Putting Woes

[Howling Coyote]

I am terrible at putting.  At 5 feet I have no confidence, preferring to hit the ball 4 feet (short of the hole) so that the last putt is less than 2 feet.  Now the greens where I play can be pretty nasty.  If one has a 5 ft putt, just going 1 foot past the hole can cause the ball to roll the other way and you could find yourself with a longer putt.  But I have estimated that I could shave 6-7 strokes off my score if I could only putt better.

I have no trouble with distance control, except really long putts.  My problem is the ball often does not follow the line I wanted it to follow.  My stroke path appears to be the problem.

So I am looking for help.  What could I do to improve my putting?

[SavvySwede]

22 minutes ago, Howling Coyote said:

I am terrible at putting.  At 5 feet I have no confidence, preferring to hit the ball 4 feet (short of the hole) so that the last putt is less than 2 feet.  Now the greens where I play can be pretty nasty.  If one has a 5 ft putt, just going 1 foot past the hole can cause the ball to roll the other way and you could find yourself with a longer putt.  But I have estimated that I could shave 6-7 strokes off my score if I could only putt better.

I have no trouble with distance control, except really long putts.  My problem is the ball often does not follow the line I wanted it to follow.  My stroke path appears to be the problem.

So I am looking for help.  What could I do to improve my putting?

What's your current practice routine/frequency of practice?

[Howling Coyote]

SavySwede

Before I never practiced putting.  I had too many swing faults and just allowed putting to take the back seat.  Now I am hitting greens only to 3-putt and sometimes 4-putt.

So now I practice once each week about 1hour.  Also just before a round, I will make half dozen putts.  My putting does seem be improving, but not much.

Edited February 16, 2016 by Howling Coyote
Clarity

[Golfingdad]

2 hours ago, Howling Coyote said:

My problem is the ball often does not follow the line I wanted it to follow.

Find a straight 6-8 foot putt and then attach a string about 4" up between two knitting needles in the ground and putt beneath that string.  Just practice keeping it on line.  If you want to improve distance as well, then take that string and lay it on the ground and putt to it from 15' away, straight uphill and straight downhill.

Lastly, improve your mechanics by reading the first post in this thread:

Good luck.

[DrvFrShow]

Take a putting lesson. Seriously. Take a putting lesson. The pro can identify your putting faults.

Also before you play a round, lag putt for about 20 minutes. This is putting the ball from about 20 feet and trying to get the ball within 3 feet from the hole. You use 4 balls and try to get each of them there. It will take a bit of time for your brain to calibrate the practice green. The practice green is supposed to be similar to the greens on the course. When you can do that you should eliminate a number of 3 putts and all of your 4 putts.

 

[Rip62]

I switched to a left low grip and the ball started following my line much better. It did take a few a few practice sessions to get speed right.

[Ernest Jones]

22 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

Find a straight 6-8 foot putt and then attach a string about 4" up between two knitting needles in the ground and putt beneath that string.  Just practice keeping it on line.  If you want to improve distance as well, then take that string and lay it on the ground and putt to it from 15' away, straight uphill and straight downhill.

Lastly, improve your mechanics by reading the first post in this thread:

Good luck.

@Howling Coyote, @Golfingdad beat me to it, his post is exactly what you need to do! The good news is you're one step ahead of the game because you've already identified why you suck , you're not hitting your lines. Practice the drill he suggested. If you're nailing that drill and still sucking, then you might want to look at taking an aimpoint class to improve your reads.  Aimpoint is so good you'll feel like you're cheating but it only works if you can hit your lines and control your speed. 

Putting is all about your read, speed and aim. You need to be firing on all 3 of those cylinders if you want to sink tons of putts. 

Best of luck. 

[Howling Coyote]

Update

I have been practicing using a string over the practice green.  Thanks GolfingDad, this seems to work.  Also somebody mentioned on another thread, putting capture speed (I think it was IACAS).  That was an excellent article since when I practiced, say from 5 ft, the balls would be clustered around 5 feet instead of beyond 5 feet (by that magic 17").

