Desperately need help putting.

Most of the support for your lower back comes from your abdominal (stomach) muscles. Much of the stress on your lower back comes from too-tight hamstrings. Solutions: Stretch the hamstrings and tighten the abs.

I always do hamstring stretch-and-hold toe-touches before swinging a club. Part of my swing training is to get in the habit of always tightening my abs as I set up.
Interesting.. my hamstrings are SUPER tight over the past few weeks. I’ve been doing yoga over the past couple weeks in an effort to loosen them and the rest of my body.
Good to know!!
 
Here's one I have handy on video.


Please disregard the Cantlay feet.


Putting is so subjective. I mean if it goes in who can really say anything about anyones stroke? But since you’re asking….
It’s looks to me as if you throwing the putter head at the ball. Like it’s a pushing motion. Trying using no body at all. Your shoulders and arms work as a lever fulcrum for the putter. Practice at home with a metronome. Like the ticking of a clock. All pendulum motion. Like a grandfather clock. Tick Tok, Tick Tok.

For me? I am always putting to a spot. Like the old school Tiger Woods golf game. If it’s uphill I imagine the hole is 2ft past where it is. If it breaks left and downhill I visualize the hole 12 inches shorter and to the right and so on. That way I’m always putting to a spot. This is what I have always done and it works for me. Maybe it’s silly but I putt like a 3 hcp while the rest of my game is a 12.5. 🤷‍♂️

Flat putt here. Maybe a slight left break but inside the hole. Don’t wanna leave it short. Play it slightly past the hole and slight right of center. It will drop on its way to the spot you pick. Roll it to that spot with confidence. Hope some of that helps.

C787D574-B254-43D6-8541-83429DA0D943.jpeg
 
Here's one I have handy on video.


Please disregard the Cantlay feet.



Wow. You come out of that stroke too soon!

You don't stand over it, so that's good. But your head is moving, the arms look as if they going to the right, and the shoulders are closing

General Advice - move everything a lot less and do not move the head.

Instead of all of those moving parts - move the head of the club and move the grip less. You must be right hand dominant, because it is moving away from you at contact.

Pretend your chin is on a shelf and it does not move until the stroke is finished. Look at Tiger - his head does not move. If your head is still, and you keep your eyes still until the stroke is stopped, you will experience golf nirvana.

The good thing is this is easy to do.

YouTube Brad Faxon and Utley
 
I'm obviously no coach, so I'm not going to try to diagnose someone else's stroke, but I can relay things that helped me. If you want to try them, great. If not, that's fine too.

I tend to "lock" my triceps against my body, this allows me to keep everything connected and just rotate my shoulders. This also prevents other things from moving like hips and legs. I stand a little closer to the ball to keep my eyes over the ball and the line I intend to start the ball on. As to speed, that's gonna rely heavily on feel. You can only get the feel by practicing. Before a round, I don't necessarily try to hole anything on the practice green, but if hit a putt that doesn't make it to the hole I'm going for, I do the putt over until I get it at the very least to the hole, ideally a foot past. This is all from a distance to get an idea of the speed of the greens. If I'm working on my stroke, I find a relatively flat and straight putt and do it over and over and to ingrain that muscle memory. I always have the same routine when putting, too. This is gonna sound OCDish, because it is. I line up the ball on the line I want to start and get up and twirl the putter once in my left hand, switch it to my right hand then grab my shorts with my left hand as I address the ball and put the putter down behind the ball. I put both hands on the putter and shift my weight a fraction onto my forward(left) side. I also keep my hands opening and closing lightly until I'm ready to hit my putt because I had heard someone say to keep moving, as its impossible to stay still and causes tension, which impact the stroke. Then I close my grip and make the putt, keeping my head down until the ball is gone.

I'm not saying to do all those things, obviously, but I am saying doing the same thing over and over to the point of becoming repetitive will help you be consistent. As with anything else, you have to put in the practice. Not just hitting putts to try and make them, but to make the same putting stroke and doing the work to get the feel for different speeds and distances. Then you can apply those feels to accommodate downhill, uphill and breaking putts.

If you do any of these things and get worse, you probably shouldn't be listening to me, anyway.
 
