Improving putting

jamielaing

jamielaing

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I know the obvious answer here is go for a lesson and I appreciate that it's hard to give advice via a forum but if anyone has any tips that would be great;

Has anyone had a putting lesson? There is part of me that knows it makes sense and another that feels it would be a wasted hour.

As I doubt I am going to be able to get a lesson this month either way-

I am a very inconsistent putter. Unless I put it to within 3 foot I am expecting a 2 putt, often 3 putting several times a round. I have confidence issues standing over it. If I get the line I come up short, If I get the pace I am off line. My tendency is to normally come up short on putts within 15 foot, longer putts I can end up 10 foot past.

I have tried a number of things and right now I putt with no bend in my knees at all and bent right over so my eyes are on top of the ball. I am focussing on straight back and through at a steady pace, with a prominent pause at the end of the backswing.

I have changed to a superstroke which has helped and I am trying to grip the putter either with two thumbs over the front or by hooking my right thumb over and around the grip (quite hard to describe).

Standing over the putt I feel like my putter is wavering during the swing and it just feels wrong throughout.

Any advice/ tips/ drills would be hugely appreciated. Again, I know I should go to a pro but wanted to see what comes from you guys!
 
If you go for lessons don't get one, get three over the course of the summer.

If not lessons then grab a v-easy and practice. Putt at home, putt at the club. Just putt from 8-10 feet around a hole to improve med distance putting. Don't forget to practice the short ones, my record is 51 in a row from a couple of feet.

As for strike try shorter back than through. Always accelerate, especially on short and downhill putts.
 
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jamielaing said:
I know the obvious answer here is go for a lesson and I appreciate that it's hard to give advice via a forum but if anyone has any tips that would be great;

Has anyone had a putting lesson? There is part of me that knows it makes sense and another that feels it would be a wasted hour.

As I doubt I am going to be able to get a lesson this month either way-

I am a very inconsistent putter. Unless I put it to within 3 foot I am expecting a 2 putt, often 3 putting several times a round. I have confidence issues standing over it. If I get the line I come up short, If I get the pace I am off line. My tendency is to normally come up short on putts within 15 foot, longer putts I can end up 10 foot past.

I have tried a number of things and right now I putt with no bend in my knees at all and bent right over so my eyes are on top of the ball. I am focussing on straight back and through at a steady pace, with a prominent pause at the end of the backswing.

I have changed to a superstroke which has helped and I am trying to grip the putter either with two thumbs over the front or by hooking my right thumb over and around the grip (quite hard to describe).

Standing over the putt I feel like my putter is wavering during the swing and it just feels wrong throughout.

Any advice/ tips/ drills would be hugely appreciated. Again, I know I should go to a pro but wanted to see what comes from you guys!
Click to expand...

Sounds to me more that you have a feel issue rather than a stroke issue (probably mental).

Work on your distance control. Mark tees out to different distances (maybe every 2ft?) and practice stopping putts within that zone.

Whilst good technique is essential, feel is much more important - just look how Jack Nicklaus stood when he putts.
 
Tell it to the choir OP! I too suffer badly with a poor putting mentality, I got a lesson about a month ago, here's the story.

In many ways the lesson was good for the confidence, I found out that I'm not doing nearly as much wrong as I thought I was. Grip, posture, alignment, all okay save for my one fatal flaw - my shoulders were open at address, causing an out to in swing (which in the wind felt wavering!). I did sometimes have the habit of squaring the face as I cut across the ball, however this would only kick in when the moon was in alignment with Neptune. You can test whether your shoulders are open by just setting up and either yourself or a buddy putting a club across your shuoulder/chest and checking if it points left of target. What the pro pointed out was I was okay on putts that broke left to right, cos I could adjust for the natural "fade" I was playing the ball. On putts the broke right to left, i.e the ball is above your feet on the slope, I'd almost always miss below the hole. Oh I also have an hilarious tendency to look at the ball when its about a foot off the putter face. Terrible, terrible stuff. That just takes discipline, not to look, I can do it on putts of about 3 feet cos I listen for the putt to drop when I think of it, because I don't have that trigger I'll often forget on longer putts.

After the lesson I felt more focussed on what I was doing regards setting up properly, and squaring my shoulders naturally made my previously out to in swing perfectly straight - great! However....

All this focussing on certain things takes your eye off the ball in other ways. I found my distance control horrid, partially because I was now making a better contact with the ball, but more because I wasn't thinking as much about where the hole was. Last month I played as well tee to green as I ever have in my life, and took no less than 42 putts. I didn't miss a GIR on the front 9 and was 5 over. That sort of thing will drive a man insane.