The article "Putting - Do not accelerate through the ball", the title is misleading.  What is meant is on the downswing, some people accelerate continuously.  All of this acceleration is done before impact.  I experimented with hitting the ball, rolling the ball, rolling the ball with follow through.  I found the last works the best.  What the follow through means is that after impact one gently accelerates the putter through the ball, simultaneously making sure the putter follows the line.

Now lag putting.  I am not sure what that is.  Is that hitting the ball a longer distance where you don't care about going 17" past the hit, just as long as you are within 3' of the hole?

I just had a round, well several rounds now, where the dreaded 4-putt is gone.  My last round I almost got rid of the 3 putt, but on the last hole blew it.

I am working on a putting evaluation technique, because sometimes it may appear that putting is getting worse.  I will start a new thread on this.

[dchoye]

Acceleration is a physics term. I think as long as the velocity change is not drastic faster or slower and and merely "coast" thru the ball then there will be better distance control.

[the fish]

Often times I practice putting in my living room, after I have put my daughter to bed, so I can't use the knitting needles and string method.  I do put a line on my ball, however, and this is a great visual indicator of getting the ball started online.  If the putt is good, you can see the ball roll end over end.  If the line disappears, you know something is amiss (push, pull, open/closed face).

I putt from about 8' to a cheap plastic cup I got from The Golf Mart.

[iacas]

2 hours ago, Howling Coyote said:

The article "Putting - Do not accelerate through the ball", the title is misleading.  What is meant is on the downswing, some people accelerate continuously.  All of this acceleration is done before impact.  I experimented with hitting the ball, rolling the ball, rolling the ball with follow through.  I found the last works the best.  What the follow through means is that after impact one gently accelerates the putter through the ball, simultaneously making sure the putter follows the line.

The title is fine. Technically acceleration is positive or negative, but the common advice is to accelerate THROUGH the ball (with "accelerate" being assumed to be positive, and "decelerate" negative). Which means that golfers are positively accelerating after or "through" the ball, which is bad.

The title could have been "Decelerate into the Ball" but that wouldn't have done as well in search and so more people would have missed one of the best topics of discussion on the site.

[Ernest Jones]

1 hour ago, the fish said:

Often times I practice putting in my living room, after I have put my daughter to bed, so I can't use the knitting needles and string method.  I do put a line on my ball, however, and this is a great visual indicator of getting the ball started online.  If the putt is good, you can see the ball roll end over end.  If the line disappears, you know something is amiss (push, pull, open/closed face).

I putt from about 8' to a cheap plastic cup I got from The Golf Mart.

You can tie the string between two chairs or something. 

[Howling Coyote]

47 minutes ago, iacas said:

The title is fine. Technically acceleration is positive or negative, but the common advice is to accelerate THROUGH the ball (with "accelerate" being assumed to be positive, and "decelerate" negative). Which means that golfers are positively accelerating after or "through" the ball, which is bad.

The title could have been "Decelerate into the Ball" but that wouldn't have done as well in search and so more people would have missed one of the best topics of discussion on the site.

iacas

Well you are right.  There is no way to come up with a simple title that says it all...  Anyway the content is what's important.

So what I found works best is initial acceleration for 1/3 - 1/2 of the putter arc, then uniform speed for the remainder up to impact.  Right at impact a one time push or bump up in speed.  Too much post impact acceleration and distance control becomes a problem.  Also its too easy to jerk the putter around and pull the ball off its line.

[the fish]

43 minutes ago, Ernest Jones said:

You can tie the string between two chairs or something. 

Why didn't I think of that? Good idea!

[SavvySwede]

1 hour ago, Howling Coyote said:

iacas

Well you are right.  There is no way to come up with a simple title that says it all...  Anyway the content is what's important.

