Incorporating feedback from putting drills

[Shindig]

I have been working on putting lately, primarily bead and speed (I will work on read in the future, when I am able to take an AimPoint class).  At least I think I have been.  I've been doing drills, but maybe I'm more finding out what I do wrong than fixing them.  It's now getting more than the baseline 15% of my practice time (GG tells me I'm losing more strokes there, by quite a margin, compared to other parts of my game), but I want to make sure that time is well spent and leads to improvement.  I worry that I may be getting into the "just hitting balls at the range" equivalent for putting.

My problem is, when I'm doing drills and learning that I am not hitting my goals (not getting the ball across the ruler for that drill, taking many iterations to do a 4' 8' 12' drill, etc), how do I figure out what, if anything to change?   I also worry that when doing a clock drill, if I miss from the same position on a few iterations, my next attempt from there might be a false read by what happened, not because I read it wrong, but because I kept pushing from there and thus aim left to make it.  I'm fine with the idea of compensating for a miss during a round, but I don't want to do that when I'm practicing. 

I know that putting particulars vary wildly;  should this be a case of "go back to the Utley putting book and review each chapter in order," or is there something else I can do to help on this?

Timeline wise, my club championship is in a little over a month.  I'm not in cramming mode at the moment, and I would like to be a better putter by then, but my overall goal is long-term improvement not peaking for this particular event.

[dennyjones]

Do you have a metal yard stick?  You will definitely get feedback from using it.   

To get out of the rut of going thru the motions of practice there should be consequences for your misses.  Be creative.   

I'm sure other with more experience and a better perspective will give you some additional insight.

[Shindig]

31 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

Do you have a metal yard stick?  You will definitely get feedback from using it.   

To get out of the rut of going thru the motions of practice there should be consequences for your misses.  Be creative.   

I'm sure other with more experience and a better perspective will give you some additional insight.

Yep, I have the metal yardstick -- I miss right far more than left or straight.  
 

I don't think my problem is lack of consequences for misses;  I think the issue is I don't know what the misses mean in terms of what, if anything, I should change about my putting.

By contrast, there was plenty I needed to change with my full swing a few years ago, but I was able to find out what I needed to change and how to do so.

[zero]

+1 for this question. What are your top drills, how to you evaluate your performance of those drills, and what changes do you make as a result? If I could eliminate 3-putts I'd shave 6-10 strokes. Need to spend more practice time on the green.

[Shindig]

28 minutes ago, zero said:

+1 for this question. What are your top drills, how to you evaluate your performance of those drills, and what changes do you make as a result? If I could eliminate 3-putts I'd shave 6-10 strokes. Need to spend more practice time on the green.

Well, I have drills I can do to evaluate how well I'm starting a putt on my line, or getting speed right, or even a combination of those two things (although I believe they're to be practiced separately).

It's figuring out is my problem mechanical or what? that I need.

The best way to eliminate 3-putts is to hit the ball closer on your approach and also on the pitch or chip if you miss the green   It's really a matter of where you 3-putt from that comes in (he says after 4-putting two greens this past weekend).

[boogielicious]

15 hours ago, Shindig said:

I have been working on putting lately, primarily bead and speed (I will work on read in the future, when I am able to take an AimPoint class).  At least I think I have been.  I've been doing drills, but maybe I'm more finding out what I do wrong than fixing them.  It's now getting more than the baseline 15% of my practice time (GG tells me I'm losing more strokes there, by quite a margin, compared to other parts of my game), but I want to make sure that time is well spent and leads to improvement.  I worry that I may be getting into the "just hitting balls at the range" equivalent for putting.

My problem is, when I'm doing drills and learning that I am not hitting my goals (not getting the ball across the ruler for that drill, taking many iterations to do a 4' 8' 12' drill, etc), how do I figure out what, if anything to change?   I also worry that when doing a clock drill, if I miss from the same position on a few iterations, my next attempt from there might be a false read by what happened, not because I read it wrong, but because I kept pushing from there and thus aim left to make it.  I'm fine with the idea of compensating for a miss during a round, but I don't want to do that when I'm practicing. 

I know that putting particulars vary wildly;  should this be a case of "go back to the Utley putting book and review each chapter in order," or is there something else I can do to help on this?

Timeline wise, my club championship is in a little over a month.  I'm not in cramming mode at the moment, and I would like to be a better putter by then, but my overall goal is long-term improvement not peaking for this particular event.

Can you post a video of your putting from down the line and face on? We can examine your set up and see if anything jumps out. Post a 10 footer and then a longer putt.

As for the drills, do you know how your aim is with the putter? If you haven't been fitted, you may be off. This could lead to compensation.

[Shindig]

3 hours ago, boogielicious said:

Can you post a video of your putting from down the line and face on? We can examine your set up and see if anything jumps out. Post a 10 footer and then a longer putt.

As for the drills, do you know how your aim is with the putter? If you haven't been fitted, you may be off. This could lead to compensation.

In retrospect, duh.  Thank you!  Yes, I will get video tomorrow (I don't have my camera with me today and won't be home until tonight).

My putter is an Edel, and I was fitted for it two summers ago, so I hope that isn't the issue. 

Oh, should the video go in this thread or my "my swing" thread?  

[p1n9183]

I´m in the same quest as you for the last month. Been self tough it´s a slower process to fix things.

As iacas said in the putting post, you need to practice one thing at a time.

Let´s start with ball in line. You need to hit the ball with no side spin and with the face perpendicular to the target.
On a flat surface aim to a coin 6 feet away. Aling the ball logo to it a hit the putt, if the logo it´s all over the place you hit the putt with side spin, if it´s always in the middle top of the ball then that´s ok.
After that is ok you have to hit your target, if you miss left or rigth you know the face it´s not perpendicular to the target and you have to fix that. When you achive the logo rolling in the middle and you hit the coin most of the time you get the "ball in line" award and you can work on the other aspects of putting.

Let´s continue with ball speed. In this case you have to practice to a wide target (the line it´s not important), the same brake over and over from different distances and keep the ball inside 3 feet past the wide target for long putt´s and inside 1 or 2 feet in shorter ones. When u can do that in almost all the putt´s you archive the speed award and you can move on to green reading.

This you can attend to an aimpoint seminar or figure out yourself. I don´t have drills for this one. I would be cool to have the tool to messure green speed in order to roll balls thru it after guessing the line and speed of a putt and see the true outcome.

I still have issues with Ball in line, but working with the above drills to fix it.

Hope it helps!      

  
 

 

[boogielicious]

On 7/11/2017 at 10:34 AM, Shindig said:

In retrospect, duh.  Thank you!  Yes, I will get video tomorrow (I don't have my camera with me today and won't be home until tonight).

My putter is an Edel, and I was fitted for it two summers ago, so I hope that isn't the issue. 

Oh, should the video go in this thread or my "my swing" thread?  

We can rule out aim then!

[Shindig]

4 hours ago, boogielicious said:

We can rule out aim then!

Correct!

I have posted the videos in my "My Swing" thread: 

 

Oh, I just saw the post -- a 10' and a longer putt.  Okay, I'll aim to get those, but I think I need to get them from a putting green (unless you want to see me try on carpet).