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Best putting tips (non green reading)

Pharaoh

Pharaoh

🌹Grandaddy X 🌹 #TeamLegacy
Albatross 2024 Club
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So in 2023 putting was really hot or cold. I’d like to get that to a better place now that I have a fitted putter. I’ve gotten all kinds of putting aids from mirrors to pressure putt that I work on. My ability to read greens and speed are very solid. It seems to come natural. It’s the stroke that gets a bit off.

So what’s your best putting stance/stroke/grip/pre stroke routine, etc tip?
 
Work on speed and lag putting.

My favourite drill is really simple. Just putt across the putting green from one end of the green to the other. Try and make as many two putts in a row as possible.
 
Starting the ball online with minimal draw or fade spin is the outcome I seek. Much trial and error on how to do this so no tips will be suggested. The longer I can make my follow-thru down the target line usually the better my outcome.

What I can share is that the killer of the outcome I seek is hand actions. Hands that start to transition early vs letting my shoulders move the hands or hands that try and flip the face in hopes of exerting energy or even correcting a line. I tend to pull draw my putts so my hands at times want to hit the ball out like a fade.
 
I setup with my putter flat, square to my line and body square to my putter.. Stroke is just straight back and through.

I have a couple of negative tendencies that can throw my putting stroke out of whack. The first is I sometimes sole the putter too heavily then have to pick it up to start the stroke. When I do that it might start slightly outside or inside my line. So, my fix is to set the putter square then just before I start my stroke I straighten or stand up slightly with my posture. This gets the putter up off the ground without moving my hands or arms.

The second no-no is the early peak that everyone succumbs to on occasion. I practice hitting putts and not looking at the ball going toward the hole. Listen for the putt to hit the cup and hold the follow through
 
PharaohHB said:
So in 2023 putting was really hot or cold. I’d like to get that to a better place now that I have a fitted putter. I’ve gotten all kinds of putting aids from mirrors to pressure putt that I work on. My ability to read greens and speed are very solid. It seems to come natural. It’s the stroke that gets a bit off.

So what’s your best putting stance/stroke/grip/pre stroke routine, etc tip?
Click to expand...
My best putting rounds have come when at address my shoulders are square (parallel) to the line on which I want the ball to start rolling.
* a putting mirror is useful to learning whether shoulders at address are open, square, or closed to the line.
 
Keep your head still. I struggle with peaking and a ton of people I play with move their heads when they miss putts. Keeping your head and body stable can cause a ton of problems with putting.
 
Ball aligned to the hole, putter aligned to the ball, everything else aligned to the putter. I’ve been obsessed with the line lately and mark it completely around the ball. Love seeing it track dead straight. Even if I miss.

I’ve been messing with putters a LOT and seeing some really interesting things.
 
Don’t let your body sway back and forth

Work on speed. Poor line with correct speed will probably still be a 2 putt - Correct line with poor speed is still a bad putt
 
The best advice I ever received was stop trying to make a putt, just bring your best stroke upon the ball.

macolyte said:
My favourite drill is really simple. Just putt across the putting green from one end of the green to the other.
Click to expand...

I will occasionally do something similar just rolling a ball back and forth across the green in several directions just watching paths, not aiming at cups, or trying to make anything, just enjoying the art of stroking a ball with pure roll.
 
Have you tried putting while looking at the hole or with eyes closed? This will tell you if your instinctive stroke is good. Aim the putter, align it with the center of the ball and go. This removes a lot of the mechanical thoughts and tentativeness that lead to inconsistency.

I'm often amazed at how well these work for myself and many others. I think what happens is that the brain just takes over and makes the body "hit ball from point A to point B". That's the way the brain and body work. There are no mechanical thoughts or step by step actions for tying your shoe or brushing your teeth for example.

Once you know you're capable of rolling the ball well even with your eyes closed then you will be confident in rolling the ball smoothly to your targets on the greens when you play.
 
Chef23 said:
Keep your head still. I struggle with peaking and a ton of people I play with move their heads when they miss putts. Keeping your head and body stable can cause a ton of problems with putting.
Click to expand...
Yes, peeking (lifting head up to see where the ball is going) leads to the shoulders-arms all coming up out of the address posture, and mishit putts.
Many Tour pros adopt a face-down-chin-buried type address technique, so that after watching their putter face impact the ball to watch the ball roll they can easily rotate their head (without having to lift their head).
 
Ive been putting better lately by holding the putter very light grip pressure letting the club face release up on the follow thru and making sure my shoulder line is neutral to slightly closed, i notice i cannot release the clubface if my shoulder and torso start twisting open when addressing the ball
 
Mentioned this in another thread, but I’ll drop it here as well. I had my daughter do slo mo video down the line and picked up quite a few things. Putter head had a slight move outside on the take-away so I’m standing a little further away now and it smoothed things out. I’m bent a bit more at my hips and shaft and forearms have better alignment. Definitely peaking so gotta work on that. What I was feeling and what I was seeing were two different things. The camera doesn’t lie. I was switching between 4 different putters and cut out some stills before take-away. Just with the apple mark-up “ruler” it looks like my shaft angle is 68*-69*, so somethings getting bent.

