Dave Stockton’s new book on putting is worth every cent of the $27.50 retail price tag. “Unconscious Putting: Dave Stockton’s Guide to Unlocking Your Signature Stroke” packs a ton of useful information in its 101 pages. Stockton, a veteran golf champion and renowned putting instructor, won five major championships, 11 tournament victories on the PGA Tour, and 14 wins on the Champions Tour. The strategies found in Unconscious Putting fixed Rory McIlroy’s troubles in 10 minutes and were integral in his win at last year’s U.S. Open.

In Unconscious Putting, Stockton stresses a new mental approach: One free of mechanical thoughts, alongside physical routines that insure a player stays locked in on their target. “I believe putting is a simple act,” says Stockton. You see the line the ball should take to the hole, lock in on that line, and let the stroke go while that line is fresh in your mind. Unfortunately, many, many players at every level put up a lot of roadblocks for themselves and get in the way of their own good putting.”

Stockton reveals a lot of strategies he picked during his formative years when his father and mentor shared those ideas with him. To help with the mental aspect of the game when Stockton went out on tour in 1966, his father introduced him to a very popular self-help book called Psycho-Cybernetics, by Maxwell Maltz. “Your brain is a powerful thing, and it is amazingly sensitive to suggestion,” says Stockton. If you label yourself a bad putter, you’re going to be exactly what you call yourself. In the same way that your brain is sensitive to negative self-talk, it’s very receptive to positive talk and to visualization.”

Fine tuning his teaching skills over the years has developed Stockton into one of the best putting coaches in the game today. He shows readers how to create their own unique putting signature and make their entire pre-putt routine focus on acquiring and retaining a visual of the intended line, then setting up to the putt so that they hit the ball on that line effortlessly.

Stockton’s Unconscious Putting is co-written with Mathew Rudy and published by Gotham Books. For more information, visit www.davestockton.com.