Missing a putt, short or long?

[iku]

I spent a lot of time on my putting in the last six weeks and among the things I've been told by a pro at the local driving range is that it's always better to miss a putt long rather than short.

Apart from cases where there's 10% slope few inches after the hole leading straight off the green, I was wondering if that's true...

 

[john0]

At least if your missing it long it has a chance to go in. 99% of putts that are short dont go in

 

[MarkE]

If it dos'nt reach the hole, it ain't going in. Always better to hit it long.

 

[USER1999]

If it goes past the hole, you get a chance to study the line. If it is short, then the line is harder to call.

 

[Mattyboy]

I think the never up never in addage is right. Although I have never seen a putt that missed (long or short) go in!

All you can do is give the putt a chance, and that means giving it sufficent pace to go in.

I would love to (now this might be considered to be sad so you are warned!) to get a piece of gutter or similar and line it up on say a 30 foot putt. After a bit of trial and error, a ball can then be released time and time again with the perfect line and pace. How many would actually go in? I do not know the answer, but would like to find out.

To take this a step further, and when accomplished at this, I would like to take the same process out on the course. Every putt will then start with the correct pace and line as you see it. How many putts missed will then not be down to your stroke, but your percetption.

Anyone ever (been sad enough) to try this (I bet Dave Pelz has)? I think we could find out quite a bit about putts being missed to perception verses a bad stroke if this was done.

 

[Crawfy]

Think I posted this earlier in teh week. We fine each other a nominal fee (20P) every time we are short. It really makes you go at it. After a couple of holes you are either sinking them or just rolling 2-3 feet past. It has deffo helped me minimise my 3 putts...and has increased my 1 putts ( not by enough though haha)

ps. You actaully only end up owing your partnet £1 or so as he leaves a few shortfrom time to time so it cancels out the 'fines'

 

[ScienceBoy]

I much prefer to die long putts into the hole and hit short putts firmly to take the break out.

A putt missed long or short is always missed, I always go for the smallest possible target and aim for the hole, even when chipping and pitching!

Also what happens if you miss an uphill putt 2-3 feet past?

Well you have a downhill 3 footer! I would rather have an uphill tap in than that!

Edit: The only exception to not putting your own way should be in matchplay or betterball situations when you can only improve on your teams score and there is no risk in going past, there is no excuse then to leave them short!

 

[Achilles]

Nothing more frustrating than leaving a putt a bit short when you've read the line correctly. I'm hoping to get this out of my system as this is something I do tend to do on occassions. Think it's fear of seeing the ball end way past the hole. I totally agree with the 'never up, never in' adage as has been mentioned. I've always been told to ensure enough pace to to leave the ball about 2 feet past the hole, to allow you the chance of making it in the first place, and leaving a short one if the line is off. Makes sense.

 

[bobmac]

I agree with most of the above but would like to add......

Think of all the hard work and practice you've done to hone the perfect swing to enable you to fire your drive and second shot at the par 5 leaving you with a 10 foot eagle putt.
How sick do you feel when you leave the putt short? You didn't even give it a cance to go in.
How are you going to feel on the next tee shot?

 

[john0]

I agree with most of the above but would like to add......

Think of all the hard work and practice you've done to hone the perfect swing to enable you to fire your drive and second shot at the par 5 leaving you with a 10 foot eagle putt.
How sick do you feel when you leave the putt short? You didn't even give it a cance to go in.
How are you going to feel on the next tee shot?

So basically bob what your trying to say is that rather than practising our swings we should spend more time perfecting our putting? Can you recommend any training aids to help us with this?

 

[iku]

I tend to agree with Bob on the psichologycal aspect of the short putt. And short things in general...

When I took up golf last year I remember wasting all my par or better (few) opportunities hitting short putts. The frustration was massive. It happened again last week when I had a birdie opportunity with a 10 ft putt on a par 3 and left it at least 2 ft short. Still thinking about it...

Having said so. Most of the times I don't even consider the break past the hole so when I miss long it goes terribly wrong. Guess I need to work on that.

 

[bobmac]

So basically bob what your trying to say is that rather than practising our swings we should spend more time perfecting our putting? Can you recommend any training aids to help us with this?

