teach me to putt

[cypressperch]

Here are a few things (I can hear moans

in the distance!)

1. There are two basic putting strokes: One has the putter face square to the target line both going back from and through the ball. The second has a bit of an arc in which the club face opens to the target line going back and closes to square at impact, going to the inside and closing after impact. Many great players have used each of these. YOU MUST CHOOSE ONE OF THESE AND STAY WITH IT A QUITE A WHILE BEFORE CHANGING.

2. I have had very good results keeping the putter square to the target line. If you use this method, you want your eyes right over the the ball. Your posture and how far you stand from the ball are determined by simply being where ever your harms can hang straight down from the shoulders with those eyes right over the ball.

3. The power for the stroke comes from a rocking of the shoulders. This allowing the big muscles to control your stroke is much more dependable, especially under pressure, than a wristy stroke. In fact, you do not want to impart any wrist action, but you certainly do not grip the club real tight either.

4. To prevent wrist action, simply maintain the angle in the right wrist that exists at address throughout the entire stroke.

5. Be looking at the spot the ball was setting on until well after the stroke has been completed. Waiting (a reasonable length of time!) for the sound of the ball going into the cup before you take your eyes off that spot. This is very important on shorter putts.

6. On the practice green, stroke a lot of 15 footers with the right hand on the grip and the left hand on the upper part of the right arm (stroke by rocking the shoulders and keeping the angle in the right wrist). Stroke some more 15 footers after addressing the ball then looking at the target rather than the ball during the stroke. Do some more 15 footers with your eyes closed.

7. Get two pieces of wire such as coat-hanger wire that are about ten inches long. Bend the one tip of each piece of wire into a little loop. Attach a 15 foot length of string to these two loops. You have now made one of the best putting aids ever made! Find a straight putt and put one wire behind the cup, stretch the string out, put the other wire in the ground so that the tight string is a few inches above the green. Put a ball directly under the string, line up as mentioned earlier with eyes looking straight down at the ball that has been bi-sected by the string. Stroke the putter keeping the putter face square to and always on the target line. Watch the point the ball was on. Get use to making lots of putts in a row with the string. You are grooving your stroke and this will lead to CONSISTENTLY SOLID CONTACT. Such contact is the key to consistent distance control. If you are hitting the ball at different points on the putter face, you will never be consistent in distance control which on all but the shorter putts is the most important element. Not that line is not also important, but on long putts think DISTANCE and on short putts think LINE.

As you groove your stroke and with lots and lots of practice, you will become a good putter. Confidence is the key, and remember this, you will never get that confidence if you have a negative attitude and are overly hard on yourself. Line the putts up, make a good stroke through the ball without staying over the ball so long that you get tense, then accept and learn from the results. The best of luck to you. Sincerely, Cypressperch

 

[cypressperch]

Here are a few things (I can hear moans

in the distance!)

1. There are two basic putting strokes: One has the putter face square to the target line both going back from and through the ball. The second has a bit of an arc in which the club face opens to the target line going back and closes to square at impact, going to the inside and closing after impact. Many great players have used each of these. YOU MUST CHOOSE ONE OF THESE AND STAY WITH IT A QUITE A WHILE BEFORE CHANGING.

2. I have had very good results keeping the putter square to the target line. If you use this method, you want your eyes right over the the ball. Your posture and how far you stand from the ball are determined by simply being where ever your harms can hang straight down from the shoulders with those eyes right over the ball.

3. The power for the stroke comes from a rocking of the shoulders. This allowing the big muscles to control your stroke is much more dependable, especially under pressure, than a wristy stroke. In fact, you do not want to impart any wrist action, but you certainly do not grip the club real tight either.

4. To prevent wrist action, simply maintain the angle in the right wrist that exists at address throughout the entire stroke.

5. Be looking at the spot the ball was setting on until well after the stroke has been completed. Waiting (a reasonable length of time!) for the sound of the ball going into the cup before you take your eyes off that spot. This is very important on shorter putts.

6. On the practice green, stroke a lot of 15 footers with the right hand on the grip and the left hand on the upper part of the right arm (stroke by rocking the shoulders and keeping the angle in the right wrist). Stroke some more 15 footers after addressing the ball then looking at the target rather than the ball during the stroke. Do some more 15 footers with your eyes closed.

7. Get two pieces of wire such as coat-hanger wire that are about ten inches long. Bend the one tip of each piece of wire into a little loop. Attach a 15 foot length of string to these two loops. You have now made one of the best putting aids ever made! Find a straight putt and put one wire behind the cup, stretch the string out, put the other wire in the ground so that the tight string is a few inches above the green. Put a ball directly under the string, line up as mentioned earlier with eyes looking straight down at the ball that has been bi-sected by the string. Stroke the putter keeping the putter face square to and always on the target line. Watch the point the ball was on. Get use to making lots of putts in a row with the string. You are grooving your stroke and this will lead to CONSISTENTLY SOLID CONTACT. Such contact is the key to consistent distance control. If you are hitting the ball at different points on the putter face, you will never be consistent in distance control which on all but the shorter putts is the most important element. Not that line is not also important, but on long putts think DISTANCE and on short putts think LINE.

