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Putting, its killing me (slowly)

• kavvz 2,195 Posts

  Wed, Mar 15 2017 9:39 AM

  Thanks to all who've taken the time to post and give their take & tips -- much appreciated.

  CEverett12:

  Distance is math , Aiming is feel .. 

  It took me a while, and some messing around with putt calculations and rulers, but I think this is pretty much bang on.  Sure, there were times where a putt calculation worked, but most of the time I felt the initial 'gut' feel was closer/in.

  + there are spots that look like they break but just don't.  Those I just have to learn and keep notes on. 

   

• K7JBQ 1,468 Posts

  Wed, Mar 15 2017 10:09 AM

  Very good observation. Plus, it helps to check where the break happens. If it's early in the path, it will have more effect, which is completely counter-intuitive.

  Titulescu:

  A lot of new players don't differentiate between uphill and downhill putts, and think they will break the same," they don't" uphill putts break pretty much as you see it, where as downhill putts require a wider arc depending on the green speed.

  discovering that helped me a lot.

   

• PSUTOM 188 Posts

  Wed, Mar 15 2017 10:28 AM

  I am by no means an expert putter, but I find that everything mentioned here is sound advise. I use the speed method I read somewhere (I can't remember where).

  For Ex: 25' putt with 3" incline = 28' divided by 3 (30' scale) =9.33 x .77= 7.2 on your scale. That is for very fast & tournament greens. For championship greens it is x .85.

  You may have to play around with the speed formula a little, but I find it works very well for me. Gauging breaks is strictly practice.

• alanti 10,564 Posts

  Wed, Mar 15 2017 12:26 PM

  K7JBQ:

  Plus, it helps to check where the break happens. If it's early in the path, it will have more effect, which is completely counter-intuitive.

  This is particularly true the faster the greens are.

  If you are have a 10 foot putt very fast downhill but find yourself with a sharp l-r break in the first 2 feet of the putt, then levelling out, you may have to play at close to a right angle to get the line right.

  Those first few feet of the putt are crucial to have any chance....and the goal should be a 2 putt.

  Be aggressive and you might have a 10 foot plus putt coming back (or even putt off the green if on Merion lol)

  What makes a player a better putter? A player who puts the ball on the right place of the green in the first place!

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Wed, Mar 15 2017 12:37 PM

  kavvz:

  most of the time I felt the initial 'gut' feel was closer/in.

  + there are spots that look like they break but just don't.

  Remember, the longer you stare at it, the bigger the break is.  ;-)

• alanti 10,564 Posts

  Wed, Mar 15 2017 1:23 PM

  YankeeJim:

  Remember, the longer you stare at it, the bigger the break is.  ;-)

  Ha, remember Scott Hoch?

  From an interviews 25 years on....I disagree that he lined up badly....he looked for the break he started to see....gremlins or whatever you want to call it. Crenshaw got it right....the moment he stepped away.......that break suddenly got a lot bigger.

  I looked at my par putt to win [from two feet above the hole] and I had a good idea of what it was going to do and how I wanted to hit it. I was behind it, and I started to go to address it—and again I didn't have the thoughts I wanted to. Before the playoff one of the TV people said, "Hey, so-and-so wants to see you on the Today show." So I was thinking of other things—like, "Okay, finally I'm going to win a major"—instead of thinking about the putt. That's why I stepped back. Somebody said that [Ben] Crenshaw joined the telecast and said, "Oh, this is a mistake to step back and look at it again." But what I was really doing was stepping back away to get my mind straight.

  Then I stepped up and missed. I know when I've hit a bad stroke—I've hit plenty of bad ones—and that was not a bad stroke. I felt good on it. I looked up. And I'd missed it. I wanted to play it inside left, and I hit it the speed I wanted to. I wasn't trying to just drop it in there. To this day the only thing I can think of is that I had it lined up incorrectly, because the stroke felt good.

• K7JBQ 1,468 Posts

  Wed, Mar 15 2017 1:49 PM

  alanti:

  What makes a player a better putter? A player who puts the ball on the right place of the green in the first place!

   

  Or, as the great Ben Hogan once said:

  Placing the ball in the right position for the next shot is eighty percent of winning golf.

   

• Heath021 378 Posts

  Wed, Mar 15 2017 2:26 PM

  Yeah then you have those who hit it the correct speed every time. Very amazing! Like a magnet get sucked in the hole! (:

• alanti 10,564 Posts

  Wed, Mar 15 2017 2:49 PM

  Heath021:

  Yeah then you have those who hit it the correct speed every time. Very amazing! Like a magnet get sucked in the hole! (:

  Thanks Heath......I do have that uncanny art.

  Now if I could eliminate the first two putts I get wrong, I could be good at this game :)

• kavvz 2,195 Posts

  Wed, Mar 15 2017 3:30 PM

  YankeeJim:

  kavvz:

  most of the time I felt the initial 'gut' feel was closer/in.

  + there are spots that look like they break but just don't.

  Remember, the longer you stare at it, the bigger the break is.  ;-)

  How true that is.  I can't begin to count the number of times I've said 'damn, shouldn't have moved it'  :)