Getting comfortable on the green!!!

Honestly, confidence plays a huge part in golf. I am pretty much a one shot type of player and i will shift around the tee box area and angle the shot to fit a lot of holes before i change my shot shape, so that helps me out a lot. But as for putting, confidence plays a huge part. During the 2nd half of last year, you putt down anything inside 5', i would tell you i would make 100 out of 100. I was just confident with it, it was really fun. It wasn't a sudden change in putting style, it was just a belief that i could do that. Really it came from practice and seeing that i could do it, then its basically knowing you can. It pushing all the can'ts and what if's out of your mind and focusing on the positive. That in its self takes practice. 

What's helped me a lot has been my progression in the game. Accepting i can't be perfect, accepting that i might miss an occasional putt, but i know i can make the next one. Basically i learned to control my emotions, my thought process, and my putting ability jumped a ton. A lot of it is not caring if i miss a putt. The problem with people is they care to much about the out come. Do you want to make a putt, yes, will the world end, no. So what if you miss a putt, its a game, its golf, go onto the next shot or next round. 

I played my favorite course, my short game was on fire all day, i was looking to break 80, on this course, that's really good. On the last hole i stripped a drive, i hit a perfect 7 iron to the green in two on a par 5. I three putted for par. was it a let down, yea, but i still played one hell of a round. 

I've never rolled the ball better than I am now.  Obviously, making putts is going to boost your confidence but some people already have it in their heads that they are gonna miss.  I've worked on my mental game a lot and it's paid off big.  Anything 20 feet and under I feel like I'm definitely sinking it.  32 puts today.  One a 40 footer for birdie.  Now if I could only get that long game under control......

p.s.  Some people stand over their putts waaaaayyyyyyyyy too long.  It's gonna be hard to be relaxed and not think about a million different things when you're looking at the ball for 15 seconds.
 

God yes, i love waiting for the next group to hit there tee shots or watch players hit irons from the fairway. I can sit there and say, Oh this isn't going to go well. Some people can be over the ball a long time, Nicholas took a long time, but he was comfortable with that. 

As for putting, i think its because players put way to much pressure on one shot. There was a story about this LPGA player who had a horrible time putting. I think it was Dave Stockton who asked her, well how do you hit a drive. She was like, once i get over the ball i just hit it. Basically she was not doing what was comfortable. I kinda think slow play has gotten some players into paralysis by analysis. For me, if i am going to hit a crucial putt to win a match or for money. The thing i want the most is something to ground me to the familiar. So that's were a consistant routine is a plus. I do the same thing over and over again, and that links back to all the good putts i made. Its comforting to get behind the ball and read the putt, its comfortable to walk around and just analyse the problem at hand. By the time i am over the putt, i know all i need to do is just stroke the ball, really that's easy :p