Putters and Help

[Dp132010]

How much does buying a new putter help because im a consistent 3 to 4 stroke putter and wondered if i should consider or just keep practicing. Also what is good exercises / tools that will help me improve straightness, green reads, and wrist snapping because I gained terrible techniques from putt putt as a kid. I used to own but now i shot 8 because of it. Thanks!

[eberryhill7]

At this point I would recommend just to keep practicing and take lessons. I don't know of any tools that can help, but practice and lessons are more useful then a new putter. New putters don't generally don't make the much of a difference except in alignment and feel and I assume that you need more help in distance then these, and the best ways to fix that are lessons and practice, lots of practice.

[MSDOGS1976]

Just keep at it. Lot's of good online videos that will give you some drills to work on. See TGC for one. As far as new putters are concerned, I don't think it hurts to have a couple of putters in your closet to choose from. A different look can help when you are struggling. I know.

[BigAl5150]

How much does buying a new putter help because im a consistent 3 to 4 stroke putter and wondered if i should consider or just keep practicing. Also what is good exercises / tools that will help me improve straightness, green reads, and wrist snapping because I gained terrible techniques from putt putt as a kid. I used to own but now i shot 8 because of it.

Continuing with the same theme of the last two posts, keep practicing, just make sure your practice is worthwhile. Bad practice isn't going to help you out at all. Also, make sure your putter is properly fitted for your physical and putting stroke characteristics.

Here is some additional good information about putting as well.

[trjohnson2]

Practice is only as good as the technique you practice with. Unless you are having problems with off center hits or inconsistent speed then there is probably no need to change putters. If you are having off center problems you may want to look at a new MOI putter like the Spider or Sabertooth. With incosistent speed, you may want to look at getting a putter with an insert. Good luck.

[slackhouse]

I have began practicing my chipping/putting atleast twice a week. I also got an Odyysey White Hot XG #5 for Christmas and love it. I have great feel with it. I get immediate feedback of when I hit a solid putt or not, which has made my putting stroke very consistent. So, I would suggest any putter that gives you immediate feedback to whether or not you make a good stroke. You can even just switch out the grip for one that lets you feel the shaft more through it. You'll get better feedback. Then, hit the practice greens.

I usually start off hitting 50+ long putts just trying to get my feel for distance down, practicing on straight, uphill, downhill, left and right breaks. I do this just for feel of distance, though I occassionally drain a few. Then, I work on reading the green and trying to drain putts from 10-15 feet. I end with my favorite drill so far. I take 12-16 balls and make a cross around a hole like this:


I start from the ball closest to the hole and drain 2ft, 4ft, then 6ft. Then, I move to the next row of balls. Occassionally, I'll use 16 and go a little further. I try to set it up where one side is uphill, one downhill, one a break to a left, the other a break to a right.

I'll do this 5-10 times. But, I force myself to make all of them once before I leave the green. Sometimes this puts a lot pressure on myself and forces me to stay later than planned. But, when I step up to a 6-8 ft putt, I feel like I'm going to hit the center of the cup 99% of the time because I've been doing it in practice every week.

Try this drill. You'll definitely start draining the short putts. Plus, you just add balls, or the distance in between them, and you can start practicing the long putts, also.

[titaniummd]

I started playing around 2006. One of the last things that I started working on was the short game and putting. It should have been the 1st.

I am starting to come around with chipping, now, the flop shot and various sand shots.

However, I have been experimenting with putters and putting techniques in the past 1.5 years (hence my inconsistency). I have settled down with the SC Newport using an Arc Stroke which seems to give me a better appreciation for distance control and consistent contact.

I am also looking at Geoff Mangum's site- www.puttingzone.com which has a lot of information. He focuses upon proprioception regarding distance control and using gravity as the pace for the downswing.

I use an electronic training aid to help me 'read breaks'. The Exelys Breakmaster Green Reader. I bought it from Sharper image when it was on sale for cheap.

http://www.exelys.com/bm1.html

[slackhouse]

does anyone else do this practice routine I've described? any improvements on it?

[QWKDTSN]

Slackhouse, I like your putting drill!

Last time I was at the green I was thinking about it while practicing, but I didn't have twelve balls of the same type (No need to practice with a mix of balls that might react differently from one another and skew my practice). I did set up six different balls randomly in a 5-8' circle around a hole with some interesting breaks.

It certainly did get exciting when I was holing them one after another (that is my trouble zone) but I definitely started feeling the pressure to get every shot in with one putt after holing 3-4 of them in a row!