I took an enforced break for a bit (was away a lot of the past month), went out for a comp last night and took a different putter. I've only had the one putter (in the sig) since I started playing, and then once picked up an old 3-Ball Metal insert because it was a steal on Ebay (less than £20 for sure). Tee to green I was not as good as before for lack of practice, but my putting improved dramatically and I put that down to the fact that I was just concentrating on how hard and on what line I had to hit a given putt with this unfamiliar weapon. Holed way more, lagged better, only a couple of 3 putts as opposed to my last bag full. And dont mind the "if youre hitting greens and youre far away from the hole youll take more putts" argument, I putted far better yesterday.

So whats the answer? New putter???!!! No. The lesson was definitely worth having, but I should have practiced what I learned so that it became natural and I could focus on getting the ball in the hole again. But I didn't. Away with work, home for a weekend, living far from a practice green I didn't capitalise on the lesson, I could make more excuses but it boils down to not practicing. If you want to get better then you have two options. Get a lesson/series of lessons and practice a lot, or practice a lot and realise that you might be ingraining something imperfect, but that works. If it doesn't work, then you'll have to get a lesson.

A new putter might be nice though, if nothing else you might feel more inclined to practice with it, which might not be a bad thing. But at the end of the day if you arent thinking about holing the putt then youre probbaly thinking about your posture, or what time you'll finish this round, or whats for tea... Bob Rotella wrote books the basically boil down to the same thing, when you stand over a putt all that should be going through your mind is where the hole is. Easily forgotten.
 
I had a putting lesson last month or late the month before. I am a poor putter, I have my days and those day I score well.

I rocked up and my putter was checked for loft, lie and length. I then made 10, 10 foot puts ( I holed 7 of them ) and we looked at my data on SAM Putt Lab. My aim was great, my ability to square the face was great but what was clear was that I was very up on the ball so it was skidding before it got rolling.

We then moved onto fixing that and it was exceptionally physical, more so than smashing balls on the sim or learning a new move but very interesting. Its entirely possible to have a putting flaw and it be left alone if you have adapted well to it but in my case the pro wanted to see my in a different position. He was frustrated that I had tailored a putting stroke to a putter that was the wrong length for me so the putter was too far away and I was not over it enough.

The results are terrible... I cant put for toffee right now but that is what I would expect when making such hole sale changes. I now have a putter that is a good 2" shorter than the one I had and I am very confident that I am going down a positive road.

The pro has emailed me to see how things are going and invited me back for a free 20 min spot check.
 
Interesting comments for me there-

Curls- I think I am open too when putting and have noticed I am missing right more than left.

Alex- I have found myself intentionally hitting on the up to get the ball going with top spin. Some advice I had at one point that I may need to rethink.

Mendie- I have never worked much on long distance putts which is definitely a down fall to be worked on.

Science Boy- I work on the short ones from time to time. Inside 3-4 feet I am quite happy but we can always get more practice! The accelerating through is the reason I stop at the end of the backswing, in an effort to continue through.
 
jamielaing said:
Interesting comments for me there-

Curls- I think I am open too when putting and have noticed I am missing right more than left.

Alex- I have found myself intentionally hitting on the up to get the ball going with top spin. Some advice I had at one point that I may need to rethink.

Mendie- I have never worked much on long distance putts which is definitely a down fall to be worked on.

Science Boy- I work on the short ones from time to time. Inside 3-4 feet I am quite happy but we can always get more practice! The accelerating through is the reason I stop at the end of the backswing, in an effort to continue through.
Click to expand...


(guessing) if you hit up on it but make contact above the equator of the ball it would top spin, if your below it will back spin like any other golf shot. I would not recommend trying to thin your putts :D
 
There are so many putting tips and drills to do you'll be there for a week doing them. There is one aid that I do like for putting which is the T Stroke. It helps as it connects the forearms together and in line and also helps with posture.

If im practising my putting I'll take 3 balls and do my drills, but if I'm getting ready for a round I use one ball only. I will then go to the green and putt to the fringes of varying lengths and slopes, this helps for judging pace, then after 5min I will give myself a 30-40ft putt to a hole. Then 5min before tee off I will hole 3ft putts with one ball around the hole and hearing the ball go in.
 
I had a putting lesson once and it was a real help, I do find that practice is key though.

I got hold of a Yes putting rail and a boomerang putting aid and practice at home. Really helped me you can spend thirty or so minutes an evening which is a great help.

I have gone from over 40 puts a round to 26 on my last round and an average of 32 a round

As for reading a putt for break someone on here once commented to look at the cup and see which side you can see most off and this shows you the way the ball will break. Great advice thanks whoever said it :thup:
 
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Had a putting lesson or two but nothing was as good as going to a SAM lab and seeing in infinite detail everything to do with the stroke and then working with a pro to improve. These days I use a putting mirror to check alignment and a really focus on holing out in the 2-6 feet range
 
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