Major help with putting

[tazrestling27]

Again, Today I shot a 83 with 7, 3 putts. I can not get my putting game down. When I practice it I do great I do not understand. I do not feel comfortable with the way I stand or stroke the ball. Please help with tips and everything. Drills, stance, posture ect. or even if you have a good video. If I fix this I would be in the mid to low 70's.

Thanks

[P-Town Golfer]

I need help too so I would love to hear some peoples tips, thoughts, pre shot routines, etc

[Kieran123]

For speed, imagine rolling the ball towards the hole with your hand, it gives you a better 'feel' of how hard you should hit it

This is the best tip I have ever been given. My putting has improved dramatically.

Speed is more important than aim

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Kieran123

Speed is more important than aim

On most long putts, I'd agree.

On a two-footer, not really. ;-) Not too many people leave those short or goose 'em by the hole eight feet.

At the end of the day I think there are three fundamentals to putting: Getting the right speed, reading the green properly, and starting the ball on-line.

[Kieran123]

Originally Posted by iacas

On most long putts, I'd agree.

On a two-footer, not really. ;-) Not too many people leave those short or goose 'em by the hole eight feet.

At the end of the day I think there are three fundamentals to putting: Getting the right speed, reading the green properly, and starting the ball on-line.

Ok...if a person can't gauge speed for a 2 foot putt, they should give up golf

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Kieran123

Ok...if a person can't gauge speed for a 2 foot putt, they should give up golf

I once saw Aaron Baddeley leave a six-inch putt (for double bogey) short. At The Memorial.

[saevel25]

jack must have been mad that day for that pin placement...

To me green reading is the most important, than aim, then speed. If you can't read a green, you are just guessing. Done it before, most of the time i just aim at the hole, slightly on the side i think is the high side. If you can read, then you got to hit the putt solid to gauge speed. So that means hitting the club face square and having correct aim. Then comes speed...

My best tip, find a comfortable grip that can stabalize the hands in the stroke. Practice your preshot routine over and over again, to nail your stance, ball position, head position, and hand position. Once you get these down, you can then start to learn speed control. Because if not, your just not going to learn speed. how do you know if your hitting it the right distance, if you hit off the toe, or heel.

[iPutt]

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I feel like it could help the OP too. Do you ever vary the speed/force of the putter head when varying distance, or do you only vary the length of the back and forward swing?

[ks8829]

Originally Posted by Kieran123

For speed, imagine rolling the ball towards the hole with your hand, it gives you a better 'feel' of how hard you should hit it

This is the best tip I have ever been given. My putting has improved dramatically.

Speed is more important than aim

Well said,  speed is more important than aim,  proper speed will help eliminate three putts.

[saevel25]

Nope, Aim is more important, because if your aim is off a few degrees, speed might not matter, because your off that. You need the aim to know the speed you need. To me speed should be the last thing to learn, and usually takes the longest to learn. But i can say that speed can only be learned with using the same stroke over and over, making consistant contact.

[iacas]

Folks, let's be honest - speed and aim are both important. As I said, in varying degrees...

Is blowing it by the hole 10 feet from 20 feet an equivalent to missing the line by 10 degrees? Or 5? Or 20?

Kind of pointless to discuss all of this like this, right? Both are important. As is reading the greens properly.

[Zeph]

You can't say that one is more important than the other. If either is off, you'll miss the cup, except on a straight putt. Wrong read and you are 6 feet to the right of the cup. Wrong speed and you are 6 feet short of the cup. If you don't feel comfortable while putting, search up tips on the net for different feelings, stance etc. Experiment with moving the ball closer or farther away, try to find a position where you can hit the ball solid and feel comfortable at the same time. Inclination to the ground, knees, shoulders, head. You could even record a video of your putting stroke and post it.

[Kieran123]

It all depends on the type of putt you have in front of you.

[boogielicious]

Back to the OP:  Best advice, read Stan Utley's The Art of Putting and Bob Rotella's Putting out of your mind .  Putting is about confidence.

[awmgolfer]

First find a grip that feels comfortable to you as there are a lot of different ways to grip that all can be successful, just have to find one that works for you.

