11 to take a lesson from Jack Lumpkin. All these years later, they’re still together.

Harman practices his putting with a tee marking the entrance point to the hole, based on the amount of break. (Photo by Eliot VanOtteren/Golfweek)

The quarter putting drill

Harman has used variations of similar drills almost since the day he took his first lesson from Lumpkin. One of those putting drills is to drop a quarter at the high point of the break for a given putt.

“It gives me something to focus on,” Harman said. “I’m always trying to reinvent things on the putting green because I’m either missing short or missing low, so I’ll try to make a drill to tailor it to what I’m doing. Lately I’ve been missing low, and the coin helps me look at the upper end of the line so I play more break.”

Harman also likes to place a tee at the spot where he wants the ball to enter the cup and see if he can hit it. This drill helps him develop laser-focus on hitting a pinpoint spot. Even if he doesn’t hit the tee every time, he finds he makes more putts in the process.

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