Does your putting stroke vary in length, speed or both?

[turkish]

I've been trying to work on my putting recently and in particular pace and wondering other peoples thoughts on putting with regards to length of stroke and speed of swing.... and if what I am doing is fundamentally correct or not- it does seem to be working as I 'feel' that I am improving but I think I need to start using my game golf to record my stats to see if I am actually improving.

Basically I was struggling big time with my pace putting- either leaving way short or too long so I basically devised a way of measuring it out with stroke and maintaining same tempo throughout- similar to clock drill on short game wedges.

What I do is measure out tees at different paces- 3 paces(about 9 foot), 6 paces, 9 paces and 12 paces- so up to approx 36 foot.

I then figured out that with the ball slightly forward in stance, if feet are about 1 foot apart the length of swing goes about 3 paces, for 6 paces if I widen my stance by about half a breadth of my foot(about 5cm) and swing again within my feet distance it goes that distance, then another 5 cm for 9 paces.

Obvious problems are that my stroke may become inconsistent with varying lengths of my feet widening(100 feet putts I'd be doing the splits lol) but I'm finding it's helping me up to the 40 feet mark- under the 3 paces I just go by feel really. Obviously I tweak it depending uphill, downhill etc too

every time before a round I practice and go to the putting green as obviously conditions can change but using my pacing method then the feet length it gives me a marker prior to going out and feel that I'm giving myself an easier 2nd putt, even if the line aint great.

Any other issues- am I over complicating. I do feel it has improved using this but have only been doing it a short time so who knows.

Also think a few people giving me funny looks but don't think i'm doing much wrong as doesn't take too long- usually just make sure i'm the one getting the flag while I'm doing- i'm always conscious of not standing on peoples lines too.

Am I being ridiculous lol

 

[bobmac]

Absolutely not.
Narrow stance short putt, wide stance long putt. No need to do the splits on the long long putts, just swing the putter passed your back foot 3in, 4in, 5in etc.
You'll find after a while you will begin to 'feel' the distance better.

[video=youtube;GsfxDNNxcNc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsfxDNNxcNc&index=13&list=PL7Uf2W3sfvqYBJ3OUldKvQT7ZWYEmPOyW[/video]

 

[TheCaddie]

Best advice I got recently was on here and it was to watch the club face hit the ball. Super important for all shots but putting especially. I saw an instant improvement at the weekend, and I only left one putt short!!

 

[One Planer]

Length, yes. Speed, no.

For a longer putt I make a longer backswing. Shorter putt the opposite. Tempo (Speed) stays the same.

 

[garyinderry]

I had thought about a similar system but green speeds vary and also the slopes play too big a part for me to take the idea seriously.

Super happy on the greens at the minute. My putting always improves as the summer goes on then tails off over winter as I tend not to bother on crap greens unless forced to playing a wee match.

 

[londonlewis]

I'm the same as one planner.

I based my putting on a video by David Leadbetter. He talks about all aspects of the short game.
Here is a link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KYH99MuaMU

Easy to follow and replicate. Genuinely, I would seriously recommend it.

 

[pendodave]

I also pace my putts out (also hoping that noone notices by doing it as I'm walking to my ball or the flag !!)

Once it's over about 10ft I'm just not very good at estimating the distance.

I also practice like you do with 'standard' backswing lengths. I just check them on the practice green before play to see how far they go that day.

I'd love to be the sort of putter who just eyes it up and naturally finds exactly the right amount of pace to put it 12inches past the hole every time, but I'm not. Just have to work with what we've got I guess....

 

[duncan mackie]

there are 2 separate issues at play -

how much energy do you need to put into a particular putt; as gary highlights this includes distance, slope and green speed.

how to deliver that quantity of energy; a solution outlined by bobmac

personally I think pacing out is dangerous because the other factors can make such a huge impact on it that you are going to be in trouble too focused on the length. An example might help. The stimp meter is designed to give a ball a spesific measured quantity of energy - on a dead flat piece of green with a speed of 8.5 this means that a released ball will roll 8.5ft. Add a noticeable consistent gradient to the same green and send the ball both up and down the slope might give you a roll of 6ft up the slope and 30ft down it! In pace terms this would equate to a 3 pace putt being a 2 pace putt up the slope and a 10 pace putt down it! The smart cookies will have clocked that all they now need to do is work backwards to establish their actual target ie on that green from 3 paces below the hole they need to hit a putt 3/2 x 3 paces long ie 4.5 or from 10 paces above the hole their true target is only 3 paces of energy away.

As also suggested, after a time most people will develop a feel for all the numbers and leave their subconscious to deliver it all - on the other hand you can do it all by numbers, and even add in the angles required for side slopes and borrow to the equation - then fire!

As dear old Uncle Bob (the other one) explains; you don't need to think about how far to take you arm back, launch angle or anything else when lobbing a tennis ball to someone to catch!

 

[turkish]

I also pace my putts out (also hoping that noone notices by doing it as I'm walking to my ball or the flag !!)

Once it's over about 10ft I'm just not very good at estimating the distance.

I also practice like you do with 'standard' backswing lengths. I just check them on the practice green before play to see how far they go that day.

I'd love to be the sort of putter who just eyes it up and naturally finds exactly the right amount of pace to put it 12inches past the hole every time, but I'm not. Just have to work with what we've got I guess....

Yeah I'm definitely in the same boat as you; not a 'feel' player at all- I need some kind of marker for me so pacing it out prior to a round and finding the conditions definitely helped me- obviously with uphill and down hill lies there's a fair bit of guestimation but I find it helps better than just what you think.

Similarly since I got my GPS find that a big help too as don't have the eye for distance/feel