Putting Practice

[Zippo]

Are those putting practice mats of any use for putting practice at home? I used to be pretty good at putting but today I managed my first ever 4 putt. I suspect part of the problem is that I've just begun wearing glasses and when I stand over the ball and look towards the hole by turning my head the green surface looks almost like it's in motion and it appears as if the putt line and slope has changed. I imagine I'll get used to putting while wearing glasses but wondered if one of those mats might help speed the process. Thanks.

[hoselpalooza]

yes, i have one at home and i think it's been helpful for developing a consistent stroke and building a good set-up/pre-shot routine. a potential downside is difference in speed between mat at home and actual greens. 

it's possible your vestibular system/inner ear could be a bit off with the change in vision. turning your head can very subtly throw off balance. so perhaps you should give yourself an extra moment or two before making the stroke. e.g. after looking at the hole and then refocusing on the ball, wait until you can see the sun's glare on a single dimple before putting. 

additionally, when you pick your line before you stand over the ball you could identify a spot to putt to in front of your ball so you don't have to turn your head to see it roll over the spot.

[Patch]

At home, I just use the house carpet. It replicates a green pretty well. That said, I also have 6'X6' piece of synthetic turf I can use in the garage. 

When practicing at home, all I am really concerned about is hitting a straight putt on my chosen line. That routine involves placing a coin in front of the ball, 18" inches or so, and stroking the ball over it. To hit that coin, my set up, and stroke have to be correct for the line to the coin. On the course, in place of the coin, I use what ever the green might offer for an intermediate target.

That's not to say I don't aim at chair, or table leg accross the room. Sometimes I will use an unopen can of something for a target. A beer can works well, as afterwards, it's contents, in a frosted glass can be used as a reward.

Something else I use to do was to use a red fire brick. I would set it on the carpet flat, with the small end facing me. The idea was to hit the end of the brick with enough ball roll, that the ball would bounce back to me. This helped with not being afraid of missing the hole short, with too short of stroke on the ball. It made me an aggressive putter. It also help with stroking straight putts.. 

 

Edited June 6, 2019 by Patch

[Zippo]

17 hours ago, hoselpalooza said:

yes, i have one at home and i think it's been helpful for developing a consistent stroke and building a good set-up/pre-shot routine. a potential downside is difference in speed between mat at home and actual greens. 

it's possible your vestibular system/inner ear could be a bit off with the change in vision. turning your head can very subtly throw off balance. so perhaps you should give yourself an extra moment or two before making the stroke. e.g. after looking at the hole and then refocusing on the ball, wait until you can see the sun's glare on a single dimple before putting. 

additionally, when you pick your line before you stand over the ball you could identify a spot to putt to in front of your ball so you don't have to turn your head to see it roll over the spot.

Thanks. Good suggestions.

3 hours ago, Patch said:

At home, I just use the house carpet. It replicates a green pretty well. That said, I also have 6'X6' piece of synthetic turf I can use in the garage. 

When practicing at home, all I am really concerned about is hitting a straight putt on my chosen line. That routine involves placing a coin in front of the ball, 18" inches or so, and stroking the ball over it. To hit that coin, my set up, and stroke have to be correct for the line to the coin. On the course, in place of the coin, I use what ever the green might offer for an intermediate target.

That's not to say I don't aim at chair, or table leg accross the room. Sometimes I will use an unopen can of something for a target. A beer can works well, as afterwards, it's contents, in a frosted glass can be used as a reward.

Something else I use to do was to use a red fire brick. I would set it on the carpet flat, with the small end facing me. The idea was to hit the end of the brick with enough ball roll, that the ball would bounce back to me. This helped with not being afraid of missing the hole short, with too short of stroke on the ball. It made me an aggressive putter. It also help with stroking straight putts.. 

 

Thanks. We don't have much in the way of carpeting - just some Persian type things over hardwood floors but I think I'll give that a try first.

[dennyjones]

What's been recommended in LSW is using a metal yard stick and putting the length of it.  

[David in FL]

Your first ever 4-putt?!

I hate you.  

[Shindig]

On 6/5/2019 at 7:48 PM, Zippo said:

Are those putting practice mats of any use for putting practice at home? I used to be pretty good at putting but today I managed my first ever 4 putt. 

Your first ever four putt... how far out were you?  

For that matter, ... don't take this the wrong way, but you're a 28 handicap.  Yes, it'll be nice to be better at putting, but don't let a single incident decide a new practice routine for you.  

If you 4-putted because you miss everything outside of 1', there's a way to work on that.

