[GustavM]

I've only been playing since October of last year but I have been improving at a ridiculous rate. This is due to my playing two to three times a week and going to the range almost every day for plenty of iron practice and putting green time. My driver, woods, irons, and wedge game have really been coming along nicely. However, regardless of the time that I spend on the putting green every day I have been getting progressively worse if anything. I have better results chipping from the fringe than putting it up to the hole.

At first my problem was distance control but as I worked on that I found myself misalighning more and more putts. Well, this led to that and fixing one thing messed up others. My confidence level on the green has slowly been shot to bits. I'm so far gone on the green now that I just quit caring about my putting. I just spray and pray when I'm on the course with the flatstick now.

I played at the Arnold Palmer course this Sat. and shot a 94. This could have easily been in the low to mid 80's had it not been for 3 and even 4 putts on more than half of the holes. On the final hole, a 515 yard par 5 I hit a decent drive and another driver off the deck to find myself on in two, only to 4 putt my way to a bogey. It was after that hole that I decided ignoring the problem is only going to make it worse.

So I have decided to 1. Take some putting and green reading lessons. 2. Buy a new putter with some serious alighnment help. And 3. Try out a belly length putter since my lack in confidence has slowly led to a case of what might be considered the yips.

Im really looking at three putters that I like quite a bit. TM Rossa Corza, center shafted White Ice Odyssey 2 Ball and 2 Ball Backstryke.

Anybody think that these will be any serious help with alighnment opposed to my blade style putter I have now? Also, what's your number one tip/drill for putting?

[Lilji]

I will browse this thread with interest as I am also struggling Colt and I can feel your pain

[GustavM]

Yeah, my putter almost got a crash course in swimming on that 18th!

[TagBahthuff]

I just figured out that I have not been properly lining the ball up with the center of the putter. once I made that change I have noticed much more consistant putting.

[heltduell]

I had similar problems with my putter after seeing rapid improvement just like you when I first started playing golf. One of the drills I have been doing that seems to be really helping my putting game is to practice < 5ft putts. When I go out before a round to the practice green, I take 3 balls with me and put them at about 3 feet on one side of the hole. Ill keep putting from that general spot until I have made 2 sets of 3 in a row (6 in a row total). Then I move to the left side of the pin and repeat the drill and continue all the way around the pin. I'll do this sometimes for 20 minutes before I really feel comfortable with my stroke. At that point, Ill practice a 15ft putt to work on distance. But I usually have such a good feel from my putter at that point that distance control is not a problem. This drill has made my putting avg drop from around 3.5 down to about 2.1.

[nursopoutaras]

I've been struggling with my putter as well, it's rough. What seems to be helping me is constantly practicing on the little practice putting green I have in my house. All the practice strokes seem to make me more comfortable on the course, like I'm "owning" the stroke now.

[Verger99]

I changed putters over the winter on a whim and with the new putter my putts have been money compared to what they were before. The last time out I should have had 3 putts drop from over 15feet, but the greens on that course still had their aeration holes and sent the ball bouncing strangely right before the cup. On one it took a full 3" hop to the right to go around the hole about 2" from the cup.

For me putting has simply been a practice, practice, practice thing and its slowly improved

[heltduell]

Forgot to mention. I would get the TM rossa, I can't seem to hit that putter enough in the stores. I love it!

[CULTDIAMONDS]

I too have had my share of frustration on the green. For me, it is the puttee not the putter. I have only had 2 putters in my bag over the past 15 years.

This is what has helped me:

1. I totally agree with your #1, invest in some lessons and spend some trying to learning to read greens. A gadget like the Sure Putt may help with this (I have not tried it), there was a review done in January '11, here is the link: http://thehackersparadise.com/home/?p=11784.
2. Buy a small pocket-size metronome, or download a similar app for your phone.
3. Make sure I have a small forward press to strike down on the ball (Chapter 1 of The Impact Zone).
4. Practice, practice, practice.

The metronome (I got a free app for my iPhone) has really helped me develop a smoother stroke. My tendency is too rush everything, and swing too hard (with every club in the bag). My instructor suggested a specific timing (1 beat on the backstroke, 1 beat forward, strike the putt (beat), hold for the next beat, then look up). Each beat is about 1 second apart, this is what I use for 10' putts. Longer putts require a longer backstroke, so it might be 2 beats back, 2 beats forward etc.

This has really helped me develop a sense of timing and solid contact with the putter.

[heltduell]

I too have had my share of frustration on the green. For me, it is the puttee not the putter. I have only had 2 putters in my bag over the past 15 years.

This is what has helped me:

1. I totally agree with your #1, invest in some lessons and spend some trying to learning to read greens. A gadget like the Sure Putt may help with this (I have not tried it), there was a review done in January '11, here is the link: http://thehackersparadise.com/home/?p=11784.
2. Buy a small pocket-size metronome, or download a similar app for your phone.
3. Make sure I have a small forward press to strike down on the ball (Chapter 1 of The Impact Zone).
4. Practice, practice, practice.

The metronome (I got a free app for my iPhone) has really helped me develop a smoother stroke. My tendency is too rush everything, and swing too hard (with every club in the bag). My instructor suggested a specific timing (1 beat on the backstroke, 1 beat forward, strike the putt (beat), hold for the next beat, then look up). Each is that is about 1 second long, this is what use for 10' putts. Longer putts require a longer backstroke, so it might be 2 beats back, 2 beats forward etc.

