Putting - whats more annoying ??

[dotty001]

hitting a good paced putt but reading the wrong line

or

reading the line correctly but leaving it in jaws ??

leaving it in the jaws completely floors me

 

[Imurg]

Both
Whichever way you look at it you've messed up one aspect of the putt....

 

[ArnoldArmChewer]

Leaving it short every time

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Neither. As long as I hit a good putt on the line I picked I'm happy, some days they drop, some days they don't. What is annoying is when I don't hit the ball on the line I picked.

 

[doc333]

I never bother on the practice putting green now, as I'm brilliant on there. There are plenty of times when I can't get the pace right, so although I see the line I can watch it die and turn sideways or watch it miss the cup by an inch and skate well past. My pro reckons I have a good technique and can see the correct line, but nothing worse than trying to dead-weight a put and watch it die. Or hit it well with confidence and watch it miss and run 6-foot by. The number of shots wasted each round is annoying.

 

[BoadieBroadus]

leaving it short for me. if you're lagging to the dustbin lid fair enough to be short of the hole, but leaving a mid range putt short, there's really no excuse, you might as well be past the hole...

i hate the "never up, never in" saying but there is an element of truth to it. "you might as well get it there at least" is what i usually end up berating myself with

 

[Val]

I can accept racing 4 feet past more than leaving it 4" short in the jaws.

 

[Mr A]

Leaving it short would annoy me most, but I wouldn't get too annoyed by either as I would look at them both as good efforts that never dropped.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

leaving it short for me. if you're lagging to the dustbin lid fair enough to be short of the hole, but leaving a mid range putt short, there's really no excuse, you might as well be past the hole...

i hate the "never up, never in" saying but there is an element of truth to it. "you might as well get it there at least" is what i usually end up berating myself with

I find all this stuff about not leaving putts short or making sure it goes past the hole all a little bit strange to be honest. I try to hole every putt, sometimes they go past, sometimes they stop short but I'm not gonna give myself a hard time for leaving it short, after all, I didn't do it on purpose.

I know people will say that 100% of putts that stop short don't go in, but I can tell you that 100% of putts that stop past the hole don't go in either. All you can do with a putt is try to pick a good line and try to put a good stroke on it, you can't make it go in the hole.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

I can accept racing 4 feet past more than leaving it 4" short in the jaws.

Really, surely the Nett result is the same: you missed. I'd also fancy the 4" putt than the 4 footer for my 2nd.

 

[Val]

If you always leave it short you'll never hole it regardless of how good the line hence why always better to be past the hole regardless of how good your line.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

If you always leave it short you'll never hole it regardless of how good the line hence why always better to be past the hole regardless of how good your line.

But that's the point, no-one "always" leaves it short, and when people do leave it short I'm fairly sure they don't do it deliberately. I judge my putting on hitting what I consider to be good putts, and good putts don't always go in.

 

[duncan mackie]

But that's the point, no-one "always" leaves it short, and when people do leave it short I'm fairly sure they don't do it deliberately. I judge my putting on hitting what I consider to be good putts, and good putts don't always go in.

always hate to disagree but there is a simple 'proof' in this concept.

take a 2 foot diameter circle as your average dispersion/error (it doesn't matter how large yours is in practice, but just visulise this one!) and centre it on the hole.

then consider it centred 18" beyond the hole.

for straight putts those aimed 18" past (the latter circle) will result in about 30% more success, possibly more if the greens aren't very true.

the more break there is on the putt the less this applies but for straight putts that you are aiming to make it's valid. The longer the putt the greater the diameter of your circle and therefore the need to bring the target back to the hole ie with a 3' diameter variation you would be back at the hole to ensure a maximum 3' second putt etc etc

 

[Wolfman]

Really, surely the Nett result is the same: you missed. I'd also fancy the 4" putt than the 4 footer for my 2nd.

Hardly the same, a ball that never reaches the hole will never go in fact, a ball that is struck too hard has a higher % of going in albeit low in probability so you are wrong

 

[HawkeyeMS]

always hate to disagree but there is a simple 'proof' in this concept.

take a 2 foot diameter circle as your average dispersion/error (it doesn't matter how large yours is in practice, but just visulise this one!) and centre it on the hole.

then consider it centred 18" beyond the hole.

for straight putts those aimed 18" past (the latter circle) will result in about 30% more success, possibly more if the greens aren't very true.

the more break there is on the putt the less this applies but for straight putts that you are aiming to make it's valid. The longer the putt the greater the diameter of your circle and therefore the need to bring the target back to the hole ie with a 3' diameter variation you would be back at the hole to ensure a maximum 3' second putt etc etc

Hardly the same, a ball that never reaches the hole will never go in fact, a ball that is struck too hard has a higher % of going in albeit low in probability so you are wrong

I understand the theory, of course a putt that stops short won't ever go in but that isn't my point. My point is that you can't judge a putt on whether it stops short or long. A putt that stops 4" short is no better or worse than one that stops 10" long. The short one didn't have enough pace, the long one had the wrong line, neither went in. All you can do with a putt is pick a line and hit it at a pace you think is right for that putt. If you hit it at a good pace and on the line you picked, you've hit a good putt, it still might not drop.

If you beat yourself up every time you leave a putt short, sooner or later you will start trying to force yourself to hit it harder and will as a result start hitting putts too hard. Pick a line, leave the pace to your sub-concious mind and always try to hole it. If you miss you miss, your mind and body will learn from your mistakes and compensate for them much better than if you try to force the pace,

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Leaving it short or putting on the wrong line has the same end result and the ball won't go in and it's one more on the score. I am trying to hole every putt. Sometimes I have better days than others and leave everything close enough to tap in. Other days I have no feeling for pace and will be three feet short or long and will struggle. It really is a game within a game

 

[Val]

The question isn't whats better its whats more annoying, for me its short and on line.

 

[Blue in Munich]

I can accept racing 4 feet past more than leaving it 4" short in the jaws.

This. I've sometimes seen a putt that was hit too hard catch the hole and drop when it shouldn't. I've never yet seen a hole move towards the ball.

 

[Slicer30]

I think there should be 3rd option as I dont get too down when I miss because I picked the wrong line.

Option 3 - Hitting with too much pace when you had the correct line.

Missing when the line and pace matched what I intended - i put this down to a bad read and can accept that alot easier as I have executed the shot as I intended.

Whereas being short or long because of pace, thats a bad execution