Putting Drills?

[jcrew]

I am an absolutely terrible putter. Technically (stroke wise) I'm pretty decent but 1. I have absolutely no touch for distance and 2. I never align myself correctly ...(however I don't tend to push or pull many putts)
I just 5-putted today and I must have had around 50 putts during my round today (worst of the last half year). So: any putting drills that you guys can share with me, particularly on distance control?

btw: I just got a new yes! tracy putter

[Jack_2251]

For alignment I tend to just go on the putting green and set down a club in front of my feet pointing at target and then two clubs, parallel, pointing at target. The two clubs should just be wide enough to fit putter in. Then just stroke some putts.
It is basic but it has worked for me.

[is 120 respectable]

Distance used to destroy my putts as well. I would either blow them by the hole or leave them halfway short. One thing that I have started doing (I know that I'm not alone here) is when I'm above and beside my ball I take my practice strokes not while looking at the ground but while looking at the hole. I might make 3 or even 4 continuous, pendulum-like strokes all the while I'm trying to gauge exactly how hard I have got to hit the putt to get it to the promised land. Then when you feel like you have your speed, step up and imagine how good the ball is going to sound when it hits the bottom of the cup. I think this would be perfect to improve your touch while trusting your good technique. It has worked wonders for me.

I should also mention this isn't a drill, sorry about that.

[TD22057]

One thing I've found that really helps my speed control is to pace off every putt. After I do this, I start telling myself data about the putt in my head over and over again while I take my practice strokes. Things like "23 feet, a little uphill, into the grain, 23 feet, a little uphill, etc, etc".

It sounds kinda silly to explain it but it has really helped my distance control. I think it's a kind of feedback loop - over time my subconscious seems to remember what each length of putt feels like and my distance control has improved a ton since the beginning of the year.

[gr8hntr]

in my putting lesson the pro did the ladder drill
place 4 balls about 2, 4, 6, 8, foot from the cup and putt them in.

For distance controll he put 2 tees the width of the cup (4.25 inches) in the green and a tee 18 inches behind the 2 tees
try to putt between the 2 tees and stop the ball by the tee behind the 2 tees (the fake hole). i putted from 8 feet


tee


18
inches



tee <4.25 in> tee

the fig. didnt show the way i made it ...the back tee is in a line with the middle of the 2 tees ...not off to the side

[silliwilli]

I am another putter who struggles on finding the right speed but recently I am hve made a determined effort to keep my head and eyes still, fixed to the spot between the ball and putter during the stroke

I find this allows you to concentrate on feeling the stroke and how hard you should hit it for different distances, take this to the practice and hit long putts for an hour and see if it helps

For your stroke, I like the drill posted above with two clubs parallel to the target just wide enough to fit a putter between

[i-Guy]

I have found that to be a good putter you have to putt with feel. However , before you can even consider putting with feel you have to go through a period of working on fundamentals (posture, grip alignment, stroke path etc...). Once you have these things set up then you start to practice feel. Because in my humble opinion if you try to putt with feel but your fundamentals suck you will struggle with consistency. Here is a recent putting drill that David Toms does to control distance. The idea of this drill is never 3 putt as you always have a tap in for your second putt:

Set up tees at 3, 6, 9, 12, & 15 feet (further if you like). Then take out the flag and lay it down two feet behind the hole. Now putt two balls from each distance starting at 3 feet and then proceed to the next tee but only if you have accomplished at least the following:
1) Get both balls at least to the hole (good thing to make each putt but not necessary). If one of the balls comes up short you have to start over at the 3 foot tees. This is the old philosophy that you will miss 100% of the putts you leave short!
2) If your putt goes pass the hole it cannot hit the flag stick. If it does then you have to start over at the 3 foot tees again.

So in essence this drill teaches you to putt aggressively and get the ball to the hole but not to the point that you 3 putt. Tough drill as it took me a couple of days to accomplish up to 15 feet. Hope this helps!

[sonicblue]

In practice, I'd say there are four parts to putting:

1) Picking a line
2) Picking a speed
3) Accomplishing that line
4) Accomplishing the speed

#1 is tough. Breaks will be very subtle and different from green to green and takes superb skill to read a green accurately. However, IME, it's hard to misread a putt by a lot, so as an amateur, give yourself a break. Take a look, watch putts that go before you, and just make your best guess.

#2 isn't too hard. Unless the greenskeeper is asleep at the wheel, most greens generally have the same baseline speed and after a few holes, it should be a simple formula in your head of length, uphill/downhill and grain (if you want to get picky). As you get better, you'll get this feel earlier and earlier, hopefully eventually hammering it out on the practice green.

