Putting stroke tips

[vp27519]

Re: Putting stroke tips

I'm envious - 5 handicap.

Just a question for you though - why is it you are two putting? Is your short game leaving you too far from the hole? On average how far is your first putt to the hole Davie?

Putting for me is a confidence thing - more feel than technique.

[daviesec]

Re: Putting stroke tips

I'm envious - 5 handicap.

Just a question for you though - why is it you are two putting? Is your short game leaving you too far from the hole? On average how far is your first putt to the hole Davie?

Putting for me is a confidence thing - more feel than technique.

I would say on average my 1st putt is 10inches past the hole, I always try to at least get the ball to the hole. Even if i'm putting for a birdie from inside 10 feet I don't feel confident that i'm going to hole it.

As you say I think its confidence thing.

[vp27519]

Re: Putting stroke tips

Davie,

Generally, how long is your first putt?

[Scragger63]

Re: Putting stroke tips

Bearing in mind this comes from a chronically poor putter......

How confident I would be if I knew every 1st putt I hit on any green was going to finish within a foot or so of the hole...

Goodbye 3 putts forever!!!

Good luck finding the improvement you seek...

Cheers

[millenniumcow]

Re: Putting stroke tips

When my putting goes AWOL i spend an hour on the putting green doing Butch Harmons "kicking a field goal drill".

Arch11, this sounds like a brilliant drill. I'm eager to get to the practice green to trial it.

I must say that putting is such an important and underrated part of the ameteur game. I have been hacking away for months since taking up golf and still not cracking 100, and averaging almost 3 putts per hole. It dawned on me recently that if I can shave only one putt per hole that is 18 strokes and I'd be under 100 every time. I'm now practicing my putting every night in my home office to improve my touch. Wish me luck.

[GoNavy]

Re: Putting stroke tips

Arch11, this sounds like a brilliant drill. I'm eager to get to the practice green to trial it.

I must say that putting is such an important and underrated part of the ameteur game. I have been hacking away for months since taking up golf and still not cracking 100, and averaging almost 3 putts per hole. It dawned on me recently that if I can shave only one putt per hole that is 18 strokes and I'd be under 100 every time. I'm now practicing my putting every night in my home office to improve my touch. Wish me luck.

Arch you are way ahead of the game, keep on that track and you will do fine. One of the hardest things to do is convince high handicap golfers to stop worrying about their swing and work on the short game and putting. Not long ago we had a thread on breaking 70 or 80 or something like that, good thread, very long thread, I think every one had a go at that one. The basic that came out of that was simple math, people don't often consider that, but basically you have 18 holes, four are par 3's and four are par 5's, that means:

18 tee shot - nothing you can about these strokes have to have them, so you won't save many strokes here.

14 approach shots - nothing you can do about these either, unless you manage to drives some par 4 or 5's, not likely, so again not going save many strokes here either.

4 par 5 approach shots - only way to prevent these strokes is get home in 2 from the above appraoches, again not likely on a consistant basis.

So we have here 36 strokes we can not do anything about, mandatory strokes if you will, so if you 2 putt every hole 18 times 2 is 36, most course are par 72, there is your even par round, fully 50% of this was putting. So you can easily see, you get the most bang for buck from working on the short game.

Basically what you have is, if you make any mistakes on your original mandatory strokes (Tee shot, approaches) the only way you can makes these up are in the short game phase, every bad shot requires a one putt, or a chip in to fix. If you want to shoot even par. If you make no mistakes on the mandatory shots, then every one putt or chip in, puts you underpar.

[daviesec]

Re: Putting stroke tips

Bearing in mind this comes from a chronically poor putter......

How confident I would be if I knew every 1st putt I hit on any green was going to finish within a foot or so of the hole...

Goodbye 3 putts forever!!!

Good luck finding the improvement you seek...

Cheers

If you read my post I say on average my putts are 10 inches past the hole. Some are an inch past, some are 3 feet.

Apologies for my original post asking for tips, here's me thinking this was a website I could use to help me.

[Scragger63]

Re: Putting stroke tips

Yes, and you also said that 99% of the time you will 2 putt. Does this mean that you 2 putt 17 holes every round...? The beauty of stats... without qualification, you can read anything into them...

As Nicole mentioned earlier, and you agreed, putting is about confidence.

My take on this is this might be a glass half full, half empty type scenario, where you are not quite happy with the results you are getting, though to many other average golfers out there (15 handicap and higher) 99% two putts might be a great thing. Perspective is a wonderful thing.

If you want a tip, the one I offer is after you have read your 1st putt, committed to the read, line and speed of the putt, address the ball and then pick a spot on your chosen target line about an inch or two in front of the ball towards the cup. Then go ahead and make your stroke, watching this spot and seeing the ball roll over it.