For pre shot routine, this is what I do which works for me, you need to find one that works for you. I do stand behind the ball as far as I need to check out the break, if I need more time or a different view I will walk around till I am confident on where I need to aim. Once I am good with that I step up to the ball but about 6 inches back with my feet together and ball in the dead middle of my stance and take 3 practice swings in a row, I slide the putter up to the ball, adjust for aim, then I step up to the ball, in the middle of my stance, take one more look at the whole, move my hands forward so I get a nice roll, and fire. It sounds like a long process but really once I step up to my ball for my practice swings it takes I think around 10 - 15 seconds to actually roll the ball.

It's really about finding what works for you. As far as drills, the ones I use is having balls every two feet going back to about 16 feet and putt going back, really helps to build feel. I also putt from certain distance intervals a LOT to help get the exact feel. I also do not adjust my putting speed no matter if it is a 6" putt or a 40 foot putt, I adjust the size of my swing. Try to make it so I am only adjusting one variable, the size of swing.

[saevel25]

That i can agree with, alot is between the head...

Great advice was given on the golf channel last night.. The british guy was talking about preshot routine (sorry, i am horrible i with names). He said, imagine a box behind the ball, stand in it, this is your thinking box, this is were you take a practice swing, thinkg the shape of the shot, and get your aim. Once you step out of the box, you stop formulating the shot, you go through the routine of taking a stance and hitting a shot. I developed this style in my preshot routine with putting.

Luckily for me, i am a pretty natural green reader, i usually get a good sense for the line of the putt imedietly. Its rare for me to go to a 2nd angle, alot of times i might walk the line to see more of the last 3 feet of the putt, but not often. From behind the hole i will make a practice stroke in line with the putt. After each stroke i will trace the path of the ball with my eyes, imagining the speed and break. I do this about 2-3 times. Then i step back from the ball and find my aim point, from there i line up and hit it. Stepping back does, it allows me to reset my routine and timing. They did a thing on tiger a while ago, how his putting routine was exactly 14 seconds or so, i believe. So me stepping back, once i get my aim point, the clock is on, and i do everything from that point with the same timing. This allows me to leave no doubt because i don't allow 2nd guessing from here. If i feel uncomfortable over the putt, i step back adjust and reset the timer.

[Fatphil]

My pet peeve is PGA players giving putting advice like "it's all about confidence"  or "it's all between his ears" then watching a 10 handicapper lament he has no confidence thus by extraction that's why he can't putt.  They don't mention that even the worst putter you see on TV has a magnificent putting stroke and nearly perfect mechanics.

The reason us weekend players can't putt worth a damn is we can't hit the sweet spot and probably don't make the same stroke twice during an entire round.  That takes practice...a LOT of freakin practice.  Not just smacking 20 putts on a Saturday morning before the round.

[allin]

Originally Posted by Fatphil

My pet peeve is PGA players giving putting advice like "it's all about confidence"  or "it's all between his ears" then watching a 10 handicapper lament he has no confidence thus by extraction that's why he can't putt.  They don't mention that even the worst putter you see on TV has a magnificent putting stroke and nearly perfect mechanics.

The reason us weekend players can't putt worth a damn is we can't hit the sweet spot and probably don't make the same stroke twice during an entire round.  That takes practice...a LOT of freakin practice.  Not just smacking 20 putts on a Saturday morning before the round.

But most of the advice the give is generic and of little value.  How can they advise someone on their putting technique without seeing them putt?  Have you ever watched Corey Pavin putt?  he manipulates the clubface and hits down on the ball.  You wouldn't teach anyone to putt that way and he is a great putter.  Putting like anything else requires that you understand what you are trying to do and then practicing it.  Earlier posts emphasized this, you have to be able to judge distance, start the putt on the line you see, have a consistent routine.  Studies have shown that most people don't read putts properly but through practice and the feedback process they train their body to hit it where it needs to go.  If you are confident in other words your brain and body correct for you.  Doubt prevents this from happening.  Of course you can use putting aids, chalk lines, train your eyes, feet to see and feel the green so you get closer to an accurate read which should help most people.