At Royal Liverpool, Brian Harman cruised to his first Major title, with the American putting on an exhibition as he lifted the Claret Jug at The 151st Open Championship.
Harman was imperious over the links, with the main standout being his putting as he led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting (+11.57) and also holed an incredible 58 out of 59 putts inside 10-feet. Becoming just the sixth American to win The Open by six strokes or more, many were wondering what Harman had been doing differently to hole out with such ease, a question that was posed to him by Cara Banks on the Saturday.
Keeping his lips shut, Harman eventually revealed on Sunday that his success came down to a simple putting aid. Although unclear what the training aid was, it is believed to be the Short Game Gains Putting Mirror and, following Harman's statement, Fredrik Lindblom, who is the co-founder of Short Game Gains, tweeted: "To see the best players in the world trust @shortgamegains is amazing. We have now received 300+ orders for our Putting Mirror in the last 24h. THANK YOU for all the support. Both @hannahbggg and I are absolutely freaking out."
To see the best players in the world trust @shortgamegains is amazing. We have now received 300+ orders of our Putting Mirror in the last 24h. THANK YOU for all the support. Both @hannahbggg and I are absolutely freaking out 😂🙏 https://t.co/0YSV7ZIqTVJuly 25, 2023
Speaking about the training aid that helped him win The Open, Harman stated: "I found this - it's a silly-looking mirror where it's got like a little better release pattern. I was just kind of cutting my putts too much. I spent a lot of time just feeling the ball, almost hitting like a baby draw with my putter, and it's been really, really good the last month or so."
Harman added that he did indeed possess the device for some time before addressing his putting woes on the green, with the Open winner adding: "I picked it up on the putting green at some tournament over the years. There's all sorts of trinkets and different things up until Wednesday, so I saw it, liked it. Hadn't been putting very good this year until last month or so, but I found that in my barn at my house and it made sense, and I started putting well with it.”
Currently, there are a number of excellent options available when it comes to training aids on the greens, with the best putting aids and best putting mats designed to improve your score on the short stuff, something which Harman showed over Open week.
With so many putting items on the market, it can be difficult to whittle down the best, or indeed the cheapest, but a number of retailers have options to suit a number of players that want to save shots with the flatstick. We have tested lots of putting aids at Golf Monthly and, below, we have listed our favorites. Certainly, if they're good enough for the world's best, they're surely good enough for the club golfer, right?
