Putting - DO NOT Accelerate Through the Ball

[skeedawg]

Stoked for my first Aimpoint lesson tomorrow. Big thanks @iacas for the comments!

[skeedawg]

Had a great lesson with a local Aimpoint instructor today. His approach followed everything discussed in this thread which helped me feel confident about my decision to work with him. We worked first on tempo, so I get what @iacas was talking about above. We talked about as rhythm or timing, and I like thinking about it as rhythm since I have a bit of a music background. Next we worked on trusting my judgement of spatial distance, similar to throwing a ball. I found that really helpful since I've thrown thousands of baseballs with my son. The key was you don't think about how far to throw the ball a given distance, you just do it. Same with putting even though there are other factors involved. 

Spatial distance drill - hit one ball short and one long on purpose, then hit one the distance you judge to the hole. 

2nd distance drill - hit four balls with varying backstroke lengths - short, medium, longer, longest (good one for getting green speed before a round)

Next we worked on reading slope to gauge the break. I finally get what people said about looking a little silly using your feet to feel the slope. It was cool engaging other senses to get an accurate read of the slope. Can't trust your eyes!

And finally I took it to the course late today and dropped 4 strokes, from my strokes gained measure in GG. An 81 versus the 85 I shot yesterday. Pretty cool. Much more work to be done, but I'll definitely be going back. 

[dchoye]

One of the concept I seen on YouTube is "releasing the putter head" 

I really believe that is going to lead to poor putting. 

If anything, holding the finish at the target had worked much better for me 

I don't mean "blocking" the putter head but having a abbreviated finish that stops somewhere from the instep of the front foot to the outside edge of the front foot depending on the length of the putt. 

Edited October 19, 2016 by dchoye

[mvmac]

Peter Jacobsen just said Jack Nicklaus doesn't have a long followthrough with his putting stroke 

[NoobSwingz]

Any specific putter type that's good for the pendulum stroke? Mine is kinda meant to stand beside the ball and not over it I think. Just a box set strata putter.......maybe face Balance mallet?

Here is mine

[Dannyhansen88]

Wow, great information. So contrary to what I've been told, I'm gonna have to try it cause I putt really poorly.

[iacas]

48 minutes ago, NoobSwingz said:

Any specific putter type that's good for the pendulum stroke? Mine is kinda meant to stand beside the ball and not over it I think. Just a box set strata putter.......maybe face Balance mallet?

All putters are fine.

2 minutes ago, Dannyhansen88 said:

Wow, great information. So contrary to what I've been told, I'm gonna have to try it cause I putt really poorly.

Most of the correct information you'll find here is gonna be contrary to what you've always heard…

BTW, pick up a copy of LSW.

[Dannyhansen88]

Just now, iacas said:

All putters are fine.

Most of the correct information you'll find here is gonna be contrary to what you've always heard…

BTW, pick up a copy of LSW.

I've noticed! haha

[Killa]

Ok, so I didn't have time to read this whole thread through so if this has already been answered just point me in the right direction and I'll read it.

I have been trying this method for a while now and I feel like I can implement it in my game. What I do have trouble with is lag putting, or specifically LONG lag putting. Like 30' long. I can't seem to generate enough power with the pendulum swing to get that kind of distance without actually "hitting" the ball. I mean I'd almost have to raise the putter perpendicular to the floor to get distance on those really long putts. 

[iacas]

6 hours ago, Killa said:

Ok, so I didn't have time to read this whole thread through so if this has already been answered just point me in the right direction and I'll read it.

I have been trying this method for a while now and I feel like I can implement it in my game. What I do have trouble with is lag putting, or specifically LONG lag putting. Like 30' long. I can't seem to generate enough power with the pendulum swing to get that kind of distance without actually "hitting" the ball. I mean I'd almost have to raise the putter perpendicular to the floor to get distance on those really long putts. 

Your tempo is way too slow then.

Putting isn't purely about using gravity. That's to help with the feeling.

[Killa]

3 hours ago, iacas said:

Your tempo is way too slow then.

Putting isn't purely about using gravity. That's to help with the feeling.

Just finished a tournament. A friend in my flight (that finished +4 on the round) told me I'm slowing the putter on the downswing. 

[DaveP043]

21 hours ago, Killa said:

Just finished a tournament. A friend in my flight (that finished +4 on the round) told me I'm slowing the putter on the downswing. 

This is where reality and feel can contradict each other.  If you're slowing down coming into the ball (which in my experience seems to be fairly common in poorer putters), you may need to FEEL like you're accelerating just to achieve the ideal that is described in this thread.  Like many changes in a golf swing, you almost need to over-do the change to actually make it right.

[Killa]

2 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

This is where reality and feel can contradict each other.  If you're slowing down coming into the ball (which in my experience seems to be fairly common in poorer putters), you may need to FEEL like you're accelerating just to achieve the ideal that is described in this thread.  Like many changes in a golf swing, you almost need to over-do the change to actually make it right.

