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Putting… Jordan Spieth style

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Dawg 1

Dawg 1

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Not sure if this has been talked about. Was wondering if anyone has tried putting looking at the hole and not at the ball?

I went to the range this past thursday to work on putting I figured since there is no way I could putt any worse than what I've been doing I would try looking at the hole, I was amazed at how many putts that went in not only from inside 10ft but outside of 10 ft as well. Even the ones that i was missing were not missing by much.

Fast forward to today my first round to try this, putted on the practice green for a good 20 minutes before our tee time and it was pretty much the same, I was making a lot of putts from inside and outside 10ft.

Now on to the course, i had 28 putts for the round with 4 birdies only one was a kick in the others were from 7ft, 15ft and around 22ft. had a couple lengthy par saves as well, my distance control was spot on except for one 3 putt that was strait down hill that I left well short. All in all I'm very pleased and am going to keep working on it. For those who really struggle with the flat stick like me I say give it a try
 
Looking at the hole from 22 feet?
 
H0selR0cket said:
Looking at the hole from 22 feet?
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Every putt I hit today i looked at the hole. I have really struggled on the greens this year so i figured why not
 
I tried this once it was very uncomfortable. But I think it's like when u change ur grip, awkward at 1st then it feels normal. If I'm not mistaken I think Speith only does this from 10ft and in? Farther away he has to look at spots on the green I think.
 
mcrobertsjmac32 said:
I tried this once it was very uncomfortable. But I think it's like when u change ur grip, awkward at 1st then it feels normal. If I'm not mistaken I think Speith only does this from 10ft and in? Farther away he has to look at spots on the green I think.
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It is very difficult to make yourself look at the hole and not the ball at first

One problem I've always had while putting when looking at the ball is I tend to want to watch my putter as I take it away, looking at the hole eliminates that from happening
 
I think this is subjective like everything in life & golf. If it works, go for it. I've tried it, but I'm much better with my eyes on the front of the ball. Inside of 4 feet, I can look at the hole and do fine, but outside of that, I'm much better doing what I've been doing for 40 years.
 
My old man does this and he sucks at it. I do it for practice and have for years. If you have a repeatable stroke, I don't see the learning curve being too tough
 
I use looking at the hole as a drill and find it useful so you do not get ball-bound; I also use a Pelz Putting Tutor and like it.
 
Based on Spieth's putting, as was mentioned in the previous thread, he is not as good doing it as he is not doing it either. His putting stats go way down on tour averages when looking at the hole.
 
I look at the hole from all distances. For me, my speed control 10 times better while looking at the hole.

Most people will tell you not to do it, or that it wont work, or as above that Spieth isn't as good when he does it vs when he doesn't. I think debating its effectiveness is about as useful as debating if golf should be played right or left handed. It comes down to what works for an individual. Some people can do it, some cant. I am not a great putter, but I am a better putter by looking at the hole vs. looking at the ball.
 
I did this last year. Actually experimented with it before a big tournament and stuck with it during that time. I'm sure it looked crazy and when I told my partner (it was a team event) what I was doing, he looked at me like I was from another planet, but I putted pretty well that week. While I don't use it as much now, I will go to it on short putts that I don't feel comfortable with and even long lag putts where I can't get a feel for the speed or break.
 
I did this for the first time on the course yesterday. For me, I found it worked best from about 10 feet and in.
 
I've practiced with it enough at home on my putting matt that I occasionally try it out on a few < 10 footers on the course, it doesn't seem to make any difference.

I definitely get the reasoning where you just focus on the target instead of noticing the horrible fidgeting and twitching with your putter stroke.
 
I use a drill during my warm up routine where I look only at the hole, but then I also only look at the ball, but I've never tried either on the course.
 
I tried this out and actually worked very well. My lag putts were much closer. I switched back and forth from standard from multiple positions on the green and had much more consistency like this . Tomorrow during my round I will be gaming this method and see how it fairs

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I've tried it out practicing and on course. I don't think I've done it on anything longer than 5 feet so far and I have only missed 2 putts trying it. I've made way more. If I was to estimate I would say I've made about 85% of them.

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First round in the book using this.... and had my lowest putts per round. 28 putts with 8 1 putts. My best were a 50 footer which had to go on 20 feet of green and then go 5 feet of rough to the left of the hole and bent back towards to hole. Settled 3 feet away. Next was a 35 footer big breaker right to left judged perfectly and had 1 foot left . I am stoked to play again ,once I get my iron distances down I can see my scores lowering. I ended up over shooting 7 greens which left me short sided. My putting saved me from big numbers

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Jaysfan said:
First round in the book using this.... and had my lowest putts per round. 28 putts with 8 1 putts. My best were a 50 footer which had to go on 20 feet of green and then go 5 feet of rough to the left of the hole and bent back towards to hole. Settled 3 feet away. Next was a 35 footer big breaker right to left judged perfectly and had 1 foot left . I am stoked to play again ,once I get my iron distances down I can see my scores lowering. I ended up over shooting 7 greens which left me short sided. My putting saved me from big numbers

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Very nice… Ive practiced doing this a couple more times this week and still liking it so far
 
Jaysfan said:
First round in the book using this.... and had my lowest putts per round. 28 putts with 8 1 putts. My best were a 50 footer which had to go on 20 feet of green and then go 5 feet of rough to the left of the hole and bent back towards to hole. Settled 3 feet away. Next was a 35 footer big breaker right to left judged perfectly and had 1 foot left . I am stoked to play again ,once I get my iron distances down I can see my scores lowering. I ended up over shooting 7 greens which left me short sided. My putting saved me from big numbers

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk
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Don't let one round get you too excited. Your next one could be 42 putts!

When I was trying to learn how to belly putt, "they" said 1,000 putts before you'll get it. I'm thinking this could be the same thing.

I quit belly putting because while sometimes it seemed better, it wasn't for me.
 
Smallville said:
Don't let one round get you too excited. Your next one could be 42 putts!

When I was trying to learn how to belly putt, "they" said 1,000 putts before you'll get it. I'm thinking this could be the same thing.

I quit belly putting because while sometimes it seemed better, it wasn't for me.
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Hope that isn't the case,because it was money today. On the practice green it was the same but I will keep it as soon as I can

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Dawg 1 said:
Very nice… Ive practiced doing this a couple more times this week and still liking it so far
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It really helped with distance control for me which I struggle with. I also added more headweight to my putter which aided the putting. I will be practicing this for the next week or two but so far it'd great.

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Another round in the books using the JS style ,I had my moments of greatness.....and lowlights. 3 putting from 15 feet 2 times being one of them. I think I was more scared of hitting past the hole then this method though. My putter was on fire the front nine with 4 one putts and a grand total of 33 putts. Not bad considering the 2 three putts. I will keep practicing this as I nailed 2 15 footers for bird using it and lagged some great ones as well.

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