30 minutes of fiddling around was productive.
 
  • Strike your putt with a little topspin. It will get the putt rolling sooner promoting better distance control.
  • Find a setup and stroke that allows you to maintain exceptional face control. If you can't start the ball on the intended line your green reading skills don't matter.
  • Get a quality 10-foot-long putting mat like the Perfect Practice Putting Mat and practice, practice, practice.
 
Speed is important, but unless you can hit a straight putt on your chosen line, the correct speed is not going to help much.

On a known level surface, lay a small coin down, 15" to 20" in front of the ball. Then practice putting the ball over the coin. If you can roll the ball over the coin consistently, then you are a straight putter.

All putts are straight, just not always at the hole.

Something else I do when the practice green is over crowded is throw down two balls, and practice putting the balls into each other. Using the smaller target helps with focus.

Another thing a golfer can do to check the squareness of their putter face, and stroke is use a tile floor.

Looking down, using the horizontal, and vertical tile lines, align your feet on the horizontal tile line. Use a vertical line that is in your preferred ball position. Then take you grip, and and place the club head behind where the ball position would be. Then make a few strokes and see if the club face lines up square to the vertical tile line on the forward stroke. If it lines up square, great. If not, make some hand grip, or club face adjustments either cw, or ccw at the set up, that will return the face to square.
 
Birdman03 said:
Have you tried putting while looking at the hole or with eyes closed? This will tell you if your instinctive stroke is good. Aim the putter, align it with the center of the ball and go. This removes a lot of the mechanical thoughts and tentativeness that lead to inconsistency.

I'm often amazed at how well these work for myself and many others. I think what happens is that the brain just takes over and makes the body "hit ball from point A to point B". That's the way the brain and body work. There are no mechanical thoughts or step by step actions for tying your shoe or brushing your teeth for example.

Once you know you're capable of rolling the ball well even with your eyes closed then you will be confident in rolling the ball smoothly to your targets on the greens when you play.
Click to expand...

I really like this. I practice a lot at home putting on my putting mat with my eyes closed.. my preferred method of putting is actually putting heads up. My pudding has improved drastically by using these two methods.
 
WLG1952 said:
Another thing a golfer can do to check the squareness of their putter face, and stroke is use a tile floor
Click to expand...

I started using painters tape on my garage floor as a “toe line” with my putting mat. I tend to creep in and get hunched over. Little different line for each putter until the elimination process is over.
 
No practice strokes, slower tempo especially on the backswing and listen to the ball go in the hole, don’t watch it.
 
If it's short, it will never go in the Hole. 😉
 
tahoebum said:
No practice strokes, slower tempo especially on the backswing and listen to the ball go in the hole, don’t watch it.
Click to expand...
I go back and forth on practice strokes. Are they just kind of a waggle or am I really trying to gauge the backswing length I need to reach the hole?
 
Somehow, this one really resonated with me, and I've been doing it now for a while:
 
No such thing as an unfair hole location. Learn to deal with difficult putts. Mental attitude is a huge factor in playing golf.
 
macolyte said:
Work on speed and lag putting.

My favourite drill is really simple. Just putt across the putting green from one end of the green to the other. Try and make as many two putts in a row as possible.
Click to expand...

This is good. Lag putting is vitally important, especially to golfers who aren't putting approach shots very close to the hole. Then, work on the 4 and 5 footers you usually have left!
CTRosarian said:
No such thing as an unfair hole location. Learn to deal with difficult putts. Mental attitude is a huge factor in playing golf.
Click to expand...
Uh, I have to disagree a little. Many years ago we played a course where the 10th hole was a long par 3. I wound up near the fringe below the hole. The green featured a false front and the hole that day was cut just BELOW the apex of the false front. I hit a putt that was about 2" long just left of the hole and the ball rolled back to my feet! I hit another putt that did exactly the same thing.

Then the owner of the course came roaring up in a cart yelling at me to get a move on because I was holding up play. I yelled back that he should stay right there and watch. I hit another putt that rolled back to my feet! I was pretty steamed by then and told him that if anyone was holding up play it was him with his tricked up pin positions! That green was unputtable, I don't care where you were on it.

And why would you do that for the weekend? I knew the greenkeeper at the local metropark golf course which is 36 holes of Donald Ross design. I was playing on a weekday and the pin positions were really challenging! They were all around the perimeters of the greens. After the round I ran into him and mentioned that. He said that they would do that during the week to save the middle of the green for weekend play! Easy pin positions help keep play moving.
 
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