I’ve been using ShotScope to practice and improve various areas of my game and have seen good results. Meanwhile my putting stats can be downright embarrassing.
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As you can see I’m losing a massive amount of strokes to putting. This needs to change asap. It pretty much wipes out any strokes I gain elsewhere.

I have been taking around 30 minutes pre or post round 3 days a week to practice but I don’t think it’s very productive practice. I generally just roll a bunch of lag putts from 20-25’ out then walk up and try to hole them. Then I’ll try to make putts from around 10ft. I’m just not sure how to get better. I don’t have access or the room for a putting mat so that is out of the question.

I’m looking for drills or practice techniques that I can use on the practice greens at my home course. I’m willing and able to put in the work I’m just not sure where to start.

What suggestions or tips do you guys have?
Saw a video recently from Golf Digest with Tiger talking about his practice. One of the drills he does, has two tees setup just larger than his putter. Then he will make putts forcing his putter to go between the tees. It's harder than it looks and has actually done a bit of good for my putting recently. Might be worth a shot.
 
I let putting haunt me for years...until this season. Trust your eyes to find the line.....Make sure you get the ball beyond the hole. Can't make it if you don't get it there. I always try to miss high side to limit run away from the cup
 
When i am leaving putts short i feel i am lacking confidence in knowing how far the ball will roll with the swing i put on it.

Tightening up movement to simplify the stroke and get more consistent helps me feel better that i can better predict how far it is going to go and that gibes me more confidence.

I also try to envision how hard i would swing my arm if i was trying to roll the ball to the hole and use that to gauge what my swing should be to putt.

Not sure any if that helps. I know you'll get this sorted!!
 
Interesting.. my hamstrings are SUPER tight over the past few weeks. I’ve been doing yoga over the past couple weeks in an effort to loosen them and the rest of my body.
Good to know!!
If you don't have one pretty sure everyone here who has one would recommend a Theragun. I start with the bottom of my feet and work my way up. Not sure it will help with your putting but It can't hurt lol.
 
I would very much like to hang out and putt with you @That post

Round soon?
I would strongly recommend you take this offer. After a quick @Canadan tweak and a few rounds of adjusting earlier this year I haven't been north of 31 putts a round since. It's 8 rounds and counting at the moment, not to mention a handful of 9 holers that have all been under 15 putts per nine.
 
I’ve been using ShotScope to practice and improve various areas of my game and have seen good results. Meanwhile my putting stats can be downright embarrassing.
View attachment 9103300
View attachment 9103301
View attachment 9103302
View attachment 9103303

As you can see I’m losing a massive amount of strokes to putting. This needs to change asap. It pretty much wipes out any strokes I gain elsewhere.

I have been taking around 30 minutes pre or post round 3 days a week to practice but I don’t think it’s very productive practice. I generally just roll a bunch of lag putts from 20-25’ out then walk up and try to hole them. Then I’ll try to make putts from around 10ft. I’m just not sure how to get better. I don’t have access or the room for a putting mat so that is out of the question.

I’m looking for drills or practice techniques that I can use on the practice greens at my home course. I’m willing and able to put in the work I’m just not sure where to start.

What suggestions or tips do you guys have?
If you are looking for a putting system that allows you to have a repeatable putting stroke and able to learn your good putts from your not-so-good putts, then check us out. Happy to help. Click HERE to get started and become more consistent on the greens. Make putting simple and fun with a SeeMore.
 
What are the green conditions like on your course?
(Assuming that you're playing the same course from your videos)

IMO you need to putt with more conviction on slower greens.
Trying to die the ball into the hole usually ends up short or missing the cup.
Try hitting a few putts through the break and see if they fall.

Hope this helps. Good luck!



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I would very much like to hang out and putt with you @That post

Round soon?
1000% yes. I’m always down for rounds with new pals. My golf days are Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday mornings. I’ve also been playing Sunday mornings recently. It’s harder for me to get out in the afternoon.

The only days I can’t really play are Tues, Thurs, Sat.
 
