sickyspider
New member
Today I took my first ever putting lesson. In the past I have putted very well but only in patches. My best 18 hole average is 28 but over 9 holes I have gone as low as 11. Conversely I have 3 putted a lot and topped out at over 40 during the odd round. I have therefore always been a streaky putter. Since restarting golf again in 2011 after a very long gap I have putted with a pure blade. I like the look and feel of the Anser style blades but felt I could no longer control the face closing on me or the unforgiving nature from off middle strikes. Over the last year I have tinkered with my stroke so much that I had almost forgotten how to putt. My confidence was low that I would hover over the ball for ages before letting go. I wasn't reading putts well, my speed was out and only sporadically did I start putts on my chosen line.
I decided something had to be done so a couple of weeks ago I booked a 2 hour lesson and also bought a mallet putter. It turns out to be a well spent 150 smackers! Instead of using an artificial green which was available or a grass putting green we used the green on 18th hole of my local course which had plenty of slope. The instructor quickly found out my green reading, speed and starting line were all inconsistent. As a rear eye dominant golfer he agreed that standing slightly open was beneficial but just got me to stand the shaft a little more upright to help with starting putts online and deliver a square strike more often. My short putts inside 6 feet immediately improved. We then moved to AimPoint Express which he explained and then I put into practice. Needless to say the immediate results were positive and it is so easy and quick to implement. After this we worked on improving my starting line on shorter breaking putts which was really good fun with 2 knitting needles and some string. We then worked on regulating tempo to control speed with the 'one & two' for the back stroke and through stroke and fine tuning my pre shot routine.
When the instructor felt I reached a sufficient standard we spent the last 15 minutes playing par 18 golf. He proceeded to scatter 9 balls around the green with putts ranging from about 5-6 feet to over 30 feet with upslope and downslope and left/right breakers and combinations thereof. He then stood on the edge of the green and watched as I attempted to putt out every ball. The first 3 balls from between 5-8 feet I made without missing which literally got me pumped but also ramped up the pressure. The next 3 balls I putted in 6 putts with some good lag putting and newly found confident short putting. The 7th ball produced the worst putt from about 25 feet to no closer than 5 feet. I was left with a downhill slider which earlier in the session I had blasted past the hole. This time I nailed it slap bang in the middle of the cup!
The 8th ball produced a good breaking lag putt from 20 feet to less than a foot on the high side. The final ball was a more or less straight uphill putt from about 30-35 feet. I then started to feel the pressure of not having 3 putted so far and completely messed up the pace leaving myself maybe 5-6 feet short. I could feel myself taking deep breathes as I went through my pre shot routine and practice strokes. I then addressed the ball and after one look at the hole let it rip and it went at pace into the middle of the cup! What a relief and really positive putting lesson. 15 putts in total and no 3 putts!
I realise AimPoint Express or its big brother AimPoint may not be for everyone but I found it a very useful aid to green reading and not complicated or longwinded at all. I like the fact that it still requires some feel and judgement. It helped me to not miss one putt on the low side.
My advice to anyone who wants to improve their putting is to have a lesson and try out AimPoint Express! Good luck!
I decided something had to be done so a couple of weeks ago I booked a 2 hour lesson and also bought a mallet putter. It turns out to be a well spent 150 smackers! Instead of using an artificial green which was available or a grass putting green we used the green on 18th hole of my local course which had plenty of slope. The instructor quickly found out my green reading, speed and starting line were all inconsistent. As a rear eye dominant golfer he agreed that standing slightly open was beneficial but just got me to stand the shaft a little more upright to help with starting putts online and deliver a square strike more often. My short putts inside 6 feet immediately improved. We then moved to AimPoint Express which he explained and then I put into practice. Needless to say the immediate results were positive and it is so easy and quick to implement. After this we worked on improving my starting line on shorter breaking putts which was really good fun with 2 knitting needles and some string. We then worked on regulating tempo to control speed with the 'one & two' for the back stroke and through stroke and fine tuning my pre shot routine.
When the instructor felt I reached a sufficient standard we spent the last 15 minutes playing par 18 golf. He proceeded to scatter 9 balls around the green with putts ranging from about 5-6 feet to over 30 feet with upslope and downslope and left/right breakers and combinations thereof. He then stood on the edge of the green and watched as I attempted to putt out every ball. The first 3 balls from between 5-8 feet I made without missing which literally got me pumped but also ramped up the pressure. The next 3 balls I putted in 6 putts with some good lag putting and newly found confident short putting. The 7th ball produced the worst putt from about 25 feet to no closer than 5 feet. I was left with a downhill slider which earlier in the session I had blasted past the hole. This time I nailed it slap bang in the middle of the cup!
The 8th ball produced a good breaking lag putt from 20 feet to less than a foot on the high side. The final ball was a more or less straight uphill putt from about 30-35 feet. I then started to feel the pressure of not having 3 putted so far and completely messed up the pace leaving myself maybe 5-6 feet short. I could feel myself taking deep breathes as I went through my pre shot routine and practice strokes. I then addressed the ball and after one look at the hole let it rip and it went at pace into the middle of the cup! What a relief and really positive putting lesson. 15 putts in total and no 3 putts! I realise AimPoint Express or its big brother AimPoint may not be for everyone but I found it a very useful aid to green reading and not complicated or longwinded at all. I like the fact that it still requires some feel and judgement. It helped me to not miss one putt on the low side.
My advice to anyone who wants to improve their putting is to have a lesson and try out AimPoint Express! Good luck!
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