As you groove your stroke and with lots and lots of practice, you will become a good putter. Confidence is the key, and remember this, you will never get that confidence if you have a negative attitude and are overly hard on yourself. Line the putts up, make a good stroke through the ball without staying over the ball so long that you get tense, then accept and learn from the results. The best of luck to you. Sincerely, Cypressperch

Also, I would recommend a putter with some off-set and one that is face-weighted (if you balance the putter with the shaft on a finger, the face points straight up).

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

...

The only other recomendation if you do not already do it that will help steady the club is to move your lower index finger down the club a good part of the way, and not up against your middle finger.

Because you use cross-handed (or left hand low for a righty), I am not sure my prior comment at the end of my post would be of any benefit. It may, but I never really tried left hand low for any period of time and I doubt having the index finger further down the shaft on the lower hand would serve any real purpose in helping stablize the putter, but it could.

 

[dave.]

Putting is all in the mind.Apart from eyes over the ball,your nirvana is in your head

 

[demon]

Putting is all in the mind.Apart from eyes over the ball,your nirvana is in your head

Just like Dave said, it is all in the mind. Go with whatever putting stroke works for you desperate people constantly look for a magical grip fixes just to raise there confidence level. It is all mental.

 

[Coach]

Putting is all in the mind.Apart from eyes over the ball,your nirvana is in your head

Just like Dave said, it is all in the mind. Go with whatever putting stroke works for you desperate people constantly look for a magical grip fixes just to raise there confidence level. It is all mental.

Dave and Demon have it right. The most important six inches of a putt are the six inches between your ears. I would just practice my set up to make sure my alignment is correct. Have someone else stand behind and in front of you to make sure your aim is to your desired target. Then I would make sure to practice a stroke which putts the ball solidly from the middle of the putter face. These two things are now locked and loaded all the time so I just need to get used to the speed of the greens, via the practice green or first hole or two. It is not as easy as it may sound--you really need to put in some time to get locked and loaded. Winter in the Northeast allows lots of "putting around" inside the house. And the carpet putting thing never works for me so I picked up a 10' x 2' practice strip of turf to hone my stroke. No comments please.

 

[cypressperch]

It is true that once you have a fundamentally

sound putting stroke and a knowledge of how to putt, you need to just let it happen. If your stroke is no good and if you have a lot of doubts about what you are doing, it is impossible to become a good putter by just letting it happen. Mainly, because you do not know what "it" is. Also, how can you develop a fundamentally sound putting stroke without know what the fundamentals are?

A person who goes out and mindlessly beats hundreds of balls at the range has a lot in common with the guy that goes to the putting green endlessly putting balls from hole to hole. These folks are not getting nearly as much from their practice time as they could if they studied putting and then practiced the things they learned from their study. As we have heard thousands of times, "Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect." Even that is sort of wrong because you will never be perfect and if you become a perfectionist you are doomed to failure and failure prevents the development of confidence. But the better your practice, the better putter you will become.

I mentioned two types of putting stroke. Some have mentioned having your eyes right over the ball at address. I said the same thing, BUTonly if you are using the stroke method in which the putter remains square to and on the target line both going back and then back to and through the ball. Ben Crenshaw did not have his eyes right over the ball. He stood more upright, and with that posture, having an arc in your putting stroke is a natural result. He is still one heck of a putter. Though I do not use his method, it has one advantage, among others, and that is it allows one to practice a lot more with less strain on the back.

The very best of luck to you with your game. Sincerely, Cypressperch

 

[Tenn-Driver]

Hey Nyper,
I had the same problem a few years ago...hit the ball great and 3 putted everywhere. The assistant pro at my course gave me these 2 tips, and they helped a ton:

1. Stand over a putt and have somebody drop a ball from between your eyes. It should land on top of the ball you're lining up or slightly behind it. If it drops too close to you or on the other side of the ball, you're not seeing the line properly. If it drops in front of the ball, you're hitting it on the downstroke and making the ball skid off the club face.

2. Use the length of your take away to control the speed of the putt, and make your follow thru 2x the length of your take away. For example, on a 6 foot putt, take the putter back 6 inches and then smoothly follow thru 12. After trying this, you might find that 4" and 8" works better for a 6 footer, but the idea is to take the guessing out of it by having a distance gauge. The second thing this does is make you "stroke" the putt instead of "hitting" it by following thru smoothly and twice as far.

Personally, I think "great" putters are born and the rest of us have to learn to be "good" putters. I hope these tips help you as much as they helped me.

