Frustrating Round-Bad Putters Represent

[MrDC]

Try left hand low, it really helped my putting, especially lags, I find my speed control on the long ones so much better, Jordan Spieth and his wizardry from 15'+ is all I needed to see to convince me it was worth a try.

I just went to the practice green for a couple of hours and tried both grips for long putts only, and found that I consistently was able to get within the 3' circle with LHL, but not RHL, so I started using it on the course.

What's funny is switch back to right hand low for the close ones, I like it better for the soft touch, and it's working! my 3 putts are way down, two grips, it's nuts.

I also recommend a Super Stroke grip, it works well with LHL.

[joekelly]

Watching ole MAJimenez at Virginia Water UK, dropping putts, even eliminating putts with HIO: what a guy!  But really what i saw of merit was his putting grip; LHL = left hand low, or aka, crosshand putting.  Yeah, left hand low on the grip.

How can that make a diff?  I tried it today for an hour.  Wow, is all i can say.  Much smoother striking, more consistent, better distance control and on the practice green, more drops from 20 feet.  We will see if it  holds up tomorrow on the course.  Hope so, as regular putting for me is shitt i o.

My motto: quit bitchin', get better.  But gods amighty, what a difficult challenge.

Just google 'crosshand putting' for more info.

[Ernest Jones]

I used to putt crosshanded. It really makes it impossible to be wristy. I've been a little too wristy (the hit impulse) so far this season which is making me leave a lot of putts short or just taking more break than they should. Not quite ready to go back to LHL, but I may do some drills with it just to get back my feel for a flat left wrist. Some people like wristy putting but it just effs up my distance control.

[9wood]

Played a par 3 course and could only get a 39. My putting game killed me. Too many sloping and hilly greens with huge breaks right or left when you putt. Lots of 2 putts, and a couple of 3 putts. A par on the 194 yd hole and another par on a 145 yd hole were the only high light of the day.

[RFKFREAK]

I join this today.

It's nice to hear @Golfingdad and @Ernest Jones talk about taking away the positives which I will from what I scored, but man, my putting left a lot to be desired yesterday.

[mvmac]

When you have a bad putting round you gotta just

[Ernest Jones]

I join this today.

It's nice to hear @Golfingdad and @Ernest Jones talk about taking away the positives which I will from what I scored, but man, my putting left a lot to be desired yesterday.

Don't listen to those idiots...

[Golfingdad]

Never considered myself a bad putter but maybe that's just cuz I mask it by missing a lot of greens.

[Shindig]

Never considered myself a bad putter but maybe that's just cuz I mask it by missing a lot of greens.

-- Michael | My swing! 

"You think you're Jim Furyk. That's why your phone is never charged." - message from my mother

Driver:  Titleist 915D2.  4-wood:  Titleist 917F2.  Titleist TS2 19 degree hybrid.  Another hybrid in here too.  Irons 5-U, Ping G400.  Wedges negotiable (currently 54 degree Cleveland, 58 degree Titleist) Edel putter. 

[Golfingdad]

In fairness, the greens on Sunday seemed very difficult to read. I don't think your typical 12 GIR round (congratulations, by the way) would include 41 putts.

Yeah.  They were also really difficult to putt.  I'm not sure about your group, but our group had a couple of putts on 1 that were coming from the front of the green and just trickled by the hole ... then rolled 15 feet and off the back of the green.  That turned out to be fairly indicative of the greens and pin locations for the day.

On #6, for example (the first par 5) I hit the middle of the green with my approach and still had about a 75' first putt.  And it was coming almost up the spine of a crown.  I ended up about 20' left of the hole and I think if I would've aimed a little further right and/or hit it harder it would have broke the other way.

#9 and #11 are situations where just having played the course before and/or having an idea of how imperative it is to be up on the same level as the pin, AND how much room behind the pin there was on the green, would have saved those from being 3-putts by adjusting the approach strategy a bit.

