Putting Quest: My Winter Project

Practice
#21

Just to heap on, a few of the drills Cody and I talked about that I’m going to work on in the off season…

Better tempo: Matching my backstroke to my follow through. I had gotten “stabby” with my putts, and it was killing my tempo (and speed control). Easiest drill is to put two tees into the ground and stand between them… backswing to the first tee, follow through to the second tee… Bryson has taken this to an extreme, but I think I can use my limited time to build more consistency… I also have the new putting mat from SeeMore to practice this at home (while also practicing a better backswing)

Backswing: need to get this more inside… I think my transition to a “piston” swing pushed me a little outside… Mat is a great tool for checking my alignment on a backswing. Did I mention I really like this mat?

Make a lot of putts: @JuanTheGolfer has this drill in his suggestions… basically sink 25 3 footers in a row (I like the lag drills too! but that isn’t making putts)… this will require my course actually cut holes into the practice green, but maybe we can get that done?

Lag drills: Juan covered this well… practice hitting inside a 3 foot radius from 20, 30 and 40 feet… I will probably try to work on this with the tempo drills and find my tempos for these distances.f

I’m happy with where I am on my quest right now. Seemore was a huge help in getting me pointed in the right direction… still a ton of work to do on my end, but I have probably 6 weeks before I’ll swing a full swing.

Last major part of the puzzle is making sure I’m reading greens decently, but I will address that once I start playing more. If you aren’t hitting the ball where you are aiming, you can’t know if your read was good… so I need to get that part down first!

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#22

Not necessarily! Pick up a ‘Sink Strainer Washer’ next time you’re at the hardware store. It’s flat, od is 4 1/4” dia, couple bucks. You can toss out to any vacant spot on practice green.
Helps with line and speed; shows me how far past the “hole” ball travels even if I hit it.

I like the “20cent” drill. Put two dimes about halfway along the putt on your read line, about a ball-width apart. Count the number of coin moves until make. It’s also interesting to note patterns; eg: I’m reading everything low, etc.

Good luck!
My favorite practice mantra: “I may not be able to drive like Rory, but there’s no reason I can’t putt just as well”.

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#23

You can also use a Metronome app to work on your tempo… I use a free app called “Metronome Beats” set it to the tempo/beat you are comfortable… each person has their own tempo. Try 75 BPM as a start… you have to start somewhere… if it is too fast or too slow you will know.

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#24

Awesome! Will give this a try.

#25

I’m fine with hitting to a target for most putts, but for the 3-4 footer drill I want to watch it go in.

#26

Rather than those high interest purchases. Make better use of your credit card. Putt to it.
Best practice target in my putting area. 3⅜ long, 2⅛ wide, yeah buddy! that’s a fruit tester.
Can you make 10-3’ers, 10-4’s, 10-5’s & 10-6’s in a row? If yous get too good on the long side, turn it to the 2" side.
Also sorta sounds like a real golf hole when hit, mild audible little click to it.

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#27

Here is a great distance control drill… get a piece of paper (8 1/2 by 11). Use tees to put it in place on the green or use ball markers at each corner. Move to 6 feet away. The goal is to putt and stop the putt on the piece of paper. You can start with the long side, and when that is easy use the smaller side. Then move back a foot,… you have to stop 5 in a row on the paper to earn the right to move back!! Find a VERY flat spot or you will find the ball will just roll off the paper.

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#28

I’ll give it a try!

I still just want to see the ball go in the hole.

#29

We are more than happy to be your putting instructor for life. Contact us anytime. Always be there for you when you have thoughts or questions about your putting. Appreciate you taking the time to come and visit.

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#30

Thanks again! I’m really excited about the new putter. Can’t wait to start using it on the mat and building back a better putting stroke!

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#31

I have a vari-speed mat at home and recently bought the puttout so I didn’t need to bend down and pick up the ball all the time :wink:
I would say that with any of these Indoor mats you’re putting under nearly perfect conditions so quite easy to hole a bunch of say 5 ft putts over and over again. It’s not that difficult to hole say 25 4 ft putts in a row. Can I do that on a green, even with a straight putt… not likely because you’re putting on an imperfect surface so even if you hit the ball on the right line and the right pace there’s a chance it’s still not going to go in.
Anyway I guess what I’m trying to say is that perhaps this type of indoor practice helps with confidence but no way does it translate to what I’d expect to make out there on the course .

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#32

This is awesome feedback, and I 100% agree with you. My indoor stuff has mostly been about working on tempo and stroke, I’m not often hitting a golf ball. (I do occasionally, just because the end goal is to hit a golf ball with good tempo, not just to wave a club around.)