Later,
Earl

Thank You Earl, this makes so much sense...!
I bet you just reduced my putting by 5 strokes

 

[Nyper]

So let me ask this...

How important is it to stand with your feet, hips, & shoulders square to the target line when putting? ... as opposed to having a more 'open' stance?

Take Jack Nicklaus for instance. It seems his putty stance was always pretty open. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to imitate Jack. I'm just using him as an example. To me, this is a much more comfortable stance and I feel like it allows me to put a better roll on the ball.

On the other hand, there's somebody like Tiger. For the most part, it seems to me like he has a rather textbook putting stance/stroke. He appears to be set up relatively square to the target line.

Is it really that important? Or is it better to go with what's comfortable if you can make it work?

 

[gwlee7]

Think about making the putt. If you are more comfortable "open", putt that way. If you are more comfrotable "square", putt that way. History shows that only a very few (Bobby Locke for one) have been successful putting "closed".

The main thing is that you feel like you are going to make everything you stand over. No more thinking, "Don't leave it short", "I hope I don't 3 putt" or "I hope I get it close". Pick a line and roll that puppy to the hole. I promise you that you will start making more putts when you start thinking only about making them.

 

[demon]

You dont have to have an "ideal" or "decent" putting stroke, you need a repetitious putting stroke, if you consistently hit with an open face, closed face, inside out, outside in, or whatever fugliness you have that is fine, use it but practice with it, do not try to make it better and just use what you have. If you keep changing your putting stroke you will never be consistent with what you have. My prime example is Billy mayfair, he has the ugliest putting stroke I have ever seen he is far from being a great putter but he is good enough to do ok on the PGA tour.

 

[Nyper]

In my apartment complex, we have two "putting greens". They are both fake of course...

One is right outside my apartment. I park right in front of it everyday. I've lived there over a year and finally decided last night to give it a roll or two.

It putts very fast and has a lot of "grain" that runs a certain way. But, it's no worse than putting on the carpet in my apartment, and can give me some longer putts. If nothing else, maybe it will help me get a 'solid stroke' down pat if I go use it a few times a week. As opposed to NEVER practicing putting I really doubt it can hurt. And, the practice green is actually pretty big. It has about 7 different holes, and is probably 30ft x 30ft.

 

[cypressperch]

I reread your post, and somehow I missed that

your score had been an 83. So you have been playing a while. You cannot shoot 83 without doing some things right. So the putting is the thing most likely keeping you from reaching the next level, and because of that, you have focussed in on it. If you become obsessed with this problem, it will make it only worse.

If you have no confidence in what you are doing now, you have to ask yourself some questions. Why do I not have confidence in what I am doing? Will I ever have confidence in what I am doing? If I am going to make changes, what will those changes be?

Is your current putting technique and approach something that you have learned by trial and error? Someone mentioned Billy Mayfair who indeed is the Jim Furyk of putting. Mayfair and Furyk both do pretty good with their unique styles, but how many clinics and teachers and books and videos are dedicated to teaching those unique styles? They just are not catching on, are they? Is it possible that they have done well INSPITE of their styles rather than because of them?

Almost no one on this forum would tell a beginning golfer to go out pick some clubs from a store and go out and teach themselves the game of golf. You will invariably get the advice to get some good instruction at the beginning of your golf career because doing so will allow you to avoid developing bad habits that will forever be a curse to your development. You will usually have to unlearn those things before you can go foward and improve. I would argue that it is no different with putting or anything else that involves skill.

The good news is that if you commit to change, it is a lot easier with putting than the basic golf swing. Just like with the golf swing, be aware that there are different approaches to putting, and it is probably best not to mix the different ingrediants. Get a video by Crenshaw or Ledbetter or whomever you have confidence in, and study it (or a book), and then practice it until you are comfortable with your new stroke. They will all say this but once again: Line the putt up, address the ball, and give it a good roll. Do not get down on yourself if they do not fall. Arnie always said, "Just keep giving it the best roll you can, and eventually they will start falling." You have to believe in that.

Sincerely, Cypressperch

 

[ManchesterGolfer]

On another note, I have no confidence in my actual putter (the club). I don't feel like I get a pure roll any which way I strike it. I went to the nearest golf shop today and putted around with a few, but it's hard to tell anything on those fake greens that are fast as the top of a pool table. The only one that struck my fance was a Scotty Cameron Futura (not the phantom). It was used, and a fair price, but I figured it'd still be there tomorrow if I decide I want it.

If your thinking about a new putter have a look at one of these. They cost £299 a few years back but are readily available now brand new for £99. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-Callaway-...yZ115280QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
WBL posted a review of it in this thread;-http://www.shottalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9328

 

[gwlee7]

bumped up so Nyper can go back through and get his putting sorted out.