If you don't have one pretty sure everyone here who has one would recommend a Theragun. I start with the bottom of my feet and work my way up. Not sure it will help with your putting but It can't hurt lol.
I do have a percussion massager. It’s not Theragun just one I got at Costco last year. It works well and I use it frequently.
 
What are the green conditions like on your course?
(Assuming that you're playing the same course from your videos)

IMO you need to putt with more conviction on slower greens.
Trying to die the ball into the hole usually ends up short or missing the cup.
Try hitting a few putts through the break and see if they fall.

Hope this helps. Good luck!



.
I start a lot of my rounds as a dew sweeper so they are on the slow side on the front. By the time I get to the back they have gotten much quicker. I have noticed that I tend to putt a little better on the back 9. Not sure if that’s just from the reps prior to getting there or because of speed.
 
I too am struggling with putting recently.

On my stroke I often feel like the putter head is wobbling up down perpendicular to my legs. So what I've been trying is locking my arms straighter and onto my body and just using a simple rocking motion. It has helped a lot but I often forget during a round as its less comfortable putting that way.

Any tips on how to make the club head and stroke tighter and more stable? Surely has to be the arms at fault?
 
Now that I’ve got more putts on video and I’ve been sitting here watching them ALL I SEE is my head moving around, a lot. Pulling my head up at the end of my stroke is a huge problem and something I’m going to work to address.
 
I know. There’s a reason I’m not uploading my putts to the live thread 🤣🤣😉


I’d be heartbroken to see the mcraft go. I think I’m going to try to cut the shaft down to 34 first. I’m not a tall guy and it’s something I’ve been thinking about doing even before seeing the suggestions.
I am in no position to be giving putting advice right now, but I feel I can offer some firsthand advice regarding putter length. I'm a shorter guy at 5'-6", and I always thought I needed a putter shorter than 34", so every putter I bought I cut down. Initially this made it feel comfortable, but over time I found myself getting the butt more and more into the palm of my upper hand, which indicated to me that it was too short.
Ironically I lengthened my Cleveland before finally committing to a fitting, and even after adding over an inch back it was still about a 1/4" shorter than my trusty old Taylormade.
During the fitting the only length he had in the model I ultimately went with was 35". And you know what? It felt like a warm blanket - just right. So the moral of my story is that you can always add length back, but it might surprise you that the longer shaft is the right one for you.
 
I don't know if it matters, but do you realize you're shifting your weight back ever-so-slightly just as you begin your backswing? It also appears you have your weight back from the very start?

Before cutting your existing putter shaft down--and I agree: I does look like you're cramped with it as-is, I'd try some different putters, with different shaft lengths.
This is what I noticed as well. He shifts and turns his hips slightly. Almost like he's using a miniature golf swing.
 
I'm right with you OP. As an example, first hole yesterday - a long par 4 I rarely am on in 2 , I was on in two - 4-putt. Long putt, left the first way short (a stub), second putt 5 feet long, missed comebacker. 💩
 
Or simpler, just choke down on your existing putter, 1/2 inch at a time, until you find a more comfortable length.
I did this yesterday and the most comfortable spot where I feel I have the most control is having my extended trail index finger barely touching the metal part of the shaft. Part of the reason I’m thinking about cutting the shaft.
This is what I noticed as well. He shifts and turns his hips slightly. Almost like he's using a miniature golf swing.
Yep, I totally do this subconsciously.
 
I did this yesterday and the most comfortable spot where I feel I have the most control is having my extended trail index finger barely touching the metal part of the shaft. Part of the reason I’m thinking about cutting the shaft.
fwiw, i do that, always have, and it's onto the metal depending on the grip... play a 35"
 
Yep, I totally do this subconsciously.
Try taking some practice putts getting your shoulders out over the ball a little more. I don't know if you want to putt like that but it should force you to rock your shoulders back and through, rather than turn your hips/shoulders. That should isolate your shoulders from your torso, to some degree. When my putting seems like it's off during a round, that's what I do and it brings it back in line. At least for me it does.
 
Best thing I’ve found recently for putting: Balls of Steel by Eyeline Golf.

A few sessions with those and you will see a difference.
 
Best thing overall for putting: Dave Pelz, Putting Bible.
 
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