If you are having problems with your distance control, I do know a training aid that would help. Sadly, modesty forbids







































http://www.v-easy.co.uk/

 

[HRC99]

Personally, I think you need to decide what kind of putter you are and stick with it. I like to die the ball in the hole rather than try to knock it past.

When I tend to miss short ones, it's because I'm in two minds on how to hit it - firm or soft.

Nowadays, I'm much more comfortable having accepted what kind of putter I am as I'd rather be six inches short than four feet past!

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Personally I don't think about where I'm gonna miss it, I'm just thinking about holing it so missing it short or long is a mis-judgement of length, long or short is irrelevant.

It's all very well your pro saying it's better to miss long than short but that just promotes negative thinking, you should be thinking about getting it in the hole not getting it past it. So many times I've had people tell me it's criminal to leave a birdie putt short like that was the plan all along. It's nonsense.

Putting is all about pace from long distance, 18" anywhere round the hole is a good putt whether it's long or short.

Of course a short putt never goes in but neither does one that finishes long. The putts that go in are the ones that have the right pace and line, not the ones that go past the hole. Sure you might occasionally hit one too hard, hit the hole, jump up in the air and drop in but for everyone of them I bet you have 10 that go so far past you 3 putt.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Nothing more frustrating than leaving a putt a bit short when you've read the line correctly. I'm hoping to get this out of my system as this is something I do tend to do on occassions. Think it's fear of seeing the ball end way past the hole. I totally agree with the 'never up, never in' adage as has been mentioned. I've always been told to ensure enough pace to to leave the ball about 2 feet past the hole, to allow you the chance of making it in the first place, and leaving a short one if the line is off. Makes sense.

Have you never thought that if you hit the putt harder it would take a different line (unless it's dead straight) and may well miss anyway.

A miss is a miss, makes no odds which side of the hole it finishes

 

[Achilles]

It's the straighter ones i'm talking about. Obviously the line will change for those slippery downhill buggers.

As for negativity, I don't ever think about 'where' to miss, as my aim is to get the ball to drop first time...I just tend to come up short more often than I'm long.

 

[EZprophet]

Completely agree with what Hawkeye said to be honest. The "never up, never in" thing is complete bollox. It appears to be perfectly logical due to the fact that it's impossible for a putt to go in that is short of the hole, but how logical is it to aim to hit the ball two feet past the hole when your goal is to hit the ball IN the hole??

It doesn't matter whether you miss it short or long, a miss is a miss....

 

[ScienceBoy]

Completely agree with what Hawkeye said to be honest. The "never up, never in" thing is complete bollox. It appears to be perfectly logical due to the fact that it's impossible for a putt to go in that is short of the hole, but how logical is it to aim to hit the ball two feet past the hole when your goal is to hit the ball IN the hole??

It doesn't matter whether you miss it short or long, a miss is a miss....

I am in this camp

Bob...

How sick do you feel when you leave the putt short? You didn't even give it a cance to go in.

Not very... tap in birdie HUZZAH!!

I have had a lot of birdie putts recently from 20-8 feet that I have left just short or left or right... in other words a tad shy on pace.

I never complained once, each time I had a tap in par 2 or even three points, I see nothing to complain about. The next drive goes down the middle and hopefully I get another shot, eventually one or two will drop and I get more points . In medal I will take any par I can get, tap in or not.

 

[sev112]

Anyone ever (been sad enough) to try this (I bet Dave Pelz has)?

Spot on - that exactly what Dave pelz did in his Puutting Bible. It's why he came to the conclusion that you nee dto aim to putt past the hole - he saw that the "lumpy donut" which builds up around the hole after a number of players have passed (because they tread all over the place except the 6 inches around the hole) , therefore any ball juuuust getting to the hol is more likley to break off to the side.
Hence he tells you to aim 17inches past the hole.

The converse argument is that if you putt really fast at a hole, it must be EXACTLY the right hole to have a hope of dropping in. If you aim to just reach the hole, then you have teh whole width of the hole into which teh ball will drop if it just gets there.


It just depends who you believe.


I sit on the fence and try for something in between !


Seriously though i find i sink more putts when i hit them hard

 

[DaveM]

Funny putting is the only good part of my game. I just walk up to it, hit it, and expect it to go in. Real shame it takes a cricket score to get to the green.