God I hate putting

[GrahamD]

alot of people say youngsters are great putters with lots of confidence well i am the opposite.

Today I shoot an 82 on my home course (par 72)

I 3 putted seven times...SEVEN!

I also missed 2 short birdie putts and a short par save

all together I had 43 putts.

Whats most anoying is I hit the ball so well and my chipping around the green is quite decent.


on the 610 yard par 5nd I hit a drive 290+ down the midde, 250+ down the fairway for my second, little wedge to green then 3 putt from 13 feet.....



And whats most sad about this is my putting even used to be worse, I use to get very wristy on putts so have recently gone cross handed which has minimized the 3 putts to less than half.

Another junior at the club hits the ball way worse than i do, I mean hes short and slices and thins the ball alot and is not a great ballstricker but he can putt decently and still beat me

people stop and come over to me at the range and are amzed how well I hit the ball, they will say '' god you must be off scratch.'' I say ''no im off 11 I can't putt''



How does one come over a mental block with putting? I would love to go one full 18 holes without a single 3 putt as I have never done it before

[James_Black]

you shot 10 over with 43 putts?
practice your putting and you'll be a scratch golfer.

Honestly 43 putts? I'm a terrible putter and I'm not that bad.

[tsajjad]

alot of people say youngsters are great putters with lots of confidence well i am the opposite.

word brother. i just had 39 putts today and i played 8 over. =S

5 3 putts and 2 short par putts inside 4 feet after chipping onto the green. terrible.

[GrahamD]

you shot 10 over with 43 putts?

Yes m8 you have to see to believe, it really is that bad, outside of competition I putt better maybe only 2 or 3 three putts because im under less pressure but in competition I tend to get very jerky on my putting and smack the ball 10 feet past the whole from 15 feet, I really was expecting better than 10 over because 2 days ago me and my cousin went out for 9 holes for practice and I was -3 through the 9, shame

[sean_miller]

Yes m8 you have to see to believe, it really is that bad, outside of competition I putt better maybe only 2 or 3 three putts because im under less pressure but in competition I tend to get very jerky on my putting and smack the ball 10 feet past the whole from 15 feet, I really was expecting better than 10 over because 2 days ago me and my cousin went out for 9 holes for practice and I was -3 through the 9, shame

One clue is your thread title - find a way to love it. You sound like a competitive person, so that might be a direction to go. Spend some sessions on the practice green trying to get some chips up and down, try to lag some putts close for a 2 putt, see how many 3 to 5 footers you can drain out of 10. Whatever. Set a personal standard for something, then try to top it.

[Zeph]

Do you practice putting? If so, double or triple that work. Putt so much that you become confident.

If your reading is bad, work on hitting breaking putts, if your speed is bad, hit work on putts from all over the green. Use gates made out of tees to see if you hit the spots you aim at and if your club face is square.

See if you should work on your ball position, too close, too far away, too far forward or back. How is your grip pressure? The more you squeeze it, the harder distance control becomes. How do you aim when putting? Do you think too much about the line and forget the speed? Do you take the club away quick or smoothly? How about the downswing, stabbing?

If you have a video camera, set it up like you would with a full swing and record some putts, both long and short. Upload it to Youtube or whatever and post it here. Having someone else look at your setup and stroke can be useful.

[McGolf-Doggie]

Sounds like you are a perfect candidate for any book by Bob Rotella to set your putting mind on track.

I'm a read and instinct putter, so I rely completely on decent fundamentals to make good ball contact. I am looking at a very specific spot in the hole or near it most of the time. If not, I may be looking at my target in the break that I've read. I rarely look at the ball when putting except for during my set up.

I waste little time now between read, setup, final read and putt, as the more time between the read and the putt, the more time there is for conscious thoughts to interfere. Usually where I place my feet is right the first time. Try to double guess it and I'm in trouble.

Read it, set up and let it go.

And after reading Rotella's Golf is not a game of Perfect, I putt even better. Cutting down the time between read and putt shaved 3 strokes off my last round, and I even made a birdie that I would normally have overworried and overthought.

