How to right the ship on a bad putting day

[Slowcelica]

My last round I had probably the worst putting day I've had in a while, I missed about 6 long putts by an inch, missed 3 footers, 5 footers, ones I normally would make. Everyone has had them, those days where you cant seem to hit any kind of putt. How or what do you guys do to get back on track, and make some putts?

[DaveP043]

9 minutes ago, Slowcelica said:

My last round I had probably the worst putting day I've had in a while, I missed about 6 long putts by an inch, missed 3 footers, 5 footers, ones I normally would make. Everyone has had them, those days where you cant seem to hit any kind of putt. How or what do you guys do to get back on track, and make some putts?

It depends, how were you missing them?  Did you miss your intended line, miss the read, hit it too hard or soft?  Each problem can have a number of different solutions.  

My most common problem, when it happens, is missing my intended line, and I'll often hit a practice putt or two if time allows.  If I can't do this on a green when the play is done because people are waiting, I'll hit a couple on the next tee, concentrating on keeping my head still (not following the putterhead, which seems to cause some of my problems).  

[Piz]

I do a couple of things.  1.)  I consider the putts I am leaving myself.  It is easier to putt uphill than down, or from 10 feet rather than 20.  2.)  I roll the ball with a bit more pace, if possible, and plan for less break.  Most of my poor putting days are due to being tentative and dying the ball at the hole instead of rolling it in.  That is usually the result of leaving myself above the hole too often.  I think I putt about the same, one round to the next, but ask a lot more of what skill I have on some occasions than on others.

[Patch]

Myself, on a poor putting day, I look at the course conditions I am playing on. Maybe the greens are damper than normal. Maybe drier than normal. . Maybe they were just mowed, or are late getting mowed. There have been several times where I putted better in the morning, than I did in the evening, on the same greens.  

I putt really well on greens I am familiar with. If I have a poor putting day on those greens, I accept it, and do nothing. 

On greens I am not that familiar with, I am still incline to do nothing, while  just taking my medicine, and moving on to my next round. 

Bottom line for me is that I know I am a pretty good putter. Poor putting days are going to happen for various reasons. There is no need for me to panic. Panicing will only cause me more putting woes. 

Of course there have been a few times when mulitple poor putting rounds during my golf journey have caused me concern. I treat those rounds the same as I would any other part of my game that might cause me extended grief. I just step away from the game for a few days, and let the dust settle.....so to speak. I can't remember a time when that did not work to my advantage. 

[Kalnoky]

Sometimes (thankfully not often) I have rounds where I am nervous standing over every putt, even if it's a 2 footer. On those days everything feels like greased lightning: the ball, putter face, and the greens.  My solution is to shorten my backswing and try to watch the follow through, if that makes sense. 

Another tip is to use your ball marker and line up the ball. It kind of forces you to pause and take a breath, and consider the putt. 

[Slowcelica]

1 hour ago, DaveP043 said:

It depends, how were you missing them?  Did you miss your intended line, miss the read, hit it too hard or soft?  Each problem can have a number of different solutions.  

My most common problem, when it happens, is missing my intended line, and I'll often hit a practice putt or two if time allows.  If I can't do this on a green when the play is done because people are waiting, I'll hit a couple on the next tee, concentrating on keeping my head still (not following the putterhead, which seems to cause some of my problems).  

Well i've had days where I just leave them short all day long. But in this case I was missing my lines, I missed a 3 foot putt for birdie because I pulled the putt. Rarely do I miss anything from 3 ft and in, but that day unless i was a foot away I was having trouble getting them to go in.

42 minutes ago, Kalnoky said:

Sometimes (thankfully not often) I have rounds where I am nervous standing over every putt, even if it's a 2 footer. On those days everything feels like greased lightning: the ball, putter face, and the greens.  My solution is to shorten my backswing and try to watch the follow through, if that makes sense. 

Another tip is to use your ball marker and line up the ball. It kind of forces you to pause and take a breath, and consider the putt. 

I usually don't get nervous over a putt, if I do I have a trick I learned which sounds dumb. But I setup to the ball do my normal routine, close my eyes clear my mind, smile, open my eyes and say a ridiculous word to myself and then immediately putt the ball. You'll find it shifts your mind away from the putt trying to think up a ridiculous word to say to yourself.

Normally I do mark the ball and use the line on the ball, unless its a gimme putt.

[Shindig]

53 minutes ago, Slowcelica said:

Well i've had days where I just leave them short all day long. But in this case I was missing my lines, I missed a 3 foot putt for birdie because I pulled the putt. Rarely do I miss anything from 3 ft and in, but that day unless i was a foot away I was having trouble getting them to go in.

 

If you miss one putt because you pulled it, let it go.  Yeah, it sucks to miss putts, and sucks even more to miss a short birdie putt, but if it's one?  Let it go.

If you're missing a bunch because of pulls, work on bead. 

Or just do what I've done and tentatively accept that every day I play golf is a poor putting day.

[Slowcelica]

20 hours ago, Shindig said:

If you miss one putt because you pulled it, let it go.  Yeah, it sucks to miss putts, and sucks even more to miss a short birdie putt, but if it's one?  Let it go.

If you're missing a bunch because of pulls, work on bead. 

Or just do what I've done and tentatively accept that every day I play golf is a poor putting day.

LOL. I do let it go I do not linger on a bad putt or shot, I've learned to play it one shot at a time.

It wasn't just one putt, or just a pull they were all over the place as my game golf insights shows I lost about 5 strokes more then my average round to putting. 

[cape cod beachfront golfer]

I putt left hand low. Whenever I seemed to be out of sorts with my putting... be it pulls or pace I simply change my grip to traditional right hand low. It appears to force me to re-focus and clears my mind. Sometimes it only takes a putt or two with the different grip before I am ready to go back to my usual left hand low. This simple technique to re-focus has saved many rounds for me. And often fellow players do not even notice the change. Instead they might comment how 'suddenly' I am locked in with my putts. I suspect a traditional right hand low player could do the same by going to left hand low or possibly a 'claw grip' for a couple of putts. Key for me is to re-try left hand low after my mini break.

[WUTiger]

If I'm having inconsistent distance, I often find I'm starting my takeaway with the putter resting on the ground. If I have the putter about 1/8" off the ground, the stroke is much smoother. (The hands and arms then control the putter).

[NCGolfer]

7 hours ago, WUTiger said:

If I'm having inconsistent distance, I often find I'm starting my takeaway with the putter resting on the ground. If I have the putter about 1/8" off the ground, the stroke is much smoother. (The hands and arms then control the putter).

You may have already read it, but this is a great post:

If you are having distance control, often times that will have to do with the pace of your stroke.  A lot of times people have the tendency to "pop" the ball or accelerate through the ball.  This is a common mistake and can be corrected with practice.  Try evaluating that aspect of your stroke first and see if that helps control your distance better.  You can also post some video in the Member Swings forum if you haven't already.

Let us know how it goes!

[Slowcelica]

Here's my strokes gained from a 42 I shot yesterday, it was the opposite of my bad putting round. I sank a couple 12-15 foot putts, I averaged 1.78 putts (16 putts) a hole and that is with a 3 putt that I totally screwed up. compare this round with the other round I had the other day, 21 putts.