Putting Woes; Please Help!

[Alex B]

Here is a review of my putting today:

Hole 1: Lipped-out 12-footer (solid)
Hole 2: Made 4-footer (slight pull)
Hole 3: Lipped-out 4-footer (solid)
Hole 4: Edge-burn 4-footer (pull)
Hole 5: Edge-burn 8-footer (solid)
Hole 6: 25-footer to 3 feet (solid), putt holed from there (slight pull)
Hole 7: Made 2-footer (solid)
Hole 8: Made 1-footer (solid)
Hole 9: Edge-burn 10-footer (push)

My friend and I now switched to scramble mode (ugh! his idea...) because of our poor play. Since I'm the far better putter (even on a day such as this), I putted last, thus seeing the line before every putt I hit.

Hole 10: Partner holed
Hole 11: Partner holed
Hole 12: 12-footer missed badly (pull)
Hole 13: 60-footer to 4 feet (slight pull), lip-out from there (solid)
Hole 14: 18-footer to 3 feet (heel-pull that shot 3 feet off line), lip-out from there (pull)
Hole 15: 30-footer to tap-in range (solid)
Hole 16: Made 15-footer (solid)
Hole 17: 50-footer to 10 feet (solid; it hit a clump of dirt after only a couple feet), edge-burn from there (solid)
Hole 18: Made 10-footer (solid)

To sum up:
12 solid strikes
7 pulls (3 slight ones, 1 heel-pull that veered roughly ten degrees off-line)
1 push

I am generally a decent putter, averaging about 29 putts a round (with roughly 3 GIR). I am usually money from inside 5 feet; my short putting has been cold recently, however, as evidenced by my 2-for-6 performance from 3 to 5 feet today. I generally push my mishits, but the pull was prevalent today.

Notes: I use a standard-length first-edition Zebra putter (circa 1976). I grip the club with a non-reverse (i.e. normal) overlap, and my right index finger running down the shaft. I have an slightly open stance; today, my stance was parallel to the target line. When I noticed the inadvertent change in my stance after finishing 14, I went back to my old stance and putted well for the final 4 holes. Could a closed stance be causing pulls? Wouldn't it cause pushes? Could my alignment be an issue? My fundamentals in general?

So, I made a video of my stroke to see what the problem is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K8nQhRUl7A

(If someone knows how to embed the video, let me know. Thanks.)

Let me ask you: What is awry in my putting stroke? What do I need to change or fix to resume my good putting?

Thanks for all your help.

Alex B.

[reid]

Alex B

I watched your video.
Your grip is beautiful.
Your forearms are nicely in line with the putter shaft.
Your ball is too far back in your stance . (causing the ball to tend to go to the right)
Your follow through is to the right of your target line.
This is why you putt better when you open your stance. (because its harder to follow through to the right when your shoulders are pointed to the left.

This is all why you tend to push your putts. (Today you pulled them probably because you over compensated)

But you average 29 putts per round which isn't bad at all. Get your GIR's up and you will be in business.

I hope that helps

[ks8829]

Nice job with the video and music!

1) I noticed that you are using your hands in the follow through. it almost looks like you flicking your wrist.

If you make your putt one piece with only your shoulders and keep your hands quiet it will help with your consistency.

2) I also notice you were standing too far from the ball. the ideal set up is with your eyes over the golf ball, to help you judge the distance, If you take your regular putting stance with a ball on the ground, then hang the your putter from just below your eyes and see where the putter hangs freely, it should hang over the golf ball on the ground.

3) Keep the putter low to the ground.

4) Watch great putters and don't be afraid to incorporate something from their technique that might work for you.

4) Practice, practice and more practice!

[JaY_B]

I have a few things to say about your putting, i hope you listen as with a bit of practise it could improve your putting (please also note the following are my opinions, others might have differing opinions)

ill start with the set-up
I would like to see you standing much taller so that your arms will hang straight down from your body, instead of having to bend.
I would also like you to turn your left foot more towards the ball (inwards), i would like to see this as you have a fair amount of lower body movement during your putting stroke, so turn the left foot in, and focus on keeping your legs in a static position during the putting stroke, this will help improve the quality and consistency of your strike.

I don't like it when you stand open to the target line, it might work but it will never work consistently I would suggest standing square to the target line.
However i know you will scream that you will push putts but this is not a result of your set-up (your set up is a result of you pushing putts).

If you watch your follow through you have a pronounced movement of the putter head to the right of the target line, obviously it would be a lot more effective to have a straight back and straight through putting stroke, an aid for you could be to put a ruler in front of the ball, then in your follow through make sure the putter head goes straight down the line of the ruler (Not to the right of left).

These are a few things that hopefully will help you to putt better.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

JaY_B

[JonnyGolf]

It looks to me like there are two issues:

On the pulled putts in the video, the clubhead is moving outside the line and coming across the line. I would imagine you are sometimes unconsciously compensating for this by opening the face. Whether you're a straight back, straight through (Pelz) or inside to inside arc (Utley), the center of the clubhead shouldn't be outside the line.

You may want to work on your tempo a little bit. If you're getting anxious about your putting, your tempo may be getting a little quick back and forward, which can make it difficult to putt "through" the ball.

It sounds like you're already a solid putter, but I hope these tips help!

JG