Putting Videos *Need Help*

[thumper07]

The problem i am having is consistancy with my putting. Unfortunatly my last 2 rounds(84&85) i have a total of 79 putts, 39 and 40 respectivly.
i am just not good enough. i feel like i can drop atleast four strokes off my handicapp.

Here are 2 videos of me inmy living room

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n...t=MOV00976.flv

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n...t=MOV00977.flv

I know this problem could also be mental, so any help would be appreciated.

-matt

[DaveLeeNC]

  thumper07 said:

The problem i am having is consistancy with my putting. Unfortunatly my last 2 rounds(84&85) i have a total of 79 putts, 39 and 40 respectivly.

Although many golfers advocate a "straight through - square" putting stroke (face, at least on shorter putts, stays square to the target line), there are a ton of good putters (like Tiger) who don't do that. My first question would be "does your stroke on the course" really look like that. It is a pretty smooth stroke. Given your obvious lack of confidence in putting, some deceleration on the course (on the downswing prior to impact) is a real possibility.

I also noticed in the "vertical view" that your feet are not quite square to the target line. It is probably not a big deal, but also easy to fix. dave

[srjorion]

If you want to work on the mental side of putting, try Dr. Bob Rotella's book "Putting Out Of Your Mind".

Also, my wife happend to be looking over my shoulder while I was looking at your videos and she says you have some funky looking toes

[thumper07]

yeah i also noticed my feet weren't square, i'll going to take some masking tape on the floor to help my setup get square.

Yeah i know about my feet god chose to bless me with 20 fingers

-matt

[JonnyGolf]

Your putting stroke looks fine. At least good enough that you shouldn't ever have 39 and 40 putts.

Since your stroke looks fine, I imagine your biggest issue is distance control. Is that correct?

[neudi]

Two things in my opinion:

1) You want your eyes to almost be directly over your ball so this allows you to be able to see the line a lot better as you putt the ball.

2) The toe of your putter is off the ground a lot more than the heel meaning that you might be getting different contact everytime you putt which would cause the distance to be way off each and every time without you changing anything. Try to not hold the putter at the same angle you hold your irons.

If you make sure your head is almost directly over the ball this will fix the toe problem of being off the ground and it will be more consistent...hope this helps.

[jr001280]

hey i think that it just might be your confidence because your stroke looks really good. As far as your feet go i wouldn't worry about. I've actually heard that a lot of the great putters actually have their feet open like you do because they can see the line better that way.

[albatroz]

Maybe its time to change putters . Go to your golf outlet and try the Two bar putter by RIFE . Also take time to try other brands and see how your ball reacts off the putter face .

[thumper07]

thanks for the respones, i'm glad to here you guys think my stroke is ok and i'm leaning toward my problem being mental. i am going to keep practicing(outside when possible) until this goes away. thanks for the help

-matt

[andre112]

if you can find out your tipical misses, you might be able to find the cause quickly.
If you push or pull, it could be that your shoulder isn't align parallel to the target line.
You can easily check by placing a mirror on the floor and setup on top of it.

[FortAsel]

You are doing an outside-inside-outside stroke. Don't try to make a straight-throught putting stroke.

[DaveLeeNC]

  FortAsel said:

You are doing an outside-inside-outside stroke. Don't try to make a straight-throught putting stroke.

I'm curious about your response. I've never heard of an 'outside-inside-outside' putting stroke. I have a hard imagining how one might use such a stroke effectively. Could you elaborate.

Also, I'm curious about the basis for your objection to straight back, straight through putting strokes. dave

[FortAsel]

  DaveLeeNC said:

I'm curious about your response. I've never heard of an 'outside-inside-outside' putting stroke. I have a hard imagining how one might use such a stroke effectively. Could you elaborate.

Well, the outside-inside-outside is actually a foult that high handicappers or even low ones do when thet want to make a straight-through putting stroke. They think that if they make an inside-square-inside stroke, to make a straight-through putting stroke they just have to manipulate the putter head the oposite way they naturaly do. This will result in side-spin (not quite sure about this) and the ball will, most of the time finish alot to the left or to the right.

I don't like the straight back, straight through putting stroke becaus of that. My experience (okay, I'm just a 16yr old kid that spends his days putting on a putteing mat ) tells me that most of the time, what I wrote above happens. It leads to inconsistency on the putting stroke, and there for missed putts.

[DaveLeeNC]

  FortAsel said:

Well, the outside-inside-outside is actually a foult that high handicappers or even low ones do when thet want to make a straight-through putting stroke. They think that if they make an inside-square-inside stroke, to make a straight-through putting stroke they just have to manipulate the putter head the oposite way they naturaly do. This will result in side-spin (not quite sure about this) and the ball will, most of the time finish alot to the left or to the right.

Thanks for the explanation. BTW, if you completely take the hands out of the putting stroke you can avoid all of this, whether you use straight-back/straight-thru or inside-sq-inside.

dave

[thumper07]

  FortAsel said:

Well, the outside-inside-outside is actually a foult that high handicappers or even low ones do when thet want to make a straight-through putting stroke. They think that if they make an inside-square-inside stroke, to make a straight-through putting stroke they just have to manipulate the putter head the oposite way they naturaly do. This will result in side-spin (not quite sure about this) and the ball will, most of the time finish alot to the left or to the right.

Bingo, my brother in law came up from college(in PGM program at methodist U) and picked up on this immediately. right he started me making a inside to inside putting stroke and it felt real wierd. I have been putting the same way since i was 10(12 years). I know it will take a while to completely learn a new putting stroke but i'll give it a shot tomorrow when i go out and play. -matt

[thumper07]

well i must have done somthing right i had 31 putts and no 3 putts. Too bad i wasn't striking the ball real well. I ended up with an 85. Thanks for all the help guys.

-matt