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Anyone have any good putting tips or drills to offer?

KellyBo

KellyBo

Golf, Have Fun or Quit!
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I'm playing in a couple tournaments over the next two weekends and I would really like to improve my putting game. I am giving up far too many strokes because of my putting and I am determined to work hard on this part of my game.

Since I work at a golf course, I pretty much have the opportunity to practice my putting almost daily.

I would love to hear how you improved your putting.
 
When I was having issues putting with my previous instructor (my current instructor hasn't gone over putting yet which I desperately need help with) had a sort of weather strip type metal device that she had me putt on. It actually does look like metal weather stripping that you put on the floors in doorways, but you line up the hole with this device, and there's a mini hole on one end so you place your ball there and the point of this drill is to keep your ball in a straight line with your putting stroke. So you'd just put on the weather stripping and if the ball went in the hole, then it stayed in a straight line :)

Also, in controlling my distances, she'd cut up pieces of string and put them parrallel to each other with enough space in between, I'd say about 4 different areas with the hole being the last one, and I'd work on mixing it up a little which area I would putt into. Helped a lot with my distance.

Good luck on your tournaments KellyBo :)
 
When I am having issues with leaving my putts short, I will set up for the putt and the look at the hole and keep my eyes on the hole and make my stroke. the body seems to self adjust for how hard it needs to hit the ball to get it to the hole. When i am having line issues I will lline up my putt and then stroke the ball keeping my head still and and eyes on where th ball was until I hear it fall into the hole. I am no expert by any stretch of the imiganation so take these for what they are worth.
 
Thanks for the tips and especially for the link. I read over it this morning and worked on my stance and grip. I only had time for a little putting practice indoors today. I played 18 holes and had 15 putts on the front but my usual 20 on the back. I'll get there with patience and hard work.
 
These are the putting drills I do:

1) Place 12 balls in a circle around a hole about one putter length away from the hole. Try to get 12 in a row into the hole. Then do 12 balls two putter lengths away. This helps with the shorter putts and gives you confidence in them.

2) Find a flat area and place all of your balls at one end. Then pace off 5, 10, 15, and 20 paces, placing a tee in the ground at each spot, making sure they arent blocking eachother from where you'll be hitting balls. Then alternate hitting to each tee, mixing it up. Try to get the ball to pass within an inch or two of the tee, and stop about 12-18 inches behind it. DONT leave any short! Also, do not hit to the same tee twice in a row. The idea is to develop a feel for each of the distances. Then do what royalwuff suggested, looking at the tee while striking the ball. You'll be suprised how quickly you dial in!

3) Same drill as #2, but find an uphill area. Do that for a while, then change directions and go downhill. Then go to a left-right slope, and then right-left slope. Again, the goal is to develop a feel for the different length putts, as well as getting a feel of how the slope will affect your putt.

When I practice this diligently for a week, I'm amazed at how well I do around the green. Then, of course, I go on to other things, and lose some of the touch...
 
Thanks Sacul!! Great drills!
 
I second sacul's drills regarding distance and the distance oriented drills in JB's link. I have found that distance/speed control training is much more important than training your eye to read the line.
 
Here are a couple more if you care to try them; 1..place a tee directly behind the hole. Concentrate on the smaller target of the tee rather than the hole. This helps increase your concentration over the putt.....2...again using tees.. place two in front of the hole a few inches apart like goalposts and try and hole out through them. Gradually bring them closer together until they are just the width of a ball apart and try to hole out through them...NB always choose a flat part of the practice green as one of the other folks advised. Good luck with the practice.
 
I think it's important to practice somewhere with similar conditions to the course you're going to play

some courses have different speed practice greens than the greens on course, and different courses will vary

I often find that my practice can be wasted if I spend time getting "dialed in" on speed at a green that's not close to the speed of where I'll be playing later

practice on a green with break also, too many practice greens are very flat compared to on course greens. I like to change it up and putt from different angles all the time so I'm constantly dealing with different breaks (this is a great way to learn to quickly read greens)

putting's more art than science in my opinion, you're going to improve more by just spending time putting than any worrying about wrist angle or shoulder tilt
 
Phil Mickelson's "Secrets of the Short Game" DVD and a winter's worth of practice with it in the living room has dramatically improved my putting. Check it out if you get the chance.
 
ken419 said:
Phil Mickelson's "Secrets of the Short Game" DVD and a winter's worth of practice with it in the living room has dramatically improved my putting. Check it out if you get the chance.
Click to expand...

I use the Dottie Pepper drill.

On the practice green you set up Three stations with a tee or marker at 3 feet, 6 feet, 9 Feet. You hit three balls from each station without a miss. If you miss you have to start back from the beginning. I've never made it all nine putts without missing. But I'm basically automatic from three feet in, rarely miss at 6 feet, and make more than my share at 9 on the course. It's bettered my score by 10 at least.