It seems to me that maybe when you putt, you have become very concious of the mechanics of your putting stroke. To me this doesn't help. The idea is to think about something else and hopefully by not concentrating on the stroke, but your target, you will make a good stroke.

Oh, and IMO, this site has many great contributors and has been of great value to me personally.

[daviesec]

Re: Putting stroke tips

Yes, and you also said that 99% of the time you will 2 putt. Does this mean that you 2 putt 17 holes every round...? The beauty of stats... without qualification, you can read anything into them...

As Nicole mentioned earlier, and you agreed, putting is about confidence.

My take on this is this might be a glass half full, half empty type scenario, where you are not quite happy with the results you are getting, though to many other average golfers out there (15 handicap and higher) 99% two putts might be a great thing. Perspective is a wonderful thing.

If you want a tip, the one I offer is after you have read your 1st putt, committed to the read, line and speed of the putt, address the ball and then pick a spot on your chosen target line about an inch or two in front of the ball towards the cup. Then go ahead and make your stroke, watching this spot and seeing the ball roll over it.

It seems to me that maybe when you putt, you have become very concious of the mechanics of your putting stroke. To me this doesn't help. The idea is to think about something else and hopefully by not concentrating on the stroke, but your target, you will make a good stroke.

Oh, and IMO, this site has many great contributors and has been of great value to me personally.

Ok point taken, thanks. I've been speaking to my club pro today and he says there is nothing wrong with my putting stroke. He's told me to break putts down foot by foot. Pick a line and as you say commit to it. He says putting to a tee peg should give me confidence when I come to hitting at a hole.

I think i'm frustrated with my game. I played off 5 all last summer when previous seasons my handicap has always come down. I've looked at my game and as I said previously my tee to green play is usually pretty good, which only leaves me the short stick.

[Scragger63]

Re: Putting stroke tips

As I am often want to say... "It's all good......"

I think i'm frustrated with my game. I played off 5 all last summer when previous seasons my handicap has always come down. I've looked at my game and as I said previously my tee to green play is usually pretty good, which only leaves me the short stick.

Given you are now playing off 5, for mine, you must have all the basics under reasonable control and further improvement might now come from "between the ears".

Most, if not all of the single figure markers I know have shared your frustration at one time or another.

Having gotten down into singles from anywhere as high as mid - high teens or even low 20's into single figures reasonably quickly (say 12-24 mths??), they all at some time or other experience some mental anguish at not continuing the trend, by staying at a mark around yours for 12 months or so. But I digress, there's a whole other thread here (looks over to Ian......)

Bottom line for me Davie, as I said before, I wish you well in your search for improved putting and a lower mark.

You also might try having a look at the Dave Pelz putting site. According to many here the man is a genius... www.pelzgolf.com

There are a great many drills and the like under the "Scoring Game Tips" section of this page.

Cheers

[vp27519]

Re: Putting stroke tips

Davie,

Rather focusing on the putting being the problem, is it perhaps the short game? That's why I've asked how far from the hole you are for your first putt. Is it far away from the hole?

Or perhaps - being off 5 you hitting a hell of a lot of greens and leaving your first putt a considerable distance from the hole.

Dr Bob Rotella is of the opinion one should only practice putting 4 - 6 feet. Try and get a hold of his book about putting. I haven't read it but I have read three of his others. I have found these to be most benefical.

Nicole

[bdbl]

Re: Putting stroke tips

Davie,

Nicole is right. Before beating yourself up over your putting check how many of your 1st putts are genuine one putt chances, i.e. putts you SHOULD make.

To exaggerate, if 99% of your 1st putts are within 6 foot then you have a problem, if 99% are 30+ footers then not - 2 putting 99% of the time is a result.

People on here like their Hogan; the (possibly apocryphal) story I like is about Mrs Hogan. The great man was at home complaining about his long putting, "Well dear", she is supposed to have said "Why don't you get the ball closer in the first place".

[daviesec]

Re: Putting stroke tips

Davie,

Rather focusing on the putting being the problem, is it perhaps the short game? That's why I've asked how far from the hole you are for your first putt. Is it far away from the hole?

Or perhaps - being off 5 you hitting a hell of a lot of greens and leaving your first putt a considerable distance from the hole.

Dr Bob Rotella is of the opinion one should only practice putting 4 - 6 feet. Try and get a hold of his book about putting. I haven't read it but I have read three of his others. I have found these to be most benefical.

Nicole

I'd say on average 5 times a round I have putts for birdie from inside 10 feet, some I hole some I don't. Obviously this figure changes each round.

[jambalaya]

Re: Putting stroke tips

You apparently have your speed down pretty well. To do this as consistently as you do, you must be striking the ball well. So for you it is line, line, line. I don't have any brilliant tips for you there because I struggle with that too. If you could tweak lining up your putts or your setup a tiny bit, you should see some good results I think. Most of your battle is won with the good results you have with speed so don't do anything drastic.