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Why are you a lousy putter?

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Space Bandito

Space Bandito

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Albatross 2024 Club
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Putting is personal. There is no standard in putting stroke, or correct way to hole the golf ball. It's about feel, comfort, and confidence.

To me, confidence comes from the feel of the leather grip in my hands; The way the 350g head swings like a pendulum; The fact that I tell myself putting is the part of my game that saves my scores. That's why I think I'm pretty good at putting.

Yet I see so many people struggle with making, what seem like, easy putts. I'm talking about perfect conditions, flat greens, and medium speeds. I watch guys day in and day out miss left and right; short and long. If it's a stroke issue, perhaps that can be fixed by adding or subtracting length. If it's an arc issue, solve it with toe flow. I guess what I'm saying is: It seems like putting woes can be resolved by changing a putter, getting a fitting, or simply believing you can make a putt.

It seems, with practice, and self confidence, putting should be the most simple part of your game, thus no one should have trouble.

So, why are you a lousy putter?

*I get that some greens are difficult to read, and speeds are hard to manage, but that's not what I'm talking about here*
 
Green reading really is my issue paired with alignment...and maybe the fact that I switch putters every other round haha. Speed control has always been really good for me for the most part, and my putting stroke as confirmed by Sean Toulon is pretty solid. I always seem to be JUST off with green reading though, and it really holds me back, because based on everything else I should be a really good putter.
 
I am moving or perhaps have moved from lousy putter to acceptable putter. :cool:

Lousy putting was due to (all addressed now):
  • Rushing read and putt
  • No routine
  • Poor lag putting
  • Undecided on left hand low or traditional grip
  • No structure or purpose to practice
 
To answer the question posed in one word: CONFIDENCE. I consider myself to be a very good putter especially on greens that I have considerable experience playing. Without getting into the nuances of making an effective stroke, putting is three things to me: speed, direction and confidence. When I have problems with putting it is usually the result of poor speed control and a lack of confidence. But on some days when my speed control is good, confidence is a killer. All it takes is one missed short putt early in the round. I'm talking about missing a straight on, no break putt caused by, in my case , a pull. For that reason, when I practice putting before any rounds or between rounds, I spend considerable time on three foot putts. And making the first one on the course does wonders for the rest of the round.
 
It’s got everything to do with your swing.

I was lousy until a few months ago when I decided to do something about it. Previously I was either hovering behind the ball or trying to start a backswing from flat behind it and was missing stupidly short putts several times per round, had zero confidence, literally zero.

So, I introduced a small forward push to initiate the backswing, got the hang of it with about twenty attempts, bought a mat for at home, and a few different putters...

Upshot is I’ve taken about 5 or 6 shots off every round. The actual putter makes little difference to my new swing, I play equally as well with 6:00 toe-hang or face balanced. I do need a big pistol grip though, weedy grips don’t cut the mustard for me.

Now at the point that on my mat I hit the target from 5 or 6 feet 100% of the time. Getting better at green reading is now what I’m concentrating on.
 
If you tell yourself you're a lousy putter, you're a lousy putter. So don't do that.

Tell yourself you're a good putter, that you enjoy the challenge, that you're intuitive reading greens, love to hear putts drop, that you roll the ball true, etc. etc.
Do all that on the practice green, and dedicate some time to practice putting. If all that doesn't work, buy a new putter.
 
Bernoulli said:
To answer the question posed in one word: CONFIDENCE. I consider myself to be a very good putter especially on greens that I have considerable experience playing. Without getting into the nuances of making an effective stroke, putting is three things to me: speed, direction and confidence. When I have problems with putting it is usually the result of poor speed control and a lack of confidence. But on some days when my speed control is good, confidence is a killer. All it takes is one missed short putt early in the round. I'm talking about missing a straight on, no break putt caused by, in my case , a pull. For that reason, when I practice putting before any rounds or between rounds, I spend considerable time on three foot putts. And making the first one on the course does wonders for the rest of the round.
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It's interesting that you feel confident on certain greens vs others, whereas I have confidence in my putter itself. When I have my putter in my hands, I've never walked on to a green without thinking I can make this putt.
 
