“When you lip out several putts in a row, you should never think that means that you’re putting well. When you’re putting well, the only question is what part of the hole it’s going to fall in, not if it’s going in.” – Jack Nicklaus
By Ian Hardie
Practicing putting is one of those things that golfers do
Mostly after they have had one or two poor games
Possibly, even three I suppose
Because they do it infrequently
And without knowing just exactly what they need to do to be effective
It often doesn’t help to improve their golf in the long term
In fact the way a lot of golfers practice their putting
Is potentially one of the main causes of the putting yips
You can read more about that here if you want
To explain why the way most golfers idea
Of how to practice their putting doesn’t help them
Let’s consider a typical scene at a golf course
That’s probably happening right now as you read this
At a couple of thousand golf courses around the world
A golfer who has had poor scores for their past two or three rounds
Has done a bit of simple analysis afterwards
And figures out that their mid-range putting
Was the main contributor to the poor scores
Which for most golfers
Would mean missed birdie and par putts
So they decide that at some point during the week
They are going to stop in at the golf course
To do some practice putting and work on their putting stroke
Seems reasonable doesn’t it?
The opportunity duly arises and the golfer gets to the golf course
Confidently steps onto the practice putting green
Armed with their putter and 3 golf balls
To ‘sort their putting stroke’ out
Without any warm-up or messing around
The golfer drops the 3 balls onto the green about 10 feet from one of the holes
Takes aim and starts putting
Adjusting their stroke as they go
Which is a nice way of saying they are messing around with it
To try and find the magic feel
Over the next 30 – 45 minutes the golfer varies which hole they putt to
But sticks to mainly the same length of putt
As that was the one that caused the poor scores
Over the session the golfer has about 100 putts
All of which have had the hole as the target
In total they end up only making 7 of the putts
3 of which were in the last few minutes of the session
Which means the golfer then leaves the putting green
Thinking they have practiced well
And that their putting is sorted
Ready for their next game
Right?
Wrong unfortunately, very wrong indeed!
Let’s have a closer look at what’s actually gone on in that session
The first distinction that the golfer needed to make
Was that if it was their putting stroke or technique that needed the work
It needs to be worked on in isolation
Not while putting balls at a target
I explained the reason for that a while back in the post
‘Does your mechanic fix your car while you’re driving on the highway’ when I said that any problems with technique
“Need to be sorted in an environment away from playing
So that specific parts of their actions can be isolated and worked on
Then integrated back into their actions to improve their game”
When it comes to putting practice
Aiming at the hole counts for ‘playing’
In fact the most effective way I’ve found to sort out a golfers putting stroke or technique
Is actually to use a putting mirror like this one or this one and not be concerned with aiming at the hole at all
I’m going to talk more about putting mirrors and how to use them effectively later
So back to our intrepid ‘putting practiser’
On the putting green they had three balls at a time going at the hole
However on the course
You only ever putt one ball at a time
Knowing that you are having three goes at each putt
Doesn’t exactly make you focus very well
As most golfers are happy if they hole one out of the three
So it’s unlikely that you will improve your putting using multiple balls
In fact the reality is that all that putting multiple balls at the same hole
Without completely separate pre-putt routines will do
Is speed up the onset of the yips
I think I might talk about that a bit more later as well
The final point I want to cover though is the most important
As when it comes down to it
Putting technique is only a small part of what’s required to hole putts
Confidence is the biggest factor a golfer needs
The golfer in our scene had approximately 100 attempts at holing
A putt that was about 10 feet from the hole
7% of which he made successfully
Which isn’t actually that bad when you consider that the current PGA Tour leader in 10 – 15 foot putts
Is a guy called Billy Horschel who at this point in time has holed 14.6% of his putts so far this year
Anyway, here’s the problem with practicing putting in that way
Even though our golfer made 7 of his putts and came away thinking he had improved
What he had actually done is spent 45 minutes recording
93 missed (negative) putts into his memory
And only 7 made (positive) putts to balance it out
Next time he has a 10 foot putt on the course
Which memory is his brain more likely to draw on?
We’ll talk about that some more soon in ‘How to practice your putting – part two’
Until then
Play well
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