[colin007]

thanks guys, youre the best!  i really should be taking away the positives from that round instead of dwelling on the negatives.  on that point tho, looking back i think that my putting issues were more distance related than line.  i think i read putts pretty well but my distance control can sometimes be really off, especially outside of 15 feet.

but on the positive side, last three rounds have been 41,41, 42.

[dkolo]

thanks guys, youre the best!  i really should be taking away the positives from that round instead of dwelling on the negatives.  on that point tho, looking back i think that my putting issues were more distance related than line.  i think i read putts pretty well but my distance control can sometimes be really off, especially outside of 15 feet.

but on the positive side, last three rounds have been 41,41, 42.

Amen. I get very scared of running by the hole and leave putts woefully short. I'm making a concerted effort to be more aggressive.

[M2R]

I once produced a 91 by 3 putting seven times and 4 putting four times. I also managed to 7 putt a green once. The key is once, as even by my standards these are extreme outliers.

I spent a couple years trying to work that problem out and in the end decided the root cause was the same as for my full swing, bad technique/fundamental positions that when put under stress tended to cascade into increasing levels of disaster.

[colin007]

I once produced a 91 by 3 putting seven times and 4 putting four times. I also managed to 7 putt a green once. The key is once, as even by my standards these are extreme outliers.

I spent a couple years trying to work that problem out and in the end decided the root cause was the same as for my full swing, bad technique/fundamental positions that when put under stress tended to cascade into increasing levels of disaster.

WTF??? you four putted 4 times???? plus those three putts?  thats 15 extra strokes!!!  you mean you could have shot a 76 with two putting everything?

[M2R]

WTF??? you four putted 4 times???? plus those three putts?  thats 15 extra strokes!!!  you mean you could have shot a 76 with two putting everything?

Well I never thought of it in those terms but yes I suppose a normal putter might be able to shot 78 or 79 that day if they did my putting. A few putts were over 40 feet so I do not think most people could 2 putt all of them.

I have shot 76 or less there a few times, many, many years ago. You did say bad putters represent and as bad as a person may feel probably somewhere someone is worse off.

I did not feel a problem with putting till I started to hit a significant number GIR, then not two putting felt like death. And like I posted it was a cascading spiral of death where every 3 putt lead to more apprehension and fear for the next putt which eventually turned into a massive case of the yips.

[dkolo]

WTF??? you four putted 4 times???? plus those three putts?  thats 15 extra strokes!!!  you mean you could have shot a 76 with two putting everything?

Wow, only 4 four putts! Teach us your ways!

[colin007]

Well I never thought of it in those terms but yes I suppose a normal putter might be able to shot 78 or 79 that day if they did my putting. A few putts were over 40 feet so I do not think most people could 2 putt all of them.

I have shot 76 or less there a few times, many, many years ago. You did say bad putters represent  and as bad as a person may feel probably somewhere someone is worse off.

I did not feel a problem with putting till I started to hit a significant number GIR, then not two putting felt like death. And like I posted it was a cascading spiral of death where every 3 putt lead to more apprehension and fear for the next putt which eventually turned into a massive case of the yips.

yeah i can totally relate with those feelings of aprehension.  your handicap must have been lower then.

[Lihu]

I once produced a 91 by 3 putting seven times and 4 putting four times. I also managed to 7 putt a green once. The key is once, as even by my standards these are extreme outliers.

I spent a couple years trying to work that problem out and in the end decided the root cause was the same as for my full swing, bad technique/fundamental positions that when put under stress tended to cascade into increasing levels of disaster.

Yeah, I can relate to your plight. On good days I can average 5-6 strokes less just in putting strokes, the bad days explain my dichotomy of scores. I've putted as high as 37 recently and as low as 28. I'm thinking it's apathy or something. Today, I even hesitated to take a 1.5 foot gimme par on a practice round, and even 4 four putted for double bogey. It was only a practice round, anyway? This mentality is probably why I putted so much?

I'm guessing if we can get ourselves to think all our putts are worth "$1000 (or more) for the win" we would make more 2 putts or even less? I'm pretty sure it's a mental thing.