Putting help...

depending on where you live, the greens might still be in horrible shape.  Bumpy, not rolled yet. It's only March, ya know!

Saw a good golf channel show with Steve Stricker on putting and how he practices.  Most of his practice is from 5' and in, practicing a lot of 2-5' putts.  His other area of practice is 50-60' putts to help understand the speed of the greens.  Get it close.  Make the short putts.  Pretty simple strategy that works.

The only reason I'm able outscore players who hit the ball better and farther than me is to be really sharp with my short game--wedges and putter.  Go back over your round and add up the putts 5' and closer that were missed.  These are what I call 'unforced errors' that are correctable with practice.  One thing I always look at after a round is whether or not I made every putt that I should have made.

dave

Would need a bit more information on how you are missing.  Are you misreading the greens and missing left/right?  Are you coming up short/long?  Do you get the yips?

Need a bit more information.  But the above poster is also correct.  Greens in a lot of areas aren't in the best shape atm and it is also a popular time for courses to be aerating their greens as well.

How long are these putts? Misreading greens is very common among high handicappers, and is something you can learn with just practice.  How are you doing with short putts? and how are you doing with distance control on longer putts?

Do you feel like you control your putting stroke more with your hands or shoulders

I would suggest putting more with your shoulders, let them lead your stroke, just rock those shoulders straight back and straight through.

You're not going to get much specific help to your putting here. We can only guess. Basic beginner mistakes (when I say beginner it could be 20 years the way some people putt) are:

1) Not keeping your head and neck still (this creates aim issues)

2)Using your wrists to move the putter at any part of the stroke (this creates distance control issues)

3) Wrong putter (putters have different lofts and depending on how you postion your hands in respect to the ball you can use more or less loft

4)Convention says there should be a similarity between your driver swing and your putting stroke. (forget this if you driver swing is inconsistent and unconventional (this usually means better golfers have given you advice and you have't listened to any of it)

5)Most weight on your front foot.

6) Play around with ball position in your stance. If you tend to be too far forward the tendency is to miss to the right and too far back misses to the left

How's that for a start! A good putting stroke has way more going on than most people have any idea about.

My keys when I get off line is check ball position, get more weight on front foot, focus on the spot on the ball I want to hit with the putter as I swing. This gets me on line and at least a lot closer most of the time.

The thing I hear most of the time from people having issues with any club is that their swing is different but it works best for them. Yah, right and right now you're having problems! My putting sucked for 20 years finally I started reading the golf magazines and when I found style of stroke I liked I concentrated on the advice that worked for that stroke. I went from I wonder where it will end up this time to, How come I haven't made a couple of 20 footers today!

Most of the people I know that can't putt simply haven't ever developed the mechanics and/or alignment to make a perfect roll down their intended line. The best player I know can't putt a lick and it's simply because his alignment is very bad. Both his body alignment and his club face alignment. It's obvious to everybody but him that his club face is always pointing left of his line. He's missed so many putts left over the years that he subconsciously compensates by twisting the club back to the right during the stroke and hopes for the best.

Good for me because some of those guys are so much better ball strikers than I am that if they could putt the party would be over for me.

I never practice putting at a hole (EVER). If I want to roll a few putts on the practice green before a round I putt at a dime. The last thing I want to do before a round is miss a short putt or two. If I miss a dime I don't get the same "here we go again" syndrome I would get from missing a cup.

Most of my putting practice is rolling a ball down a chalk line or a line on my rug in the living room. I put a line around my ball in practice to make sure I am making a perfect roll. If the line has any wobble as it rolls I know I didn't hit a good putt and of course if the ball is not on the chalk line as it rolls I know I didn't hit a good putt.

When you can roll every ball down a line with no wobble of the line on the ball every time you know that you have done everything you can do except work on your green reading and speed control.

Then it's time to do as Brad Faxon said and "Putt the ball like you don't care if you miss it, and if you do miss it, so what? You've done everything you could do."

I tell my wife if she can't roll the ball perfectly down a chalk line every time with no wobble she doesn't even have the right to get mad about missing a putt or expect to make a putt because she hasn't done her homework.

Unless you have a sloping living room with lines and bent grass, it is generally easier to putt indoors as well :)  But it is still good practice to make sure you are putting the ball straight and your alignment is good.

Well, you've got to practice the right elements.

And first, you've got to know them.

I think getting in a neutral setup is key. These might help:

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction/2009-02/obrienputting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9agwIVlqi4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dha46D_yZ8

http://www.amateurgolf.com/4215-GolfNews-Want-to-Putt-Like-Zach-Johnson?-Heres-How

Make sure your hands follow through to the hole, that is about the best bit of putting advice I could give.. Wrist break totally kills any sort of pace judgement & a bad putter will always have lots of it.

Your dilemma is universal.  Look at the list of all-time greats who succumbed to the demons on the green: Hogan, Snead, Palmer, Watson, etc.

Like many others, I, too, have struggled at times on the green. I am looking to purchase the book, "Zen Putting: Mastering the Mental Game on the Greens."  Who knows?  It just might work.