Putting thoughts

[DFerlmann]

When you are over a putt what thoughts are running through your mind?

[Chubbs]

My putting has been atrocious lately (severe lack of practice), so I'm interested to see where this thread goes... because my thoughts have been raging!

[Mr. Desmond]

Originally Posted by DFerlmann

When you are over a putt what thoughts are running through your mind?

None

I have a smile on my face - I'm outside and playing golf ... nothin' much better.

[threejack]

something along the lines of "get it there" and then i proceed to leave it short.

[RPMPIRE]

"Make a smooth stroke"

If you trust in your line and your aim, then all that's needed to do is make a smooth stroke.

[saevel25]

most of the time its just keep my held still and down. This keeps my mind off thinknig of speed to much. When i think of speed to much i end up jabbing at putts and the ball will go way past the hole.

[GaijinGolfer]

For me the only thing in my mind is the image of the ball dropping into the center of the cup.  If you get to mechanical or dont have a clear image in your mind of what you want the ball to do, it becomes much more difficult to do what you want.

[Spyder]

Just give it a little tappy, tap tap.. tap-aroo! Oh, and it's alllll in the hips. It's all in the hips! The ball's bags are packed, all you've got to do is send it home. Harness the good energy, out with the bad. Classic.

[iacas]

I've already gotten my read and chosen a line and lined up, so the only thing I'm thinking about is reacting to the putt to make a stroke which will propel the ball the proper distance.

[mdl]

I'm not thinking of anything.  I'm a player who chooses a point to aim at where I would aim if the putt was flat with no break.  So uphill right-to-left putts I'm aiming past and to the right of the whole, etc.  So by the time I'm over my putt I'm trying not to think of anything.  I've actually found that I putt much better when I do everything I can not to think of anything.

The way I force myself to think as little as possible is to take the time I need to line up my putt, take a practice stroke, and then step over the putt, look quickly and only once at my aim point, look back at the ball, then immediately hit the putt.  The longer I stand over the ball and the more times I look back and forth between the ball and my aim point, the more I start thinking and the worse I putt.

[rustyredcab]

After picking an aim point, I line up the line on my ball with the aim point, and set up over the ball. I take one look at the aim point, look back at the ball and try and see the aim point in my mind as I putt and think about nothing but hitting the ball to that point -- that's when things are going well.

When I start thinking, it is about grip pressure, keeping my right palm moving square at impact, feeling like my trail arm is straight, wondering about my feet and ball position, length of backstroke, the line on my ball, question the read, question the setup, think about the followthrough, maybe think about my score, think that I shouldn't be thinking about this stuff... it is like a pre-launch check list from NASA. Often, surprisingly, I hit those putts on a good line but speed is so bad I miss most of them.

[e1it3z0r]

After I line myself up correctly and am ready to put, all I think is keep my arms and hands relaxed and let my shoulders do the work. any more than that seems stressful to me

[tristanhilton85]

Usually my thought over a putt is regarding the speed.  By the time I'm standing over it I've already figured out what my line is so I'm just trying to hit it the correct distance (which I usually don't).

[Mr. Desmond]

Originally Posted by Mr. Desmond

None

I have a smile on my face - I'm outside and playing golf ... nothin' much better.

By the above, I mean that when I'm over the ball, the thinking is done.

Before I'm over the ball, I set up to it, getting the putter face on the proper line and positioning the feet square to that line and making certain the ball is positioned between the feet at the proper point to avoid pushes and pulls -- I keep moving slightly as I set up -- to stay relaxed.

Once I'm set up -- I'm thinking speed as my head swivels down the line - then I quiet the mind by looking at a dot on the ball, and then I release the stroke.