Those things are all very well until you find yourself missing putts of 3’ or less several times per round. The first thing you need to sort is your stroke, not your putter. If your stroke isn’t right then no putter will help it.
 
Joelsim said:
Those things are all very well until you find yourself missing putts of 3’ or less several times per round. The first thing you need to sort is your stroke, not your putter. If your stroke isn’t right then no putter will help it.
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I see the argument you have brought up twice, but for me putting is confidence. Confidence in my putter, and confidence in myself as a putter. I've never once had an issue with that philosophy, hence why I said in the very first sentence: Putting is personal. What works for you is not what works for everyone else.
 
I guess to paraphrase the late great Yogi Berra "90 percent of putting is mental, the other half is physical"
 
biggest problem for me has always been speed control.

When I have it dialed, I'm fine, but it takes a while for my brain to accept the daily green speed as it relates to the amount of break I give a putt. Usually takes me a handful of holes to really understand.
 
My biggest issue is reading greens at my home club where most of my golf is played. I've made so many bad reads that it affects my confidence which makes it that much tougher to put a good stroke on it. I'm getting better with the reads now that I have 100+ rounds in but I need another year or two before I know all the reads on their very sloped, fast greens. The good news is it makes greens at other courses seem easy.
 
I have off days here and there. If I'm missing it's almost always a slight tug/pull at impact. Causing me to miss short putts an inch or so to the left. It doesn't happen frequently enough for me to really worry about it, but when it happens, it seems to happen all day. Then come tomorrow it's gone.
 
pmm21 said:
I see the argument you have brought up twice, but for me putting is confidence. Confidence in my putter, and confidence in myself as a putter. I've never once had an issue with that philosophy, hence why I said in the very first sentence: Putting is personal. What works for you is not what works for everyone else.
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Your argument doesn’t work for people who are lousy putters though. I have no doubt that there are a thousand different strokes that’ll work, but if you haven’t got one of those thousand strokes and you continually miss putts that you could knock in easily as if it was a gimme, backhanded and without paying atttention, then your confidence gets shot, especially when it happens round after round. I know, I’ve been there.
 
Speed. Generally don't have an issue reading greens, but it doesn't always get from my brain to my hands correctly. Leave a lot short and blow a lot by.
 
Confidence and bad habits for me. Well and the fact that I can't read greens worth a dang. Last year I missed 3 footers like it was my job and it came down to shoulder alignment that I got lazy with.
 
Joelsim said:
Your argument doesn’t work for people who are lousy putters though. I have no doubt that there are a thousand different strokes that’ll work, but if you haven’t got one of those thousand strokes and you continually miss putts that you could knock in easily as if it was a gimme, backhanded and without paying atttention, then your confidence gets shot, especially when it happens round after round. I know, I’ve been there.
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Don't you think that those short misses can be also fixed with other things, such as toe flow, length, confidence, etc?
 
Reading the green is challenging for me, and I think that effects alignment. Putting is hard...
 
severely over- or under-reading break. or just getting it wrong altogether. i'm just a mess when it comes to reading the break. speed/pace isn't much of an issue (usually).
 
pmm21 said:
Don't you think that those short misses can be also fixed with other things, such as toe flow, length, confidence, etc?
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I don’t actually. If you have a fundamental swing flaw, then nothing can fix it, and clearly if that’s the case then confidence can’t be attained. Toe flow, to me, is a misnomer, it has minimal impact on results, but yes, it can be used to refine results to an extent.

From my own experience, I was missing more 3 footers than I was sinking, no matter which putter I was using, or my mindset. A 3 footer should not be hard, to the point that I would rather hit a ball in one handed from any angle, and my results were better.

Really, if your swing isn’t sound, and I see it all the time with people I play with, then it’s never going to get better unless you address the fundamental flaw.

Thankfully I did address it and am now confident, and don’t care which putter I’m using to do it. In addition, when you aren’t confident on the shorter putts, it also affects the longer putts as you don’t dare knock it past 3 feet.
 
I can usually get pace down fairly quickly but pretty bad a actually reading greens. Sometimes I feel I just need to take more time with that
 
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