i want a bigger hole

[Nyper]

Because I can't putt. I'm absolutely sick at my putting. I've been working really hard on it the last two weeks, and thought I'd finally got to a place I was happy with it.

Wrong.

Had a tournament this weekend. Shot 74, with three 3-putts. The longest distance of those putts was about 25-30ft. It's not like I'm hitting greens but leaving myself 60 footers.... I just have NO DISTANCE CONTROL.

[Knockglock]

Try putting to a smaller hole than normal. Practice that for a while and get used to it and the actual cup starts to look a whole lot bigger

[Shindig]

A while back, they experimented with larger holes - doubling the radius, I think. It ended up giving the benefit to the better putters, as their misses tended to be closer to the hole than others - and thus fell into the larger cup. The not-as-good putters just were more aggressive and missed farther away.

If your problem is distance control, the size of the cup won't help. Expecting to make 25-30 footers is a big problem for starters: it's rare for a touring professional to make putts of that distance. The rate of conversion for them from 6 feet is 50%.

[AmenCorner]

  Nyper said:

Because I can't putt. I'm absolutely sick at my putting. I've been working really hard on it the last two weeks, and thought I'd finally got to a place I was happy with it.

Do you practice using any putting drills? Maybe you're just not practicing smart.

[Nyper]

  Shindig said:

If your problem is distance control, the size of the cup won't help. Expecting to make 25-30 footers is a big problem for starters: it's rare for a

I don't expect to make the 25-30 footers. My problem is getting it even close. I'm likely to leave it 8ft short or blow it 8ft past the hole. If the hole was about 12" instead of 4", I'd be alot more likely to make that 8 footer coming back. :D

[jigray3]

  Nyper said:

I don't expect to make the 25-30 footers. My problem is getting it even close. I'm likely to leave it 8ft short or blow it 8ft past the hole. If the hole was about 12" instead of 4", I'd be alot more likely to make that 8 footer coming back. :D

For some folks there is a disconnect between what they feel and what they see, others simply don't trust it. Try putting with your eyes closed at long distances on the putting green. Try 3 at 20 feet, then 3 at 25, then 3 at 30 and really try to feel the difference in your stroke. This is a good drill to develop feel, and it is important to focus on a good tempo. Think "tick-tock".

Another thing good lag putters do is they factor in the variables to determine how hard to hit it. Feel putters do it all internally, while mechanical putters actually do the math. They tell themselves that since it is a down hill putt going with the grain on a wet green, they want to hit a 25 footer as if the hole was 10 feet away and putt the ball to a spot and let it feed. If you have been a feel putter, try being more mechanical and see if you get better results. If you've been mechanical, work on your feel and see what happens. Me? I'm the very definition of a streaky putter. I went out the other day and has 26 putts, but I can go the other way as well.

[flopdarock]

most guys i know want a tighter hole... lol...
but apparently you were talking about the holes on the greens...
im like the poster above... very streaky... one day i cant miss no matter where i am on the green... the next no matter how close i am they wont drop...
my deal is having a great practice routine that you can bring to the course

[Chas]

  Knockglock said:

Try putting to a smaller hole than normal. Practice that for a while and get used to it and the actual cup starts to look a whole lot bigger

They have one of those on one of the practice greens at Torrey Pines, that thing is tiny. I've tried using it a couple of times but it gets me very frustrated, I mean I was bally awful at it (and such a public place too, ouch!). Maybe if I persevered I'd start sinking a few and 4 1/2 inches would look huge to me. Then again maybe I'd go nuts and get banned from the course ....

[jigray3]

  Chas said:

They have one of those on one of the practice greens at Torrey Pines, that thing is tiny. I've tried using it a couple of times but it gets me very frustrated, I mean I was bally awful at it (and such a public place too, ouch!). Maybe if I persevered I'd start sinking a few and 4 1/2 inches would look huge to me. Then again maybe I'd go nuts and get banned from the course ....

This is a mental drill as much as a physical drill. After you spend 20 minutes or so putting to the small hole, the regular size hole will look like a manhole when it counts. You'll approach your putts during your round with a lot of confidence and are more likely to put a good roll on the ball vs say something like what Tom Watson did on the 72nd hole at Turnberry. I love to use the small hole, but only on putts under 10 feet.

[Knockglock]

  jigray3 said:

This is a mental drill as much as a physical drill. After you spend 20 minutes or so putting to the small hole, the regular size hole will look like a manhole when it counts. You'll approach your putts during your round with a lot of confidence and are more likely to put a good roll on the ball vs say something like what Tom Watson did on the 72nd hole at Turnberry. I love to use the small hole, but only on putts under 10 feet.

I agree totally

[Duffy]

Just based on the title of this post, I aint gonna touch it

[jigray3]

  Knockglock said:

I agree totally

When I'm on a putting green without a small practice hole, I essentially make one by planting two tees in the ground in front of a hole creating a gate that is maybe 1/2- 3/4" larger than the ball. Doesn't quite give you the visual of a tiny hole, but works as a substitute.

[B-Con]

  Nyper said:

I just have NO DISTANCE CONTROL.

What's your stroke like? Some people have short swings with aggressive acceleration. I used to do that and I had distance control problems. I changed to a longer and smoother stroke, and that really helped my distance control. I can basically just fine-tune my distance by how long my back swing is, and since it's smooth I have to make a large adjustment for a large difference. When the smallest change can influence your distance by 5 feet, it's hard.

I'm still learning, but I can control distance much more accurately now. I just played 18 today and I'm pretty sure I only had one lag that wasn't within about 3.5 feet of the hole. Granted I only had a couple 25+ft putts, but it was progress for me. And who's idea was it to make the hole a circle? Make that sucker a 2 foot by 4 inch rectangle with the long side aligned with the slope.

[enduro]

2 weeks? Practice for 2 years, 1 hour a day, every day. Do 300 well done putts. Do it every day (you can do it in your house although a real green is much better) and come back in 2 years and see how it has improved.

Get a book on putting as well.

If you put 2 years of dedicated putting every day you will see amazing results. I imagine. I mean, I wouldn't do it, lol.

[beisenhauer]

Here's a drill I like to do before a round that I think has helped me with my pace. I take three balls and drop them at 3, 5 and 7 paces from a hole (or any target will do). Starting at the closest one, I putt each just for pace. A good putt is one that winds up 6-18 inches behind the hole. I then repeat it at 6, 9 and 12 paces, then at 5, 10 and 15 paces. If I'm not happy with a putt (which is to say, if I'm not extremely confident that I could hole the second putt) I'll repeat the set of three, but never more than once. I'll do the whole routine to two different holes/targets, one going uphill, one going down. I've cut down a my three-putts significantly with this. As always, YMMV.