So what I found works best is initial acceleration for 1/3 - 1/2 of the putter arc, then uniform speed for the remainder up to impact.  Right at impact a one time push or bump up in speed.  Too much post impact acceleration and distance control becomes a problem.  Also its too easy to jerk the putter around and pull the ball off its line.

That sounds like a terrible idea. Your more or less defining a "twitch" into the ball. Just maintain speed and you'll do a lot better.

[DrvFrShow]

The idea is to make a smooth stroke through the ball with the putter. When the club head impacts the ball it will decelerate on its own. I have a pretty bad yip that plagued me last year. I spoke with a pro about it, and it's pretty common. I went to a long putter and am using the same method as Bernard Langer. During my practice sessions, as long as I do not get impatient, I am having much better luck with it. I'm determined to improve this part of my game this season. 

I would also draw lines around your ball. When you place your ball on the green make sure that the line on the ball is in line with your putting line. Then when you stand next to your ball make two or three practice swings trying to get them as smooth as possible and of the proper length for the putt so that you don't have to accelerate to get the distance you need, or so that you don't over swing. Putting is all about feel. Use the large muscles. Keep the hands out of it. Take the putter back and let it come through at its natural tempo. It's own momentum should be enough if you've practiced enough with your putter. Trust your line. There will be times when you will three putt. I've missed 1 footers when I've been impatient or when I've thought about it too much.

Heavy putter heads and counter balanced putters have helped people. This is why it is important to also be fitted for a putter. Just grabbing one off the rack isn't necessarily the best way of going about this. You use this more than any other club in the bag. A Scotty might work for you. A TaylorMade might work for you. A SeeMore might work for you. An Edel might work for you. I use an Odyssey.

[Ernest Jones]

9 hours ago, Howling Coyote said:

iacas

Well you are right.  There is no way to come up with a simple title that says it all...  Anyway the content is what's important.

So what I found works best is initial acceleration for 1/3 - 1/2 of the putter arc, then uniform speed for the remainder up to impact.  Right at impact a one time push or bump up in speed.  Too much post impact acceleration and distance control becomes a problem.  Also its too easy to jerk the putter around and pull the ball off its line.

Umm...no, don't do that. You're way over thinking this. It's putting, there is not a whole lot going on.  

Bring the putter head back on a slight arc, swing it back through. Practice hitting your intended line. Learn how to control distance through practice. 

[Howling Coyote]

17 hours ago, DrvFrShow said:

The idea is to make a smooth stroke through the ball with the putter. When the club head impacts the ball it will decelerate on its own.

...

Heavy putter heads and counter balanced putters have helped people. This is why it is important to also be fitted for a putter. Just grabbing one off the rack isn't necessarily the best way of going about this. You use this more than any other club in the bag. A Scotty might work for you. A TaylorMade might work for you. A SeeMore might work for you. An Edel might work for you. I use an Odyssey.

Hmmm...

OK you are all advocating hitting the ball with no follow-through.  This is truly hitting the ball and quite easy to do.  Much easier than follow-through.  For months I have been hitting the ball and had nothing but problems.  If it were that easy than I should not of been having so many problems.  I guess I am saying that I am skeptical.

If one hits the ball without follow-through then the law of conservation of momentum applies.  This means the momentum just before impact must equal the momentum after impact ( note Vp = velocity of the putter, Vb = velocity of the ball, etc.).

Mp*Vp0  =  Mp*Vp1 + Mb*Vb1    * if you hit the ball the conservation of momentum applies *

Rearranging terms.

(Mp/Mb) * (Vp0 - Vp1) = Vb1

This means to achieve the same ball speed for a light putter means the putter will slow down more than for a heavy putter.

To achieve follow-though the putter, which has slowed down post impact, must be accelerated back to its original speed so that it can "follow" the ball.  At least that is my interpretation of follow-through.  Am I totally off my rocker???