Putting Just Keeps Getting Worse

[adamgoodman]

I don't know what to do anymore.

I used to be an automatic two putt from any distance, and now I'm so clueless on the greens. It just keeps getting worse and worse.

[alomar123]

Maybe your just trying too hard. Go putt-putting with some friends and just have fun. It will come back.

[saevel25]

when you play again, keep track of what you read the break is, were you want your line to start and if the ball goes at that line and how far it ends up from the hole. If your missing consistantly one way or the other, ie short, long, right, left, you can determine what your doing wrong.

But a good thing to do would be set up a gate with tees, then try to put through them were the only way to get through the two tees would be to hit a perfectly straight putt. Do that for a while until you get back to hitting were you aim. Also do your routine after each putt, might as well practice that as well.

[ks8829]

I started a different putting method for long putts that help me have 13 putts in the front nine of my last round. I focuse on two things.

1) distance control was based on how far I took the club back and my follow through was always the same long follow through. I found that this method gave me a more consistent and repeatable distance control on any length putts.
2) I focus on the path of my putter head after impact, in another words, I made sure that on long or short putts that the putter head remained square to the target line without deviating.

Practice and more pratices is need to feel confortable and more important confident over putts so that everytime you step over a putt you feel that you can make it everytime.

[c. lassiter]

For me it's shoulders, not arms, and I watch the blade contact the ball - on short putts I don't look up before I hear the ball tumble into the cup.

[lugnut33]

Try a long putter

[ks8829]

practice
watch some instruction video
practice
gain confidence
practice

putting is two simple things:

1) distance control
2) hitting a straight putt

[CarlSpackler]

I just took my friend to the putting green at lunch to cure his case of the Y word. I had him set up and go through his routine. When he was about to start his stroke, I asked what was going through his mind and out came a list of technical thoughts. I had him restart and putt without any thoughts in his mind at all. The putt was OK so I had him do it again. After a few more repetitions, I stopped him again and asked what he was thinking to which he replied, "I am thinking, make it." Again, I told him not to think of anything. After about 10 minutes of putting without a thought in his mind, he started draining or just missing all his putts. His brain was getting in the way.

[foxhole88]

I had putting problems last year. It felt like each of my hands was fighting for control of the club. I used to be a pretty good putter, but not last year. I was pushing/pulling short putts and misjudging distance/speed. It got so bad that for the last half of the season i started to putt with 1 hand (using just my right arm) I started this mid round and immediately the speed/distance control was back on track. I wasn't able to always hit or stay on the line i wanted with one hand but I was able to 2 putt again and sometimes one putt, so I stuck with it for the rest of the season and I got pretty good at it.

At the beginning of this season I went back to conventional putting but made sure to just leave my left hand barely on the putter, just to steady it. I am putting much better this season for the most part, although i'm finding it hard to actually read the subtle breaks in a lot of greens.

I also used to bottom out on very long putts a lot due to the elongated back swing so I have been using a hybrid or 5wood to putt the really long ones. I can take the regular stance and stroke and the putt will go much farther with no issues.

[mdbuschsr]

Putting was/is the worst part of my game. I watched Phil's short game dvd and put his putting ideas to use with some success. My challenge was pretty much always speed. I would almost always start off hitting to it too short, then the next putt run it past 5 feet. Then short, long, short, etc. Since I started using the idea of only changing the length of the back swing and maintaining the same, accelerating, forward swing my putting has gotten much better. The numbers still don't show it, but my confidence is definitely up. As I get more confident in my speed control I can concentrate more on the reads. For right now, my goal is to get w/in 3' on the first putt. I take slope into account only slightly, mainly I just hit it at the cup (most of the greens I play are relatively flat). For me, trying to judge both distance and the minutia of the break was too much.

[Zeph]

Some key focus points for me:

1: Read the line, find an intermediate target, align to it, forget the line.
2: When standing over the ball, lined up properly, focus only on the speed.
3: Longer backswing makes smoother and more controllable swing. Not short and stabby. This is what I thought lag putting was, since you don't necessarily accelerate the putter a whole lot through the downswing. Instead, you control the speed, almost lagging the club to the ball. Helps me tremendously on getting the right speed, especially on long putts.