If you 4-putted because you were 30' away, had poor distance control, left it 6' short, then sent it 4' past, then missed the 4' putt, ... well, these things happen.  There's a plaque on my home course to the time Arnold Palmer made a 12 on our 18th hole (although only two of those strokes were putts).   And we can talk about getting better at distance control, at making the shorter ones (referring to the 4' one), and at having reasonable expectations.

Rather than obsess over 4-putting once, why not decide a practice routine that results in lower scores?  I'd rather lower overall scores with the occasional 4-putt than higher scores even if I were guaranteed to never be worse than 3-putts.  I think you would be too.

[Zippo]

13 hours ago, David in FL said:

Your first ever 4-putt?!

I hate you.  

Ha! Keep in mind I've only been golfing since last September so, unfortunately, there'll be plenty more opportunities. Hence my OP...

[David in FL]

3 minutes ago, Zippo said:

Ha! Keep in mind I've only been golfing since last September so, unfortunately, there'll be plenty more opportunities. Hence my OP...

To make you feel a bit better, assuming putting everything out, I wouldn’t be terribly surprised for a 28 hcp to have at least one 4-putt every couple of rounds.

For your hcp, you’re probably a better putter than you think!  

[Zippo]

10 hours ago, Shindig said:

Your first ever four putt... how far out were you?  

Fortunately, I don't remember the details - just the result.

 

10 hours ago, Shindig said:

For that matter, ... don't take this the wrong way, but you're a 28 handicap.  Yes, it'll be nice to be better at putting, but don't let a single incident decide a new practice routine for you.  

I'm not taking your help badly and do appreciate it very much. My thinking was I'd just add to my current routine - which contains next to no putting practice. You make good points and I've read (and am reading again) LSW and I'm working much harder on the higher SV portions of my game. My HC has come down 3 points since I started golfing in September and I expect it to come down another point or two this month. I keep track of most of my iron work sessions (using my Swing Caddy) and I've gained 35 yards with my 7 iron since I started keeping records so I can see improvement. If I 3 putt three holes that's 3 strokes I've lost and a 4 putt is 2 strokes. 5 strokes seems pretty significant. I work on driving and woods, irons and chipping but thought maybe I should also add in some putting practice in the evenings at home but don't want to do it if others have found the practice mats to be worthless.

As I said, part of the problem may be the glasses with progressive lenses. Most of my life was spent with 20/15 vision and I am having some trouble adjusting to wearing them though I'm sure I'll get there. I've also recently noticed some tremor in my hands so some practice to make sure I'm putting with shoulders instead of hands should help. I hope.

Thanks again.

12 minutes ago, David in FL said:

To make you feel a bit better, assuming putting everything out, I wouldn’t be terribly surprised for a 28 hcp to have at least one 4-putt every couple of rounds.

For your hcp, you’re probably a better putter than you think!  

Man! I'm going to have to go to Florida just to buy you a beer!  It's the downward trend that got my attention. I already have too many 3 putts. Adding another stroke is not a good thing!

[Shindig]

14 minutes ago, Zippo said:

If I 3 putt three holes that's 3 strokes I've lost and a 4 putt is 2 strokes. 5 strokes seems pretty significant. I work on driving and woods, irons and chipping but thought maybe I should also add in some putting practice in the evenings at home but don't want to do it if others have found the practice mats to be worthless.

I have two problems with this count:

* It depends where you started putting from to decide how many strokes you lost.  3-putting from 50 feet away doesn't cost you a full stroke. 

* It depends why you are at that spot.  If you hit a GIR but are 50 feet away, you gained strokes with your approach shot.  Even if you 3-putt, you probably played the hole better than a typical person of your ability, and probably without a terrible shot in the process.   If you were near-GIR, 20 yards from the pin, but you only hit your chip shot 3 yards, leaving a 51 foot putt, then yes, the 3-putt was bad, but the chip shot was the real villain.

Don't make the mistake of thinking all putts are equal.  The best way to be a better putter is to leave yourself shorter putts, or to reserve your longer putts for earlier strokes (e.g., better to have a 50-foot putt for birdie than a 50-foot putt for par).  It's a similar idea to the people who get the idea they need to hit their driver into the fairway, so they try for a "more accurate" (often isn't) swing, losing 30 yards and only hitting more fairways because they can miss by a larger angle and still hit the short grass because the ball didn't go as far.  Meanwhile, they hurt their score by dialing it back 30 yards. 

[Zippo]

Just now, Shindig said:

I have two problems with this count:

* It depends where you started putting from to decide how many strokes you lost.  3-putting from 50 feet away doesn't cost you a full stroke. 

* It depends why you are at that spot.  If you hit a GIR but are 50 feet away, you gained strokes with your approach shot.  Even if you 3-putt, you probably played the hole better than a typical person of your ability, and probably without a terrible shot in the process.   If you were near-GIR, 20 yards from the pin, but you only hit your chip shot 3 yards, leaving a 51 foot putt, then yes, the 3-putt was bad, but the chip shot was the real villain.