This has really helped me develop a sense of timing and have solid contact with the putter.

Thats a neat idea. Ill have to have my dad try that out. He tends to speed up through his follow through and blast it past the hole.

[iH1wMOhE]

I grew up playing a blade but when the Odyssey 2 ball came out I was really intrigued. I finally bought a used one on ebay and my putting was tremendously better. I can't say it made reading the green easier obviously, but your confidence in the 6-10' straight up putts are that much easier to align truly. I actually had the SRT (as Feherty calls them satellites or space stations because they're so big) but the weight and balance helped a lot too. I think it was center shafted if I'm not mistaken which also helped.

I'm not endorsing or trying to sell that putter really because I only used it for one summer. I won a new Yes! putter custom fit to me on the radio late last year and I ended up choosing another blade. But my confidence gained from one summer in the 6-10' range transferred to the blade somehow (osmosis maybe?) and I'm doing alright with the blade. That's an interesting and I think frequent response to try a belly putter, I just can't bring myself to use one.

Good luck!

[Crilosajsamq]

Be careful of over thinking or over playing your putts. Years ago, I think it was Leadbetter, that had a putting tape and in it he demonstrated just how well our brain calculates things. He used a baseball and a set of car keys as an example. He had his partner move around away from him any where from 10 to 30 feet while tossing first the ball, then the keys at different distances. Neither one of them over threw or for that matter under threw the other. His point was that your brain and eyes and arm muscles all work very well together and you can make that throw nearly perfect with little or no thought. The putter can be the same way in a sense that the calculations are already made, just trust your self.
Try setting a bunch of balls on the practice green at different distances and angles and just hit them all towards the hole as quickly as you can. Don't read or take practice strokes just hit them. I would be willing to bet that some of them actually go in. Confidence!

[iH1wMOhE]

Be careful of over thinking or over playing your putts. Years ago, I think it was Leadbetter, that had a putting tape and in it he demonstrated just how well our brain calculates things. He used a baseball and a set of car keys as an example. He had his partner move around away from him any where from 10 to 30 feet while tossing first the ball, then the keys at different distances. Neither one of them over threw or for that matter under threw the other. His point was that your brain and eyes and arm muscles all work very well together and you can make that throw nearly perfect with little or no thought. The putter can be the same way in a sense that the calculations are already made, just trust your self.
Try setting a bunch of balls on the practice green at different distances and angles and just hit them all towards the hole as quickly as you can. Don't read or take practice strokes just hit them. I would be willing to bet that some of them actually go in. Confidence!

I like this technique a lot Beowulf. I remember as a kid when i was on the course, I rarely did much to check green characteristics and would hit the ball at the hole on the green, more often then not they would roll in because I wasn't over analyzing. Someone once called it "analysis paralysis" so I try to keep my tempo pretty quick on the greens and keep my head out of it.

[actifadepette]

LMK if you want to try the 2 Ball Backstryke.
I have one that's "resting". . .

I don't know about you, but when I try out putters at RD's almost everything goes in.

[Pynctyncroast]

If your stroke is straight back and straight through, I'd get the center shafted 2 ball putter. I love mine.

Have you checked your setup with your putter? Is the toe up or down? Is the sole flat on the ground?

Another thing to practice with is lining up the lettering of the ball, like "" with your target line. When you putt, the lettering should stay centered. This will help you see if you are pushing or pulling your putts. It also helps with alighment.

I practice my distance control using a ball marker. I putt to the ball marker and make sure it passes it by 12-18". The cup looks huge after putting to a ball marker.

[vintsqyuid]

the pro I take lessons with has given me some great putting tips. I would strongly reccomend taking a lesson or two, it not only helped fix some flaws in my stroke, but also gave me the confidence that the stoke I was practicing and gaming was technically correct, and I'm just learning to trust it now.

[CoallyPax]

I can't help you decide what putter to get, but be sure to try them all out. One thing that helped me out a ton was marking my ball with a line across it and pointing that towards my intended line. Then when I got over the putt I lined the line on the ball up with the line on my putter(mallet style with alignment aid) and concentrated on speed only, knowing I had already addressed the direction I wanted my putt to go.

[QysnZWB4]

One of the best/simplest tips I picked up from Nick Faldo is this: "keep the back of your neck still"...this allows your shoulders to rotate around your body, thus allowing the putter to swing on the correct 'arc' path.

As for your alignment problems, your perspective is probably off; meaning that you feel like you are set up correctly, but you aren't. To fix this, start with shorter putts (6-10 feet). set a club down to help align your feet, and make sure when you set up that your eyes are directly over the ball. As well, make sure that your hips and shoulders are square to your feet/club on ground. Make sure that there's no tension in your body. Stay relaxed and don't grip the club too tight! Now when you stroke the ball think "keep the back of your neck still" and you will probably be amazed

[Kayakeenemeds]

One thing that helped me out a ton was marking my ball with a line across it and pointing that towards my intended line. Then when I got over the putt I lined the line on the ball up with the line on my putter(mallet style with alignment aid) and concentrated on speed only, knowing I had already addressed the direction I wanted my putt to go.

+1, I do the same thing.

[ApporpSothe]

It's never a bad idea to get a lesson. As for the putters, I think each of them would definitely improve your alignment. I've never liked the feel of the Odyssey putters for some reason, but I can line them up easily. I'd test those three out and see which works best, but they will definitely improve alignment.