Putting - Feel or Technical?

[MadAdey]

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

I am with you on that one Homer it requires a bit of both. It has to otherwise everyone would be able to hole everything, as technique is something you can be taught very easily but feel is something you have to learn yourself.

 

[Region3]

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

I believe reading the green is mostly technique, with a hint of imagination.
Setting up the same every time is technique.
Delivering the putter the same every time is technique.
In my case at least, distance control is the elusive 'feel'.

I put feel in quote marks because I don't really believe feel is the best word to describe it.
I don't stand there thinking I have to hit it x hard, or take the putter back x inches/feet. I read the speed of the putt, uphill/downhill, then take a couple of practice strokes looking at the hole and imagining the resulting speed the ball will have then I don't think about pace any more. I let my brain and body work out how hard to hit the ball.

It sounds really weird and like dark magic, but it works for me.

 

[One Planer]

Aside from my earlier post in the thread. I believe you have to have a sound putting technique before you get any real sense of "feel".

If you putted just off feel alone the swing, however short, would invariabley break down (Hip/shoulder movement, flicking wrists, etc) so you would never really have any sense of feel as your putting technique is not sound.

If you have a repeatable stroke, you can gauge a feel for distance and break through PRACTICE and EXPERIENCE.

 

[Robobum]

For me, all feel (or whatever we want to call it) is prior to the actual stroke.

A feel for the pace, a feel for the line, a feel for the uphill/ downhill affect and a feel for how the ball will react and roll on the surface and the affect that has.

Once all that is committed to your mind, moving the putter back and forward succesfully is all about technique.

 

[BTatHome]

It would appear to me that people are trying to define feel as a mystical thing, when I think Duncan is simply trying to say that feel is simply a collection of techniques (reading of the break, and green speed is a technique it's just that your doing it with your eyes/brain and so don't think about it).

Certainly the better putters can more easily 'see' these things, doesn't stop it being a technique they just do it more naturally.

 

[cookelad]

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.

^^^^This^^^^

Get a repeatable stroke going and then it's about feeling how far you need to draw the blade back for the distance!

It's important to pick your line and trust it, if you don't you'll start peeking and/or trying to correct yourself that's where pushes and pulls come from!

 

[MadAdey]

I think we are talking about a mythical called feel, but I can't think of another word to describe that thing that you develop through experience.

You can have perfect technique and know exactly how far to swing the putter hit a 10 foot putt on the flat, but what happens when you have to now take a change in elevation into it? You can stand behind it and see which way it is going to break, you can stand at the side and see any changes in elevation, that can be taught to you very easily. But no no one can teach you how to gauge how hard to hit the ball, I have never seen any kind of tuition on that as it is something that you will develop yourself, according to your putting stroke.

If anyone else has a better word than feel then fair enough, but I always think of it as "having a FEEL for the strength of the putt"

 

[Crow]

I can't get my head round this "feel" thing and think I'm more of the Duncan Mackie "technique" school of thought.

Gauging how hard you need to hit the ball, that inlcudes allowance for slope on the green, speed of the green, type of grass, etc, etc, comes from experience.

How much break to allow also comes from experience, experience of reading greens and how much a ball will turn under different conditions and on different surfaces.

Putting the correct speed on the ball to move it the required distance also comes from experience.


Combining those three is where the "art" of putting comes in.


There is no doubt that some people are better at it than others but I think that once you've gained enough of the above experience then your best trusting your first impression of a putt (call it feel if you like) and going with it.
It's when we look too hard that we over complicate things and get bogged down.

If I'm struggling to decide how hard to hit the ball I imagine rolling it underarm to the hole. Then I step up to the ball with that in my mind and hit it, usually works surprisingly well.

 

[bladeplayer]

Technique is surely the mechanics of it tho , where as feel is the ability to adjust for speed, breaks , grain etc ..
If one of us who was a good putter went to putt on this bermuda grass would our technique change ? or would the feel we have for the speed or break of the putt change .



IMO .. you must have decent repeatable technique as a basis for good putting , but people with good feel for different green speeds , grass or breaks will score better on the greens ..

It might be a good survey for the mag tho if your reading this Jezz ...

 

[MadAdey]

Technique is surely the mechanics of it tho , where as feel is the ability to adjust for speed, breaks , grain etc ..
If one of us who was a good putter went to putt on this bermuda grass would our technique change ? or would the feel we have for the speed or break of the putt change .



IMO .. you must have decent repeatable technique as a basis for good putting , but people with good feel for different green speeds , grass or breaks will score better on the greens ..

It might be a good survey for the mag tho if your reading this Jezz ...

+1

I am looking a this thread from a personal point of view as I have been suffering with my putting. Now, I know it is not the technical side of things as I am fine on the putting green and when I am on the course I get a good role on the ball. My problem is distance as I either end up 6 inches short or knock it 6 foot past, but missing on the high side so reading the putt correctly.

So what is it that is lacking is it technique, or something else? If it is something else then what would you call it?

 

[Crow]

Technique is surely the mechanics of it tho , where as feel is the ability to adjust for speed, breaks , grain etc ..
If one of us who was a good putter went to putt on this bermuda grass would our technique change ? or would the feel we have for the speed or break of the putt change .



IMO .. you must have decent repeatable technique as a basis for good putting , but people with good feel for different green speeds , grass or breaks will score better on the greens ..

It might be a good survey for the mag tho if your reading this Jezz ...

Call it feel if you like but to me it's purely down to gaining experience and noting how the ball behaves on different grasses, breaks, etc.
The more you practice on different surfaces the better you'll become at recognising them and estimating the pace of putt required.

 

[MadAdey]

Call it feel if you like but to me it's purely down to gaining experience and noting how the ball behaves on different grasses, breaks, etc.
The more you practice on different surfaces the better you'll become at recognising them and estimating the pace of putt required.

Call it estimating, call it feel, call it judgement I think it is all the same. I think no matter what you want to call it, there is that something with putting that no one can teach you and it is all down to experience like you have said crow.

 

[Crow]

Call it estimating, call it feel, call it judgement I think it is all the same. I think no matter what you want to call it, there is that something with putting that no one can teach you and it is all down to experience like you have said crow.

Going off topic for a second, have you seen Gary's post for a game at his place on 10th March? There are three of us so far, looking for one more.

http://forums.golf-monthly.co.uk/showthread.php?51300-Sunday-10th-March-East-Midlands-ish