I used to find putting boring, but I'm enjoying it a lot more now.

[saevel25]

First find out what type of putter you are. Do you tend to want to die it into the cup or hit a more aggressive line. A good test would be to find the putt on the practice green with the most side slope and hit putts into them. Just keep hitting them till you get a feel for how you like to putt the ball. Then just practice under one philosophy. I like to hit my putts more aggressive, just my natural reading does this. I will always take less break and more speed. Unless its a nasty down hill, then i will try to get it down there, but i am looking for a speed were the ball ends up 20 inches behind the hole.

[Shorty]

The first mistake you're making is behaving as if you are a good player "but" can't putt.
On a par 72 course with 18 greens in regulation and 2 putts on every hole, for a par round, that's HALF your shots. Obviously, it would rarely work out that way, but it's a fact. In the round you describe, more than 50% of your shots were putts. So, half your game is poor.
The people who you claim marvel at your awesome abilities on the practice fairway need to see you on the putting green. And that's where you need to find yourself more often.
A 6 iron from 160 meters to 3 feet is of no value to a person who can't putt.
You need to learn to enjoy putting, and not dismiss it as an irritating thing which stops you from having a low handicap. If you can't putt, you can't score.
If you are a bad putter you are a bad golfer.

[Boeing777]

wow! u shot a low 80 with seven 3 putts.. I only dream of something like that!

[shortstop20]

You're going to have to learn to like putting. I used to hate it too, now I love it since I'm becoming a better putter.

Good putting can keep your score from being high when you're not striking the ball well.

[ks8829]

There is no reason you can not putt like the pros with the proper practice. If you have seven 3 putts playing 18 holes, you should consider yourself lucky because it can only get better. Remember that putting is all about distance control. This thought along will help reduce your 3 putting.

Work on distance control
work on making straigth putts of 1-4 feet

Its seems like a waste of your talent to hit the ball so well and not able to keep your putts under 30 for 18 holes.

[Ben]

The first mistake you're making is behaving as if you are a good player "but" can't putt.

Blunt and direct. The truth hurts though. One can't be a good golfer but a bad putter. Learn to love putting. It really is the most exciting part of the game. Watching as a 25 footer tracks to the hole then drops in the heart just like you saw in your head. Or knowing with unwavering confidence that every 3 footer you step to will go in the hole.

[The Recreational Golfer]

ks8829 is on the right track. Learn to make putts. Hit lots of one-foot and two-foot putts. Spend lots of time watching the ball go in the hole. I read that Arnold Palmer did this when his putting got off kilter. He practiced watching the ball go in the hole. If you practice from six feet, for example, you're going to practice missing putts and much as you practice making them. Stuff your subconscious mind with proof that you can't miss.

As for approach putts, drop balls 15, 20, 25, and 30 feet from the hole on a non-breaking line. Don't even try to get the ball in. Just get it a couple of feet past the hole past the hole.

These are easy exercises that will have you believing in yourself on the green, which is how you putt well.

[josephajain]

Hey shorty i do agree with you...:)

[toliba]

God I hate putting

whahaha...

No matter what you don... PUTTING is part of the game

[DaSportsGuy]

I absolutely love putting. Approach shots and putting are probably my two favorite parts of the game. If I three-putt more than two times in a round I'm killing myself over it.

[Fat Slice]

When I find myself 3-putting more than usual, I focus on two things: SPEED, and lag for a 2-putt. I don't thinking about holing the ball, just cozying it up close to have an easy 2-putt. Now there are lots of people who will say this is stupid - fair enough. Still, I use this to get my putting stroke back, not as a permanent putting philosphy. Once I start reliably 2-putting, then I go back to trying to hole every putt. One other thing I do to help get back on track is to walk around the green and really check out the break and slope, etc. Again, some people will get pissed and call you a slow player...but whatever...the goal is to make a good putt, so if it helps you, give it a try. My observation is that 3-putting mainly comes from speed error, not line error. Good luck, man. Putting is frustration, but it really is fun if you give it a chance!