Don't make the mistake of thinking all putts are equal.  The best way to be a better putter is to leave yourself shorter putts, or to reserve your longer putts for earlier strokes (e.g., better to have a 50-foot putt for birdie than a 50-foot putt for par).  It's a similar idea to the people who get the idea they need to hit their driver into the fairway, so they try for a "more accurate" (often isn't) swing, losing 30 yards and only hitting more fairways because they can miss by a larger angle and still hit the short grass because the ball didn't go as far.  Meanwhile, they hurt their score by dialing it back 30 yards. 

Thanks. Those are good points I hadn't considered. I can see I'll need to do better analyzing the result. I can say that, currently, it's a rare occasion when I hit a green in regulation (other than some shorter par 3s). Most of that problem has been length off the tee and down the fairway. As I slowly hit it better I am gaining length so my GIRs should slowly begin to improve.

[Shindig]

17 minutes ago, Zippo said:

Thanks. Those are good points I hadn't considered. I can see I'll need to do better analyzing the result. I can say that, currently, it's a rare occasion when I hit a green in regulation (other than some shorter par 3s). Most of that problem has been length off the tee and down the fairway. As I slowly hit it better I am gaining length so my GIRs should slowly begin to improve.

Right, and by the way:  GIR doesn't have to be the same GIR if we're talking ShotLink statistics.  On a typical par-4, for example, your goal might be to hit the longest club you can off the tee that will stay in play, followed by the longest second shot you can keep out of trouble (rough is fine, sand and water are not), and then get onto the green.  That might not be a literal GIR, but it's going to fulfill the same ideas as earlier.

If you really want to track where you're losing shots, consider getting the game golf that so many of us use.  I was in denial about how good of a putter I was until I saw the numbers.  I also thought I had a pretty good short game and lousy irons for my handicap, turns out the opposite was true. 

P.S. you mention you have been reading LSW : good!  Don't forget to claim it in the achievement thread to get the neat logo at the bottom of your posts  

[DrvFrShow]

On 6/5/2019 at 7:48 PM, Zippo said:

Are those putting practice mats of any use for putting practice at home? I used to be pretty good at putting but today I managed my first ever 4 putt. I suspect part of the problem is that I've just begun wearing glasses and when I stand over the ball and look towards the hole by turning my head the green surface looks almost like it's in motion and it appears as if the putt line and slope has changed. I imagine I'll get used to putting while wearing glasses but wondered if one of those mats might help speed the process. Thanks.

Hmm.... sounds like you have progressive lenses. Did you get the "digital" version of them or the standard version. The standard version (older) is cheaper and distorts worse. I can't stand progressives lenses. I went with single vision lenses (sunglasses or you can get the transition lenses) and a pair of lined bifocals for reading and computer usage. Just mentioning that if you have progressive lenses, that might be the problem.

[Zippo]

3 hours ago, DrvFrShow said:

Hmm.... sounds like you have progressive lenses. Did you get the "digital" version of them or the standard version. The standard version (older) is cheaper and distorts worse. I can't stand progressives lenses. I went with single vision lenses (sunglasses or you can get the transition lenses) and a pair of lined bifocals for reading and computer usage. Just mentioning that if you have progressive lenses, that might be the problem.

They are progressive and they are the "good" ones. I suppose I'll get use to them for putting but I think it'll take a while. I'm forcing myself to wear them all the time (except for reading - then I use cheap cheaters). I'll be out again tomorrow so will "see" how it goes, so to speak...

[Typhoon92]

I have a "Birdie Ball" putting mat.  It's around 12 feet long.  I also bought the pad to stand on so I don't stand on the mat.  I've had it 2 years, best thing my wife ever bought me.  Better than the rug.  Nice true roll.  I'm able to work on my pre shot routine and set up without worrying about just stroking a straight putt.

[Zippo]

8 minutes ago, Typhoon92 said:

I have a "Birdie Ball" putting mat.  It's around 12 feet long.  I also bought the pad to stand on so I don't stand on the mat.  I've had it 2 years, best thing my wife ever bought me.  Better than the rug.  Nice true roll.  I'm able to work on my pre shot routine and set up without worrying about just stroking a straight putt.

Thanks for the input. I tried putting on our "Persian" carpet the other day and the ball roll was definitely not consistent.

[Typhoon92]

On June 13, 2019 at 11:11 PM, Zippo said:

Thanks for the input. I tried putting on our "Persian" carpet the other day and the ball roll was definitely not consistent.

Well, the  Persians aren't really know for their golf skills.  LOL!