How do you practice your putting without being on a putting green?

I Have hit a glass wall as regards my golf game as I can't seem to get my putting sorted. I can hit 13 - 14 GIR and have a fairly good chipping game to get those off the green shots near the hole which combined with a 36 putt average should leave me shooting low 70's BUT I'm bairly breaking 80 now as not only do I need 2 putts per hole, which I'm lead to believe is by no means good putting, but sometimes the dreaded 3 Putt pops up ( 3 times last saturday ) My golf swing is rock solid as I regularly hit 100s of balls into a driving net in back garden combined with driving range experience for visual feed back. But I'm a believer that you can tell where a ball goes by feel and sound. No need for anything more than a driving net to get that kind of feed back and my general play is proof of that.. ( When practicing with an iron I I can mix it with any one off the tee and have been accused of sand bagging by missing those tap ins but I genuinely cannot get them in ) With 2 kids course time is limited and I need a way to grove a putting stroke that I can count on. Any one got any tips on what can be done in a garage or back garden for a putting game?

I am in a similar situation as you are, 2 kids and not a lot of time on the course/practice green. I keep up my putting practice in my living room. I'll spend hours putting to various spots on the carpet (with 2 kids I have many to choose from), the leg of my coffee table, corners of bookshelves, etc, etc. This, of course, assumes that you have carpet that will allow this. After a while you start to learn the subtleties of how your living room floor rolls.

Another idea (and one that I'd like to fulfill as well) would be to get a Z-Factor and include that in your living room practice.

The nice thing about practicing in the living room is that it's easy to grab the putter and hit a few puts at any time, you can putt while you watch TV, talk to your wife/kids, etc. It's just convenient. Sure, you don't get to work on reading greens, playing break and stuff like that but you develop a repeatable stoke and work on your direction. Both of those, I believe, are huge to being a good putter. Another benefit is that it gets the kids interested. I don't know how many times my kids (2 and 5) have wanted to play along...

This is key to holing putts on the course. I practice on carpet also. I line up perfectly parallel to my target and just smoothly stroke ball after ball to the target. I really only focus on swinging the putter and stroking the ball dead center. Swinging, not jabbing or pushing or pulling, but swinging the putter. Getting a consistent, smooth stroke produces a true roll.

I put impact tape on the face of my putter and hit 25 twenty-five foot putts in a row, and check the tape. And repeat. I'm looking to develop my stroke so that I can hit a high percentage of shots in the exact center of the putter face.

I also putt on my carpet just about everyday. I have a long hallway that allows me to practice longer putts, and even chipping. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten yelled at for waking up my girlfriend in the middle of the night with a risky hallway chip shot. When the weather is bad or there is really nothing else to do, workin on the short game inside is the way to go.

Also, live about 2 minutes from a par 3 course that has a putting green, so i find myself down there often working on putting.

You can also practice short putts on a carpet between two shoeboxs just wider than the putter to stroke the ball back and through without hitting the boxes.

If you have access to a course with a putting green, I'd recommend stopping whenever it's possible and just practice. Even a 20 minute session a few times a week ought to help. Especially if you are missing those short putts, practicing them with good technique is the only real way to improve, and for me the only way to know for sure that I'm doing it right is to practice on a real green. Carpets usually have grain, and it can be hard to tell when you are stroking the ball well.

The other possibility is your putter. I always thought of myself as a decent putter, even though I went through slumps when I couldn't hit those short putts. The slumps were never long lasting, so I just dealt with it. Then 2 years ago the short putts went away and didn't come back. It got worse and worse until I was just about ready to quit. Then a friend loaned me his putter for 9 holes, and the light came back. I don't know if it's the feel of the putter in general, the center shaft, or what... it works so I don't question it. I had him build me one exactly like his and my putting has been good ever since. I rarely miss from 6 feet in, and when I do it's almost always a miss read, not a miss hit. It takes so much pressure off the rest of your game to have the feeling that all you need to do is get the ball within a 12 foot circle to know you have a good chance of making the putt. Anyway try some different putters... different shapes, different shaft positions.... it might be that your current one doesn't set up well for your eye or for your stroke. Don't lock yourself into any brand or style... try a bunch of them. Hard to say for sure, but it made all the difference for me.

I found that even without switching putters, changing my grip made a big difference. Earlier this year when I first got back to golfing after a multi-year hiatus, I was having trouble putting. I switched my grip to the very bottom of the grip and found a stroke again. The light started to fade, so on a whim I moved my grip back to the top and it felt like a new club. Most importantly, I could swing it back straight again...

Lots of good practice drills for putting, but there are really three things to focus on (in this order):

Pure Contact

Distance Feel

Green Reading and Special Techniques

The first and the second will get you two putting most greens. At home, I suggest practicing getting pure contact. Short putts only at first, but just focus on the feel of the stroke. Close your eyes and hit a few. Memorize the feel of a correctly stroked putt.

Even with pure contact and good distance control, you'll still have odd misses and struggle on challenging courses. That's were green reading and special techniques come into play. Here's where experience and preparation (mapping the greens, practicing on them, etc) comes into play.

Oh and don't forget:

If you're having trouble putting, it's probably because your approach shots are too far from the hole!

My putting improved a lot after I started putting on the carpet at home. Just being able to practice a consistent stroke helps immensely. I cut out a hole sized circle of paper and putt at that but don't be too fussed if they don't all go in, carpets can have rather odd breaks to them that are impossible to read.

When we finished our basement, I was very involved in the carpet we purchased. We got a wonderful "tight" carpet that rolls about 12 on the stimp meter.

Plus, the way the basement floor "slopes" towards the drains, I have a little break depending on which direction I am putting.

I bought a practice putting hole (It's just a flat green piece of plastic that is VERY thin at the front and raises slightly towards the back) that I place against the bottom basement step, so it won't move, and a missed putt will bounce off the step and not roll away.

Just work on your consistent stroke, and hitting where you are looking.

I also lay two clubs down on the carpet, a little wider than my putter head, aimed at the practice putting cup, so that you have a three foot putting guide. This works really well for me indoors AND out.

Good Luck!

I putt on my carpet at home as well. I'm going to try that shoebox trick as it should promote the straight back straight through swing I want. Right now I'm a little outside in...kinda of like my normal swing :( Now if I can only get my dog to stop running of with the balls as soon as I putt them.

next time you are going to play a round of golf go to the golf course far ahead as possible and practice putting on the practice area to get use to the speed of the greens for distance control and practice in a straight line from 2 feet, 4 feet, 6 feet, 8 feet and 10 feet. Then practice putting in a 3 feet circle.

At home I practice on the carpet focusing on technique and solid contact. watch some video on putting and focus on getting your putts down per round under 30.

Hmmmm less than 30 putts per round you say. If I could get to that level I would be pretty much close to a scratch golfer. Right now if I could manage 36 putts per round I would be a solid 5 or 6 handicapper but that's just a pipe dream. It's clear that practice is everything. I can chip away in my back garden, play all my irons, driving etc into a net ( and can spend hrs at a time doing this as I love practicing and trying to beat my personal best ) but I simply never practice my putting beacuse it's something that you have to plan and can't just pop out to the back of the house to do. And from once you get in the car to go golfing, practicing for 20 mins or a full 4 hr game, it's all the same with the wife, " you were away golfing" is the response I get. lol

So, THAT is the SAME on your side of the pond also?????

I thought EVERYONE in Ireland played golf... Men and women.... I guess WE are not so different... huh?