Tangential Golf Skills

Practice
#52

Well that was amazing. :exploding_head:

I like the idea of not even telling yourself “speed control” or “get the speed right”, as these verbal cues will also interfere with your subconscious mind. All you’re doing in putting preshot routine is getting the picture as clear as possible in your mind (the picture of the path it will travel, at what speed, where and how it will fall into the hole). Get all of that as crystal clear as possible in your mind with as little verbal chatter as possible, and then just react to that picture. The clearer the picture the better!

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#53

Couldn’t agree more.

I consider myself a great putter. I routinely take around 30 or less putts. I make a lot of long putts and I don’t miss a lot of short ones. And when I do I just laugh.

I almost never practice my putting anymore and when I do I throw down a penny and just hit a few putts at it. The hole looks huge after putting at a penny for 15 mins.

I have found that to putt your best, you CANNOT go out there worrying about whether you will putt your best.

In my 20s I used to work hard on building the “perfect” pendulum stroke. But I wouldn’t hole a lot of putts and I wouldn’t have fun on the greens cos I was constantly trying to be perfect. It looked great but eventually my speed control got horrendously bad as I was focused more on my stroke than my target.

Now my stroke doesn’t look textbook, but I don’t give it a second thought as I hole a lot of putts, and I honestly have fun on the greens

And when I see one of my playing partners grinding on the practice green before the round, looking all wooden trying to dial in the perfect stroke, I can almost guarantee they are going to have a terrible day on the greens out there

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#54

@jon

I use stocktons approach for my putting. You feel like this is compatible with aim point?

#55

You’ll have to be a little more specific, what elements are you using from his philosophy?

(I think AP is really compatible with anything because it’s just a rational system based on real data)

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#56

Spot putting specifically. I try and get connected to my target and make a read, bring the line back to three inches in front of the ball and then roll it over that spot

#57

I think I’m going to stop practicing putting. I have been practicing quite a bit the last few weeks, also messing with my grip and trying several different options, and all the results were pretty similar. This week my first round I changed up my grip 3 times during the round, and missed a few short ones but lagged it okay. 2nd round, I stuck to 1 putting grip, and my short putting was much better, but I CHUNKED 2 lag putts and left them 15 feet short that led to 3-putts, and also had a 4 putt after I got too aggressive on a 10 ft second putt.

I’m not really going to quit practicing, but I do like the idea of trusting it, and then laughing it off when you miss. Otherwise it can derail a round and leak into other parts of your game.

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#58

I don’t think you’d have any issues with that using AP. For example, if you put your fingers up and see that the read is about a cup out to the right, you could back that out to a spot about three inches in front of you.

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#59

Putting is weird… I think to be a successful “technician “ Putter you have to go full Bryson. Get the hat, put in the repetitions and just grind… I’m not sure it’s achievable for a non professional golfer and I’m curious to see how he does at Augusta with less than perfect knowledge.

As someone who is working to reform from a bad putter, my approach has been varied… ive done the major technical work… gate drills and such… I’m very comfortable at 4 feet and less… my stroke is repeatable and I’m confident in it.

I’m still working on the lag putting… I mostly practice 20+ foot putts with a focus on getting close vs getting in… since I’m confident from 4 feet, I should have a big circle to miss into!

I haven’t yet tested this on the course, but I’m hoping it will pay off…

Basically, I think technique needs to be good enough that your stroke is repeatable, and then make sure you are comfortable lag putting from outside 20 feet.

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#60

Putting is weird and very hard. But it is the only thing us mortals can do on a comparative basis to tour pros.

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#61

Putting is so hard that it’s one of the only parts of golf where professionals can’t distance themselves from regular golfers that much compared to tee shots/approach shots

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#62

Is there any data available that shows percentage of makes at different distances for pros and ams of different hdcps? I’d love to see it because I’m one who believes putting is where pros pick up the most strokes on amateurs - at least low hdcp ams.

I’m a +1.6. I’m not an elite ball striker, but I can hit a high percentage of greens and keep it inside 35 feet and often much closer. I don’t shoot in the mid-low 60s very often because I’m not dropping the 15-25 footers the pros are. I make 1-4 of the inside 15 feet birdie putts per round, but rarely anything outside of that.

#63

You need to read Every Shot Counts then, it’s not even close :joy::joy::joy:

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Approach shots are the biggest differentiation in scoring, then tee shots. Broadie found (definitely) in his research that putting does not separate players as much as we always thought.

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#64

According to this I’m a scratch golfer who putts like a bogey golfer…:man_facepalming:t3:

BRB calling Sieckmann and Club Champion.

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#65

I’m going to take a wild guess that the reason you are a +1.6 is the following:

  • you hit the ball much farther than most golfers
  • you keep it play off the tee
  • you hit a lot of GIR
  • you rarely hit those “oh sh*t” shots

Am I close?

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#66

Seems like you need a new putter! That will fix everything.

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#67

My way sounds better! :rofl:

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#68

Dead on. I’m not a terrible putter. I’m just not a good one.

#69

You’re probably better than you think you are. Every plus handicap I know says the same thing :joy:

#70

Suggest using your natural pace, count steps for 10’; should be ~ 4 steps. A bit of practice, you’ll nail it. Then simple math.
Interestingly, I use a combination. During practice I pace off 5, 10 footers for clock drills, 20, 25, 35 footers for lag drills, etc. Purpose is to 1) get my eye dialed in to what those distances look like and 2) develop a touch for those distances. My goal here is to hone a general putt/speed feel.
For pre-round warmup I usually only pace 10’ to verify my eyeballs. I’ll hit a few 10’ for green speed only. At this point I’ll expand or contract my speed feels (relative to practice) using athleticism only.
On the course I don’t bother with pacing (unless I happen to read from the hole), relying on my eyes which should be calibrated from warmup.

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#71

Bingo - when you watch the pros on the tv you’re watching a highlight reel. They show you the holes putts and rarely the missed ones. It’s one of the reasons I was quite happy that they would show every shot Tiger hits. You got to see how often he misses putts too. It’s quite something to watch a guy go out on a PGA tour setup, hit it to the safe side of the hole virtually all the time. Miss a bunch of “makeable” putts and wind up shooting 68. Tiger at his best would put up season average strokes gained approach in the 2+ shots per round. He was often around +1 off the tee (although he missed a lot of fairways he was rarely dead and he hit it miles). +0.7 putting and +0.5 short game. That’s really how you dominate. 3-4 shots per round better than the field adds up.

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