Thing is that I don't consider myself a poor putter. I played a tournament on one of the nicest courses in our country yesterday. Probably the fastest greens and they kept getting faster as the sun was shining yesterday (I was told that by a friend in my flight that finished with a 76). 

I had 38 putts on 17 holes. I had 5 3 putts. 2 of those 3 putts came on the first 2 holes. And I was rarely inside 10 feet for the first putt. In a round of 101 over 17 holes (had ESC on one par 5 where I picked the ball up) 38 putts were pretty decent. 

[DaveP043]

On 5/21/2017 at 0:44 AM, Killa said:

What I do have trouble with is lag putting, or specifically LONG lag putting. Like 30' long. I can't seem to generate enough power with the pendulum swing to get that kind of distance without actually "hitting" the ball.

 

11 minutes ago, Killa said:

Thing is that I don't consider myself a poor putter.

On one hand, you say you have trouble with lag putts, then you say you're not a poor putter.  And someone has told you that you're decelerating.  My suggestion, a FEELING of acceleration might help you get more putts to the hole, especially the long ones.

[Jeremie Boop]

I've had a pretty decent start to the year putting so far, just focusing on bringing the putter back to what feels like the right distance then allowing it to just swing down on it's own weight. For the most part my distance control has been pretty good, even on the longer putts, allowing for easy tap ins for a follow up when I miss.

[Killa]

1 hour ago, DaveP043 said:

 

On one hand, you say you have trouble with lag putts, then you say you're not a poor putter.  And someone has told you that you're decelerating.  My suggestion, a FEELING of acceleration might help you get more putts to the hole, especially the long ones.

I will take that into consideration. I will also film myself putting - I didn't even consider doing that before. 

[klineka]

2 hours ago, Killa said:

Thing is that I don't consider myself a poor putter. I played a tournament on one of the nicest courses in our country yesterday. Probably the fastest greens and they kept getting faster as the sun was shining yesterday (I was told that by a friend in my flight that finished with a 76). 

I had 38 putts on 17 holes. I had 5 3 putts. 2 of those 3 putts came on the first 2 holes. And I was rarely inside 10 feet for the first putt. In a round of 101 over 17 holes (had ESC on one par 5 where I picked the ball up) 38 putts were pretty decent. 

I feel like you just contradicted your self in this post. You stated that you dont consider yourself a poor putter but then you stated you 3 putted 5 out of 17 holes (29%) 

That is averaging 2.23 putts per hole. 

If you 3 putted half as much as you did in your last round, you could save 2-3 shots. 

I am not trying to brag or show off because these numbers are far from impressive, but below are the number of putts ive had for my last 8 rounds of 18 holes, which comes out to a 33.75 average per 18 holes. 

33
32
33
36
29
34
38
35

 

Putting might not be the worst part of your game, but when you 3 putt aprox. 1 out of every 3 holes you play, I dont understand how you can honestly say you dont consider yourself a poor putter. How many putts per round are enough in your opinion to quantify someone as a poor putter?

[Killa]

1 hour ago, DaveP043 said:

 

On one hand, you say you have trouble with lag putts, then you say you're not a poor putter.  And someone has told you that you're decelerating.  My suggestion, a FEELING of acceleration might help you get more putts to the hole, especially the long ones.

What I meant by that is that I have a problem using this technique (that I understood poorly in the first place) to generate distance. Especially on the slower greens I'm used to. On the fast ones from yesterday getting distance wasn't a problem. 

2 hours ago, klineka said:

I feel like you just contradicted your self in this post. You stated that you dont consider yourself a poor putter but then you stated you 3 putted 5 out of 17 holes (29%) 

That is averaging 2.23 putts per hole. 

If you 3 putted half as much as you did in your last round, you could save 2-3 shots. 

I am not trying to brag or show off because these numbers are far from impressive, but below are the number of putts ive had for my last 8 rounds of 18 holes, which comes out to a 33.75 average per 18 holes. 

 

33
32
33
36
29
34
38
35

 

Putting might not be the worst part of your game, but when you 3 putt aprox. 1 out of every 3 holes you play, I dont understand how you can honestly say you dont consider yourself a poor putter. How many putts per round are enough in your opinion to quantify someone as a poor putter?

Well it depends. Well you did have a 38 there :) Thing is that I'm not used to those greens. When I play another course over here that has slower greens I never putt more than 18 times for 9 holes. 

And as I've said I 3 putted the first 2 holes, then when I got a bit more used to the greens I 3 putted 3 times in the next 15... I know it's not anywhere perfect or very good but at this point my end score consists of about 1/3 putting instead of 1/2. 

 

(this is all for the sake of argument, I know that I will need to improve my putting and I am working on it, just at this point in my game my putting is the strong suit)