The best thing about this is simulating pressure. You get to 9 feet after six straight putts, there is pressure let me tell you....
 
Great advice here, funny how little the putter is discussed on golf forums it seems. I am a HORRIBLE lag putter, the worst, so I've been looking for some lag putting drills. I'm actually fine from 15ft and in, just no confidence putting from distance. I like the idea of putting to "zones" to get some feel. Nothing worse then hitting a couple nice balls to the green, then three putting from 25ft because somehow I blow the ball 10ft past the hole.
 
My husband has this DVD and I never even thought about watching it for putting. Thanks!!! I'll be checking it out asap.

ken419 said:
Phil Mickelson's "Secrets of the Short Game" DVD and a winter's worth of practice with it in the living room has dramatically improved my putting. Check it out if you get the chance.
Click to expand...
 
Something I heard this weekend waiting to pay my green fees:

Starter: "[Head Pro] do you try to make every 15 foot putt or just get it close?"
Pro: "I give it my best roll, without risking the next shot and wait to see what happens. Whether it goes in or not, I do not let it affect me for my next shot."
 
You might want to also try a putting drill I use. I call it the "push" drill (I'm sure it has other names) and it works for all putts but is particularly effective with short to medium length putts.

The drill itself is this:
I set up as I normally would and I address the ball as I normally would.
From the address position and with the club soled (or hovered, if that's what you do) directly behind and barely touching the ball, I do not take any backswing at all but rather - from a standing start - I push the ball towards the hole and I keep "pushing" until the clubhead is about knee-height on my follow through. This teaches acceleration and by beginning from a standing start (no backswing) it draws attention to the muscles and the feel associated with a full followthrough.

I use this drill quite often to guard against deceleration and this drill reminds me to "keep pushing". To me, putting is nothing BUT feel and I'll vary my stroke as needed depending on the situation, but I always remember to accelerate no matter how long or short the putt may be.

The second part of this drill is to begin putting with a normal backswing/through-swing and to make sure that my followthrough is roughly twice as long as my backswing. For example, if I take the putter back 3-inches, I make sure that my followthrough is at least 6-inches and so on.

This applies what I've learned with the "push" drill to an actual swing and once again the emphasis is on acceleration.




-JP
 
Thanks so much to everyone who shared their tips. I went to one our practice greens today and putted for at least an hour. I used alignment rods and tees to set up distances and barriers. I putted slightly uphill from 4, 8 and 12 feet using 3 balls. My main goal today was to get a feel for the distance and to not leave my putts short. I set up a rod about 18" behind the hole and tried to putt my ball at least to the hole but no further than the rod. I was really terrible at first but got pretty good at it after a while. I really think doing these drills on a regular basis will make a big difference in my game. I could easily knock off 4-6 strokes if I could putt better.

I sure have been checking out SeeMore putters online. It's tempting but Gray wants me to wait and try some out in September.....will I listen???? :angel:
 
This is a drill (or game) that will let you more nearly simulate the conditions and pressure of putting on the real course.

Go to the practice green, and map out a 'course' of nine holes, with some longish holes (35-50'), some middling holes (25' range), and some shorter holes (12-20'). Next, take two balls, and play the 'course' with both, par being 2 on every hole for each ball. You cannot leave the course until you have completed a round under par 36 with your two balls.

This will give you lagging practice and makeable putt practice, and you will be amazed how hard you are working on the 3-5 footers you will leave for your par 2's. No gimme's - hole out every time. This drill is excellent practice for the conditions you will face on most greens on the actual course, and believe me, I have sweated over some putts as much in this drill as I have in a Saturday Nassau.

I have never been a huge believer in repetitious putting drills, because most every putt you face during a round is unique. I like this game for developing your feel of many different putts and doing it under some pressure.
 
Slammin'SAM said:
This is a drill (or game) that will let you more nearly simulate the conditions and pressure of putting on the real course.

Go to the practice green, and map out a 'course' of nine holes, with some longish holes (35-50'), some middling holes (25' range), and some shorter holes (12-20'). Next, take two balls, and play the 'course' with both, par being 2 on every hole for each ball. You cannot leave the course until you have completed a round under par 36 with your two balls.

This will give you lagging practice and makeable putt practice, and you will be amazed how hard you are working on the 3-5 footers you will leave for your par 2's. No gimme's - hole out every time. This drill is excellent practice for the conditions you will face on most greens on the actual course, and believe me, I have sweated over some putts as much in this drill as I have in a Saturday Nassau.

I have never been a huge believer in repetitious putting drills, because most every putt you face during a round is unique. I like this game for developing your feel of many different putts and doing it under some pressure.
Click to expand...

I like your idea, but why two balls?

I do the same thing, but I use only one ball. I think that one ball is much more realistic and more exacting.


-JP
 
Mostly the second ball gives you a chance to adjust from any mistake you make on the first stroke or to repeat a successful stroke.
 
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