I'm a horrible putter!!!!

[gooch43]

As a matter of fact I'm pretty much a horrible golfer but putting is really holding me back. I usually shoot mid to upper 80's but I swear if I knew how to putt I could shave a ton of strokes.

A little background...if it's over 3 feet I'll probably miss it. If its over 20 feet I'll probably 3 putt.

I have spent countless hours on the practice green doing the 'round the world' or putting to a dime. Nothing helps. I'm not nervous about putting or anything like that it's that I simply can't putt the ball in the cup.

I've tried different putters and am using the 2ball right now.

Any tips, drills or insight would be awesome.

[ND Fan]

find a putter that you simply like the looks of and the hit feels good. Stick with for months befroe trying anything else. Putting is all in the head. So if you are incurably sure you suck at it you have no chance. The best putter in the world thinks he will make everything within reason. If one day he thought he would miss he probably would. The best practice I would sugegst to you is to start out lagging putts form 20 feet or more. Get the speed right line is part of it but it's alot easier to miss a putt 4-5 long or shart than it is left or right. look at every putt as makeable, essentially they are a 3 footer and a 30 footer has only one difference, more grass to roll over. Practice putting can be a boring. i usuallt set an acheivable but difficult goal when I practice. For example i 'll practice putt for maybe a half an hour when I am getting ready to be done I make sure I set up a four or five footer and won't leave until i sink 5 in a row. or I'll putt some long ones before i go and have 10 in a row without 3 putting. It doesn't sound like pressure but if you commit yourself to it there is no pressure in the world like it. I got the same advice many years ago and it helped me dramatically.

[dozu]

there are basic stuff such as grip and how you initiate the motion etc.... then everything else is feel.

when you practice, try to take a practice putt, and hold your finish and imagine the ball roll to the hole - ask yourself, is that the right line? was that enough pace or 2 much pace?... repeat the practice stroke until you can envison it die in the hole... the go to the ball, take the same amount of back swing and trust it and let it go.

[TD22057]

You might try paying very close attention to the quality of contact. Are you hitting every putt in the center of the putter face? I'm at the tail end (hopefully) of a poor putting streak. As my putting got worse, my confidence in my stroken went down and I'd end up manipulating the putter with my hands. This caused inconsistent contact and it all spiralled down from that.

I've been working the last month just on putting contact. I'm looking at a spot right in front of the ball before, during, and after a hit the putt. Since I'm not looking directly at the ball, I find it eliminates the tendency to follow the ball with my eyes/head as I hit it. It's improved my quality of contact a lot which has improved my distance control which improved my confidence, etc etc.

[gooch43]

So here is another question. A guy told me my putting stroke should feel like I have my clothes on a hanger, if that makes sense. Basically my shoulders should sway like that. Is this right?

Sorry if these questions are really noobish but I've only been playing for a little while and have never gotten a lesson. I just try things out until they work but nothing has worked for the putting yet.

[Bauer]

How many putts per round do you average? I personally average around 32-35 putts per round. If you don't know, start keeping this stat along with others such as GIR, Fairways hit, and Up and Downs.

[James_Black]

Putting is the strongest part of my game.

Do you use the line on the ball to line-up your putts?
If you don't do.
All you need to do then is to hit the ball properly.

If you do.
then there's either a problem with distance control or your stroke.


My putter is a two-and-a-half ball putter.
I put a line through the first ball and it's helped me loads.

[deronsizemore]

So here is another question. A guy told me my putting stroke should feel like I have my clothes on a hanger, if that makes sense. Basically my shoulders should sway like that. Is this right?

Your shoulders will seem the rock back and forth some but not much. One thing that really hurts people is that they try so hard to get that clothes on a hanger feeling you mentioned by rocking the shoulders back and forth that they end up moving their hole upper body which moves their head which leads to inconsistent contact. Everything should be still, not moving back and forth or up and down.

One thing you could do is set up to a wall with your head against the wall and stroke some putts like that. You'll notice you cannot move your head. That should give you the feeling you've after.

[ks8829]

Work on distance control by judging the distance of the putt and roll out with the location of your feet as a guage.

You will putt with the same tempo on all putts
use the inside of your rear foot as one measurement
use the middle of the rear foot as another measurement
use the outside of the rear foot as another distance measurement
etc.

some helpful tips for consistency
1) use a triangle from your shoulder and arms and do not break the wrist on your putts.
2) keep the backstroke of your putt low to the ground
3) use the life line of your front hand to grip the putter.

Once you have gain confidence in distance control practice the straight putts from 2 - 10 feet distances.

[Drummin]

As a matter of fact I'm pretty much a horrible golfer but putting is really holding me back. I usually shoot mid to upper 80's but I swear if I knew how to putt I could shave a ton of strokes.

I second that. I have been having problems putting as well. I have problems judging distance, and my touch is awful. Any tips on how far of a back swing I should have for specific distances or anything like that?

[gooch43]

My last round I had 36 putts which doesn't sound horrible except for the fact that I only hit a couple of greens and had a lot of chips. My distance is usually pretty decent it's the whole left/right thing that gets me.

One huge problem is I don't know how to read a green. I have a ton of putts that I think break one way but actually break the opposite way pretty hard. Any tips for reading greens too would be helpful. What do you look for?

[zeg]

What I'll never understand is why it's so easy to leave putts consistently 2-3 feet short but so hard to make the "simple" adjustment to turn that into 1-2 feet long... I'm usually pretty good at picking lines but the distance is either 2-3 feet short or way past.

[James_Black]

My last round I had 36 putts which doesn't sound horrible except for the fact that I only hit a couple of greens and had a lot of chips. My distance is usually pretty decent it's the whole left/right thing that gets me.

They're easy enough to read.

Well judging the break is easy. All you have to do is look to see which was the ground is sloping. Grain is harder to judge. Grain can make you have to put 20 percent softer or harder. To work out the grain I go to the fringe and brush my putter against it in the way your put is going. If the grass sticks up then your going against the grain of the green if it doesn't you arn't

[O.B. Right]

I was curious about the original post . .do you make those 3 footers on the practice green but miss them when playing for real? Or do you miss the 3 footers in practice as well. I can't really offer any putting tips - just curious.

[pendlebg]

Read Extraordinary Putting by Fred Shoemaker (I think). Some of the text is a little flaky but the drills are very good to try and tackle the mental side of putting, which has a direct relationship on the physical part of putting.

I was an average putter at best and working on those drills has made me above average. On a recent round I had 27 putts, which would never have happened before I started working on the drills in that book.

[kris]

welcome to the club

[whetstone]

The ball tends to roll downhill.

Any tips for reading greens too would be helpful. What do you look for?

[denver_nuggs_15]

One huge problem is I don't know how to read a green. I have a ton of putts that I think break one way but actually break the opposite way pretty hard. Any tips for reading greens too would be helpful. What do you look for?

Look 10 feet left of the cup and 10 feet right. Determine which side is higher and favor that side. That's the basics. Remember the ball will roll wherever rain would flow to. As you get better at putting, you'll get better at reading, too.

When you miss left/right, is it a push, pull, etc.? Or are you aligned the wrong way? Or is it simply making mistakes while reading greens? It makes a big difference, and an answer to this would help us help you.