Putting - Feel or Technical?

[collins]

Hi all

Trying to shave shots from a round means for alot of us taking 3 or 4 putts less, each time I've had the time to practice putting I've found some points worth mentioning and would like to know how you guys approach short game practice.

For some time I tried to hone a nice putting stroke - I bought a 6 foot mat and practiced alot at home, it got my confidence up nicely but I still found I would miss a few short ones per round. I just feel that the greens always react differently to a nice flat mat - but I do think I benefited from being able to trust my stroke so the practice was worth it!

I read unconscious putting by Dave Stockton last year (it was as good as having a lesson!), and applied what he says to my putting, and found myself getting the ball alot closer to the hole from distance. Basically read the green, approach the ball from behind, focus on the target and roll the ball without lots of practice swings or getting technical over the ball.

When prcticing I've also found looking at the hole instead of the ball is suprisingly consistent for distance judgement and you sink lots of short ones - which to me proves that it's not about the technicalities of the stroke, the face angle at impact etc but more about the feel and the roll. Although I can't trust it enough to do it on the course it has certainly taught me alot!

There are some things I don't get with advice I've read though - one of them is putting a tee peg or focusing an inch in front of the ball and rolling over it, in fact picking a target in front of the ball is tricky to roll the ball over on a breaking putt, do any of you have any drills or tips that have benefitted your putting or short game?

 

[duncan mackie]

........ do any of you have any ...... tips that have benefitted your putting or short game?

accept the fact that sometimes what you do won't work ie you won't always read it right
accept that sometimes you won't do what you should ie you will read it right but 'miss'

technical in putting terms is about consistent positioning of the components (eyes, ball, putter head, shoulders, feet, etc) to enable performance - and the better these are, and the more consistent you set up, the more consistent you will perform.

'feel' simply doesn't exist. It's a term many use to rationalise the fact that your sub-concious handles complex situations like putting distance, throwing distance etc

pick a line, believe it totally (commit fully to it) then put a good stroke on the ball and accept the consequences.

videoing your putting stroke (with a ball and target) can be very revealing in terms of the technical elements - reading the greens is an art, the more you do the better your sub concious and concious will work together for you.

 

[CMAC]

'feel' simply doesn't exist. It's a term many use to rationalise the fact that your sub-concious handles complex situations like putting distance, throwing distance etc

its instinctive then if you don't like using the word 'feel', whatever word you substitute it's your natural ability to hit something with a stick and make it move in the direction and distance you want. www.instinctivegolf.co.uk are experts in decluttering your spaghetti head and making it natural again..........like when you first started

 

[collins]

Can this thread not be put in the lounge section?

 

[JustOne]

I have a story....... (I know you'll all be excited to read it)


Playing with a mate on a frosty morning...... he had a putt of 10ft uphill with a little break from left to right.

He read it as an inch outside the left.....

He hit it and holed it.




In the frost of the green you could see the line his ball travelled, at one stage it was 2ft left of the hole. Go figure..... and then ask about feel/technical and decide what you would do if you were him. I don't know the answer as he shot level par that day and basically holed everything he looked at.

 

[drawboy]

Putting is 90% feel and the bit left is technical. The putting stroke is a simple affair, it is short with little in the way of moving parts. Once you get the ball position correct and the right putter for you then it is just a matter of picking the correct line and speed. That is instinct and feel. You can either read a line or you cannot. On longer lag putts speed is much more important than line, you will not be six feet left or right of the hole usually but you can be six feet short or six feet past easily so it is about speed.

 

[duncan mackie]

I have a story....... (I know you'll all be excited to read it)


Playing with a mate on a frosty morning...... he had a putt of 10ft uphill with a little break from left to right.

He read it as an inch outside the left.....

He hit it and holed it.




In the frost of the green you could see the line his ball travelled, at one stage it was 2ft left of the hole. Go figure..... and then ask about feel/technical and decide what you would do if you were him. I don't know the answer as he shot level par that day and basically holed everything he looked at.

I wouldn't do anything if I were him, and that would include a job as a caddy!

It's an excellent example of where the concious and subconcious are in conflict, but in practice his subconcious is more accurate and when it's allowed to perform (as here) the ball goes in the hole.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Feel or technique. A little from column A and a little from column B. You won't putt well without good fundamentals but too much technique will kill any feel.

 

[One Planer]

Feel or technique. A little from column A and a little from column B. You won't putt well without good fundamentals but too much technique will kill any feel.

I like this.