#3 should be the easiest. With practice, alignment should be simply aiming your putter and aligning your stance. I think most people don't practice JUST alignment, they just practice "putting," but if you isolate just that part, it really is pretty simple. Either way, the point to remember is, once you've taken your stance, that part is done. You can't change your line now, so move on to the next step, which is really the only physical skill when it comes to putting....

#4 is the deal! You've picked your line and you've aligned to it. You have a feel for speed in your head, now the ONLY thing once you're over the ball is accomplishing the feat of swinging that putter the proper speed. However, if you can manage to kick steps #1-3 out of your mind, it gets much easier and you will get better at it.

[ericm]

jcrew,

How is your chipping?

[Everardo]

I use this drill, take 5 tees and stick them in the ground at 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 feet. Next take 5 balls and make 5 in a row from each location. If you make them all in a row then that's 25 putts but If you miss ONE then you have to start all over!

The fastest I've ever completed the drill is less than 10 minutes but there have been many days that I had to stop because the sun went down. Your back will scream at you those days but overall this will really enhance your putting.

Attachment 521
Please excuse the crude drawing

[Heat]

i like taking 5 balls from my bag and putting each one farther than the previous from the hole. If you miss one; you have to start the entire line over again. You learn to handle frustrating puts and adds some awareness on how speed effects each put. My diagram:

[hole] O O O O O


O represents the ball, if you miss any of them before 5; you must start from the beginning

[Everardo]

i like taking 5 balls from my bag and putting each one farther than the previous from the hole. If you miss one; you have to start the entire line over again. You learn to handle frustrating puts and adds some awareness on how speed effects each put. My diagram:

Sounds like we're explaining the same drill (just explaining it a little different)

[i-Guy]

jcrew,

Great point...in refernce to the fact of how close are you hitting it to the hole to reduce the chance of 3 putting or giving youself better chances to one putt. It reminds me of the famous Harvey Penick story as follows:

A young Pro went into Harvey's office and told told him he was having troubles making 15 foot putts on a consistent basis. Harvey said "Well lets go see what is going on". When they left the office the Pro started walking toward the putting green but looked and saw Harvey heading toward the range. The Pro stopped and said "Harvey, why are you going to the range? I told you my problem was 15 foot putts". Harvey turned and replied "Yeah I know. I am going to show you how to hit it closer to the hole" LOL

[Heat]

Sounds like we're explaining the same drill (just explaining it a little different)

lol sorry I didnt read any of the posts, I thought I came up with it myself

[JKilgore44]

not so much a drill, but something for you to think about...

hitting a putt long is almost always better than leaving a putt short. If you leave a putt short, you never gave it a chance at going into the hole. Even if you hit one long, it had enough distance to get to the cup, therefore it is better than leaving it short. With that in mind, eliminate hitting it short and work on hitting it withing the cup and a 3-foot space behind the hole. Once you can hit it in the 3ft semi-circle, you'll be amazed at how much better speed control will become.

If you want to make a drill out of it, go to 20ft and put tees 3ft right of the cup, 3ft left of the cup, and 3ft behind the cup (Nothing in front of it). Get used to hitting it in that area and you'll surely improve.

[beung]

A few things:

1) Get a pre-shot routine, it might take a couple re-iterations but get one with like 5 or so steps involved, don't make it too long. Make sure you do each and every step, every single time. You can use this for chipping or even full shots as well. Do all your calculating before your pre-shot routine but once you start your routine do each step the same each time from start to finish. If you get interupted, step back and start over. This is going to get you thinking of the routine instead of the shot and its result.

2) To help with distance and keeping your head down so you don't peek early, practise by closing the eye that is closest to the hole. If you can't see the hole during your stroke you are not going to try and steer the ball to the hole or second guess yourself.

3) Putting is all confience, if you know you are going to make it, you will, if think you are going to miss it then you will.

[jcrew]

jcrew,

70% of the time i can get it to within 6-7ish feet from anywhere around the green including the fringe, greenside bunker, up to 5-10 yards out

20% i can get it to within 15 feet 5% i'm just somewhere on the green 5% i have to make another chip so... i would say it's pretty good.. it's definitely one of the more consistent parts of my game problem is i still can't make those 6-7 feet putts

[WhiteSoxFan]

I use this drill, take 5 tees and stick them in the ground at 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 feet. Next take 5 balls and make 5 in a row from each location. If you make them all in a row then that's 25 putts but If you miss ONE then you have to start all over!

I went out an putted for about an hour yesterday at lunch. I played around with a few of these drills - thanks for the suggestions.

I also did a variaton on the one described above. I have worked on putts inside of 10 feet a lot over the past couple of months, but I've neglected longer putts a little bit, and I've found that my distance control on longer putts needs some serious work. So, I basically did the drill above, but started at about 3 feet and used 6 balls, each about 3 feet behind the previous ball - so 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21. Obviously I didn't include the part about making 5 at each distance before moving on or I'd still be out there.