It’s also why I’m really hoping we actually have holes on our practice green this season. Hitting to a target is great, but I need the feedback of actually sinking putts. Not all the time, but I want to be able to translate what I’m doing in other places to on the practice green, so that it eventually improves my on course performance…

As you say, a real world green reacts differently than putting mats (probably even the putting mat in Tiger’s house) and the skills need to translate from Lee Carvallo’s Putting Simulator to actually holing putts on the course…

It is an idea worth keeping in mind, and something I will make sure I’m doing well.

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#33

Really enjoying the tempo drills I got from seemore. Putter is definitely a big change for me, and I’m glad i got fit.

One of my biggest wins from the whole thing was visually seeing what my problems are (mainly tempo) and then getting drills from Cody to help work on them.

Plenty of great putting drills out there, but it really helped me to know exactly what I should start on.

#34

So I continue to work on tempo, and I’m just grinding practice on the green and in the house… just trying to get a solid takeaway and a good tempo…

On the mental side of putting, I’ve been trying to implement a better pre-putt routine, especially for my first putt… I’ve always suffered from lack of focus on putting, so I’m determined to build better habits… When I go to the practice green, I’ve started throwing a ball ahead of me, and trying to implement my routine for that ball… It’s a little silly, but I am going to type it out to help reinforce myself. Feel free to steal it!

  1. Take a deep breath, remove the putter cover and say “OK, Big Cat”… start my focus on the task at hand and get into a putting mindset. I’m not sure I will verbalize this moving forward, but right now it seems to help.
  2. Look at the ball, look at the flag, look at the green… basically take everything in as walk to the ball.
  3. Squat behind the ball, and get my line.
  4. Walk to halfway between the putt on the low side. Confirm my read and start picking a target.
  5. Pick my target, address the ball, and roll the putt…

I’m liking the routine thus far, and I’m curious if I can bring it to the course and maintain it over 18 holes…

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#35

Fwiw, here’s mine:

  1. Pull cover, say “I can make this”
  2. Behind ball, scan green for ‘watershed’; determine undulations, grain
  3. Pace it off, feeling uphill/downhill. While I’m near the hole, check the hole edge for grain
  4. Grip, align putter face, glance at target spot, align feet. Deep breath, glance at target spot again to verify everything, think “This is going in”
  5. STARE at entry to hole, visualize putt rolling backwards. This reminds me to forget line and think only of speed for chosen line. When eyes get back to the ball, focus on contact point on ball, pull trigger immediately.

Hope this helps!

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#36

Still grinding putting in the basement… feeling great with takeaway and tempo in the basement (without a ball). Looking forward to seeing it translate onto the green.

I really like the RST feature on the SeeMore. I think it’s really helping me consistently set up to the ball, which should help me build everything else around it.

Still probably 6 weeks away from my first real round, it will be interesting to see how I putt on actual greens my first few times out. Looking forward to tracking my putting and figuring out what I’m doing better and what still needs work.

#37

Fwiw, I focus mentally on consistent process, be it carpet, practice green or course. Really helps nerves, attitude, rhythm. I’ve stroked thousands of putts, this is just another. I’m totally committed to my routine; know it works.
When I stopped differentiating between carpet, practice green and course, I improved dramatically.
Now, if I could only do that for range warmup and course…:laughing:

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#38

One thing I’ve personally been working on is a consistent pre-shot routine on putting. I’ve had great success on clearing my mind and taking a more consistent swing by a pre-shot routine for full swings and I suspect my putting will get better if i have a more consistent pre-shot routine for putting.

I know it’s not revolutionary but at least for me, I forget that a putt in some ways is no different mentally from any other shot and the pre-shot routine focuses the mind and clears some of the chatter.

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#39

Honestly, I think my biggest weakness as a putter was my pre shot routine or lack there of… I was never really focused on most putts and then I’d get to an important putt and have no routine to fall back on.

I’m significantly better mentally on all other parts of my game…

I haven’t had a chance to try my new preshot routine, but I want to be focused on making a good putt once my putter is in my hand.

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#40

One thing that really helped me: I used to read the speed first, then read break to correspond with that speed. When I reversed that and read the break first, then focused on the speed appropriate for that line I did much better. I know it may not make much sense, but when I incorporated that process into my pre-putt, I realized the last ‘thought’ was speed.
Might not work for everyone, but for me the last thing in my head is speed; I stare at the target spot for a full second, drop eyes to the back dimple and go. I don’t make ‘em all, but usually leave a kick-in which makes for a confident putter.

Hope this helps!

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