Putting uphill

[microcrayfish]

I've been having a problem with my distance control putting uphill lately. I leave a lot of the putts short and I'm wondering if I'm not taking the correct approach. My question is do you aim past the hole when putting uphill or just try and hit it a little harder while still aiming at the hole?

I have a feeling that a lot of my leaving it short may be down to me hitting the putt at the speed that I would need to hit it to get it there had the green been flat, because for some reason my depth perception isn't taking into account the fact that the putt will be slower uphill.

[ks8829]

If I am putting uphill depending on the slope I will judge my distance pass the hole as though it was a flat putt and judge my backswing accordingly. this is the same approach that I take for downhill putts also but the distance will be short of the hole depending on how steep the hill is.

Regarding the line, I look at the hole and see where the ball will enter the hole and judge the high spot to start the putt.

[Righty to Lefty]

I've been having a problem with my distance control putting uphill lately. I leave a lot of the putts short and I'm wondering if I'm not taking the correct approach. My question is do you aim past the hole when putting uphill or just try and hit it a little harder while still aiming at the hole?

I had a putting breakthrough last week and it has helped me with my distance control and even bunker play. It started when I was working on my bunker play and I was aiming at a flag that was only about a 10 yards in front of me. But what was happening was that I would hit the shot and the ball would roll to the flag that was about 17 yards away. I thought "hmm I wonder where else this theory reigns true" I started thinking of what other situation that this type of thing happens and of course I came up with chipping. When you are chipping the ball you are not aiming trying to hit the ball all the way to the hole. You are trying to hit the ball to a spot that is short of the hole and then the ball will roll out the rest of the way. I quickly grabbed my putter and went to the putting green because I have always struggled with my uphill distance control. I came up with a quick formula to give myself the proper amount of speed.

Putt is flatt= Find a spot halfway and putt THROUGH that spot Putt is uphill= Find a spot 75 percent of the way and putt THROUGH that spot Putt is down hill= Find a spot 25% of the way and Putt THROUGH that spot Putt has a big break= This is a feel putt and your speed and line have to be just right to make it so you have to rely on your stroke What I mean by putt THROUGH the spot is the exact same thing as of you were hitting a 3 foot putt. The ball is gonna fall in the hole at three feet but you didn't die the ball in the hole, it would have rolled out past the hole probably a foot or two had you missed the putt. Just like when you chip a ball your focus isn't on the hole, it is on a place where you want to land the ball and the end result is that it stops near or in the hole because of the momentum or roll out as the ball slows down. This worked like a charm and I stayed on the putting green for about an hour and just picked random flags and didn't three putt the whole time. The kicker for me was to come out the next day and then do the same thing again. I wasn't going to tell anyone but the people I take money from aren't on the sand trap!!!

[JimmyDoesGolf]

My advice would be to forget everything you know about speed judging. Set up to the putt, and look at the spot you are aiming at. For example, on a right-to-left uphill putt, it might be a blade of grass half a foot off the right side of the cup. Focus entirely on that point, and don't even think about speed. As soon as you look back at the ball, stroke the putt and don't think about it. Observe what happens.

Most of the time, you'll find that without even thinking about it, your brain has judged the distance, and will send the ball with the right speed directly at the point your aiming at.

[imtomtomim]

actually, this sounds funny, but after playing tiger woods on my computer, my putting got a lot better. It helped to train my eye a bit and how to treat lips on the green and different breaks and just watching the speed and how puts drop.

when putting uphill, I tend to try to make the ball roll a little more. it needs that extra bit of rotational momentum to keep climbing since you're not hitting exactly parallel to the slope but rather perpendicular to gravity. good putting takes a lot of imagination and visualization. try to imagine how the ball is going to die and how much more it wants to climb up to that hole and how hard it's gotta charge it. then, just trust your stroke (also extremely important to putting well)