 

[duncan mackie]

Feel or technique. A little from column A and a little from column B. You won't putt well without good fundamentals but too much technique will kill any feel.

so what constitute

1 fundamentals?
2 technique?
3 feel?

 

[G1BB0]

putting = a bit of skill (technique), a tad of intuition (feel/reading the green) and a little splash of luck!

 

[bladeplayer]

Feel or technique. A little from column A and a little from column B. You won't putt well without good fundamentals but too much technique will kill any feel.

I like this ..

you have to have a good technique & set up to get the ball rolling correctly & on line etc..

to me feel comes with experience you will often have a choice on a putt , play it firm through the break or drop it in allowing for more break , why does a downhill left to right break more than it appears to , feel is how you adapt to different paced greens on different days , how you react to different type of putts , uphill, down hill , across etc , to me that cant be thought, it can only be learned by playing

Duncan im suprised you of all asked this

Fundamentals .. way too wide to cover id say but i think would include the knowledge of the 2 below

Technique , proper set up , ball square at impact , proper roll on the ball etc same as any club ..

Feel .. pace & how hard to hit it depending on playing through or for a break etc ..

 

[Airlie_Andy]

Chatting to my pro about putting the other week and he showed me some figures of European Tour pro putting analysis. When hitting a straight putt the Pro got the club face back to perfectly square almost everytime. However given a breaking putt the club face was generally a few degrees off square angled towards the hole. So basically the pro was picking the spot to putt towards but then subconsciously not "trusting" it and ever so slightly aiming the club face more towards the hole instead of the intended target line.

 

[collins]

All good points fellas - interesting last point about the pros, if they can't trust their stroke with all their practice and experience then we shouldn't beat ourselves up too much!

Once I felt confident in my stroke and trusted it more, I've had rounds when I felt I putted really well but didn't sink many because I picked my target, rolled it well and it might have just missed because of a bad read or stopped an inch or two short. Sometimes the statistics can make you feel worse than the actual performance!

The putt that inspires me to want to practice more is Justin Rose against Phil Mickelson on 17th (final round) at Medinah - total trust (in the stroke) and belief (he could hole it).

By the way how do i add all the stuff about my clubs etc under my posts!?

 

[bladeplayer]

By the way how do i add all the stuff about my clubs etc under my posts!?

Settings (beside log out) .. then down the left is EDIT SIGNATURE , type in what you want , scroll down & save .. jobs a good un

 

[MadAdey]

For me it is a bit of both. You have to have a consistent stroke with the ball in the same place every time, posture the same, same rhythmic stroke, etc etc, for me that is the technical side of things that you need to have. Once you have that then the feel for it comes into play and I really do not feel that you can be taught that. You have to be able to look at a putt and read the correct line and have a feel for the power that is required, so that is when the feel comes into it.

So IMO you need to get the technical side of the putting correct first. Then once that is sorted then with time you will develop feel.

 

[duncan mackie]

Duncan im suprised you of all asked this

Fundamentals .. way too wide to cover id say but i think would include the knowledge of the 2 below

Technique , proper set up , ball square at impact , proper roll on the ball etc same as any club ..

Feel .. pace & how hard to hit it depending on playing through or for a break etc ..

I asked it because, as you alude in your response and others have, I think these are all skills to be learnt, but are often presented as this elusive 'feel' element.

Now whether you learn them conciously or unconciously can be debated for a long time, but fundamentally you learn how to deliver appropriate pace.

This is illustrated even better when phrases like 'the art of putting' get used, and more people get confused.

Putting is a science, from delivering the club head consistently back to the ball to reading the green and calculating the appropriate alternative solutions to breaking putts, and deciding which one has the greater probability of success for a given set of conditions (including your state of mind and the significance of the return putt!).

The average club golfer prefers to believe it's a dark art that can't be easily improved through lessons and hard work - so they do nothing or just knock a few balls around the putting green before heading out.

I was also srprised at Homer's response given that I understood he had actually attended a proper putting workshop.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I was also srprised at Homer's response given that I understood he had actually attended a proper putting workshop.

I went on an Aimpoint clinic last year. All about reading the green which is technique.

 

[duncan mackie]

I went on an Aimpoint clinic last year. All about reading the green which is technique.

I rest my case - putting is technique, technique and more technique........the end.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I went on an Aimpoint clinic last year. All about reading the green which is technique.

I rest my case - putting is technique, technique and more technique........the end.

Disagree. You can have all the technique in the world but align that to the touch of a pregnant elephant and it is wasted. If you can't get it close from distance you'll still three putt