Putting Woes

The past three rounds I have had 36 putts. I have shot a 75, 74, and a 75. As you can tell putting is not one of my strong suits. I would really like if someone told me a few things they did to get better. I do the circle drill, I do the line drill. I just have trouble keeping the putt straight. Sometimes I hit left and sometimes I hit right. I do not feel that I use my wrist, but I must because I can not keep it straight. Can a few people tell me what they did for drills to keep a straight putt. Setup posture, grip, ect. I am hoping within four weeks to have this improved tremendously. I putt for an hour each night. I just feel like after I miss a few I loose a ton of confidence and start adjusting everything.

I have a see more putter.

How about switching up your grip? I change my grip up throughout the season when it feels like I have no more good putts left with the stroke.

Check to see if ball position is consistent and your setup is neutral - Since you have a SeeMore, see this Pat O'Brien vid

I think you can skip to the 1 minute mark and spare 2 minutes...

He also has a dvd for $20 - inexpensive and worth it ... to me.

I found for me switching to an oversized grip really helped me take the wrists out of play.The only time it is an issue is on really lond putts

This may sound strange but I think you need to practice less not more.  I think you're putting too much pressure on it no matter your stroke.

Try practicing for 10 minutes a night:  putt a few long ones to practice lags and then set up on a perfectly flat putt and stroke 2 to 3 footers into the cup, maybe 4 to 5 footers if you're stroking it well.  Often just seeing the ball go in consistently is a huge confidence booster and this drill lets you know that you are on line with your stroke.

Next time, before you tee off, don't practice downhill breakers from 10', it'll just frustrate you before a round.  Get a few lags in and then stroke a few in from a short distance with a good positive stroke.  It'll help your outlook on putting and get you in the right mindset before the first tee.

BTW, mid 70's with 36 putts is quite impressive!

If I understand correctly, over your last 3 rounds you have averaged 3.67 over par, and 12 putts per round (1.5 putts per hole), and you're asking for putting advice.  Am I missing something here?

When you say you can't hit it straight, do you mean on a perfectly flat surface?  When you are trying to settle in on a stroke, I recommend you do it on something flat so you don't unconsciously try to steer the face to account for slope.  Other than that, I used to fiddle a lot with putting technique, but I've found over time the only thing I ever need to do is take my hands out of it and commit to a line and a speed, i.e. not pointing at the hole in all likelihood, the start line of the putt.  So don't steer it towards the hole.  In other words, if putting instruction starts with not engaging the fine muscles in the forearms for control, why do they also talk about grip?  Doesn't make a lot of sense.  Dead hands is dead hands whatever way your hands are sitting.  You have to commit to both line and distance control through backstroke length.  If either are off, your brain knows it and will try to add some "hit" or open or close the face to compensate.  Figure out both.  Rehearse both.  Commit to both.  And then step up and putt before doubt creeps in.  Then once you tame that beast, you can worry about reads...  *edit* I guess I should add a note about roll.  Put the ball slightly forward of center, don't flip the club and keep your head perfectly still.

A 7 hcp with 36 putts per round isn't that bad, but you should be able to lower that by a few more..

Try relaxed hands and focus solely on distance. Sometimes we get so obsessed with the line, it actually throws the direction off.

Oops!  Hahaha!  The OP's first sentence provides as follows: "The past three rounds I have had 36 putts."  That's an average of 12 putts per round as I read it.  It should have been 12/18, not 18/12.  In either event, it didn't make sense to me.