Germerican
AngryYankee
I don't know, that's why I am such a great lag putter :bad:
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I simply rely on my Jedi mind skills that I picked up from The Empire Strikes Back. I've reduced my 3 putts in half!!
I started a thread a while back asking if people "saw" a line for their putts. I was thinking recently (yes it did hurt) and I got to wondering how people know how hard to hit a putt.
For me, and this may sound weird but I never take a practice stroke. I look at the putt and don't think "Yea this is 25feet downhill with a slight uphill 6feet short of the pin'. I line myself up and look at the spot I've chosen to make sure the ball starts on the right line and from there I hit the putt. I know some people practice and have a stroke for a 6foot putt, a 12foot putt etc etc but I've never been able to do that. I'm a purely feel putter and compare putting to throwing a ball. When I throw a ball I don't have a bunch of practice throws before releasing the ball, I just throw it and get it right. I consider myself to be a good putter and lag putting is a particular strength.
I might be an anomaly?, but it'd be good to hear how others putt.
Thanks.
Not to minimize it, but the percentage thing doesn't make sense. I can swing the same length back stroke and follow through and have the ball move at various rates of speed and distance. This is really an impossible question to answer because it is all FEEL, and muscle memory. How do you know how hard to throw a baseball if you are at the pitchers mound vs. 2nd base, vs center field. How do you know how to throw a football 10 yards, 20 yards or 30 yards. You've done it before and your brain recognizes how much effort each of these things take. You practice it over and over and over until there is an inert sense of what you need to do. You don't need to think about it and analyze it, you just know what to do. That's what putting is as well. That is also why it is important to hit the putting green before the round and start of with 1' putts, 3' putts, 5' putts, 10' putts. And you better hope that the playing greens are in similar condition to the practice green.
Unfortunately there is no one right answer for this. What makes golf harder than the analogy just given for football or baseball is the ball is rolling across a surface so uphill, downhill, grain, type of grass, how tightly it is cut, has it been rolled etc etc ALL come into play.
You just have to practice, practice, practice until you have a pretty good feel for what it takes for you and YOUR putter to move the ball. Oh yeah, that is one more variable, your putter will have an impact on ball travel as well.
Then to add one more variable, the putting surface is apt to change during the course of your 4 hour round. Playing early in the morning? Greens will be slower in the morning dew and dampness then dry out and run faster as the day warms up. The opposite is true if you are an evening player, but I see less of an effect in the evening personally, but that may change in various regions as well. Humid day? Different than dry day. A little sprinkle in the middle of the round? That'll change speed and break.
There is no one right answer for this. You have to build a FEEL for putting and that's all there is to it. There are body mechanics and technique and even equipment that can help with your ACCURACY of rolling the ball across the line you want it to go to, but for distance, it is all feel and your brain knowing what to do.
Go practice so that you can train your brain.
Or you can just go buy an overspin putter. I hear you can't miss with one of those. LOL
Like throwing a baseball, football, tossing a horseshoe, shuffleboard, etc--its just a feel you get. If I do a practice stroke it is for that feel (imagination) before I hit. Anytime I have tried to be mechanical (trying to go a certain length backswing, or use x amount of power) it usually does not work well for me unless its like 2 footer and I go mechanical on nerves.
like shooting a free throw. My dad looks at the hole on practice and actual putts.Practice stroke looking at the hole and I let my brain figure the rest out. Works surprisingly well.
SPI rules!I'm an SPi player and was not taught on percentages and such, I agree that can be confusing. SPi itself is NOT confusing though, thats the best thing about it, its all simple, repeatable, and makes sense.
For me, its the shoulder rock size determines the stroke size which results in distances.
All feel for me. There are a lot of variation from course to course on green speed, grass type and condition.
I do my best to get feel for the round on the practice putting green. You see a lot of amateurs drop balls from 15 feet and out for their first putts on the practice green. I always start with what my dad taught me many years ago: find a straight, flat hole on the practice green and using 2 balls roll first from 3ft, then 4ft, then 5ft and keep going 1 ft back all the way back to 10ft. Again all on the same line. This helps your brain pick up just speed.
After those putts are complete then I go to a variation of all distances and breaks.
Another drill I sometimes use right before the round to learn the speed for long putts is to putt from just inside the fringe on one side to fringe on the other side. Hopefully find something in the 25 to 40ft range on this one.