Guru & others,

I would like to obtain some opinions after I was tinkering around on the putting green this week.

After 18 months serious golf and some excellent lessons, I’m still yet to conquer putting from inside 6ft. This is costing me dearly in terms of breaking 80 (best score is 83 so far).

So my question is this – Does anyone look at the hole when they putt rather than the ball from this range or any distance on the putting green.? As much as I try I always want to look at the hole from short range which invariably leads me to moving my head during the putt.

So I figured if I can’t stop lifting head & looking a the hole during the stroke, just look at it and hit it. In other target sports like lawn bowls, darts, archery etc you look at the target so why not putting.

I trialled this on the practice green this week and sure I still missed a few but majority were going into the cup with conviction and at least getting past the hole. None of my weak, short, dying putts were evident.

Has anyone tried this or have any thoughts? Is there a theory that says as long as your aligned properly and your head is still, you can look at the hole?

Cheers

W. Timmothy Gallway talks about it, in his book the Inner game of Golf, which you might find interesting.
enjoy

If you wish to watch the ball then go no further than doing the Jack putt. Jack Nic’ that is. He got down low and behind the ball so he could see it all the way there.

I think the difference with archery, lawn bowls and putting is that when putting, 80% of the battle is hitting the ball in the same spot on the putters face and on the same swingpath each time to ensure that the ball consistently rolls where it should whereas in archery and lawn bowls, there is nothing you need to do but aim, and pull the trigger. Perhaps you could practice putting at first without a target, but rather aim to hit the ball with the dead center of the putterface each time on a dead straight swingpath. Taking away the target pressure should give you no reason to look up. I am by no means an expert, but believe that keeping your head down in putting is a large component of being a good putter (just like keeping your head down on a full swing usually ensures success).
I take the same approach to snooker, where I pick out where I need to hit the red ball to sink it, then see where I need to hit the white ball with the cue, then I focus on the white.. rather than the red.

Also with putting, I’ve become a much better putter since I started devoting my putting practice time to putting at smaller targets (started with a golf ball as the target and now I use a tee). I will hit it 7/10 times from about 5-6 feet and this translates to supreme confidence when putting at something about 20 times the size!

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Mr C.

Advice I’ve gotten once was that a lot of people who miss the short putts is because they try to follow the ball, instead of concentrating on where the ball was at setup. I think following the ball means that you will be more inconstent on where it hits the putter.

Do you have any video of yourself hitting a putt or 3 from this range?

When you putt do you aim At the Hole or at the Apex of the break ?

Try putting a marker at the apex of the break when you practice and aim to hit it.

If this does not work for you then try this drill start putting from 1 ’ with 10 balls miss one start again if you make all 10 then move to 2 feet and so on miss 1 and go back to 1 foot putts its gets real hard around 5 to 6 feet and pressure builds as you proceed further .

Good drill S_S.

To make this drill even more effective the player must come to understand the impact interval/zone and build in the dynamics that are required.

That being said there are a lot of players who can become distracted/anxious the closer they get to the hole.

By using the 32 ball drill a player can build in the dynamics and a belief system at the same time. Thanks to TGM and Carey Mumford.

The best putt is the one the rattles in the hole…sounds great! Go to your local course, grab your shag bag and putt balls from 2/3/4/5/6 feet with your eyes closed after you have lined it up. Another tip is to place a tee at the heel of the putter and one at the toe. Take your putter back and if you hit the tee’s through impact, you know you have a problem. I have my sight but some golfers do not. It is a simple drill but works.

I think drills are great!

I also think that doing drills without a plan or path that will educate your hands takes a lot of guessing, experimenting, hoping and frustration.

Thinking is a good thing as long as it moves you closer to an understanding. Get real answers to your questions then you can set those questions aside and begin your forward progress.

Educate your hands in relationship to the design of the club and you will help to free your mind.

There are three pressure points on the hands for TGM and a fourth if you wish to consider the left thumb (although not labeled as such). There are three basic putting strokes…shoulder, arm, hands type. Regardless of which stroke you use you must monitor the hands for the best results, for they are the direct connection to the club.

Add to that they are the direct connection to the clubhead via the shaft AND clubface via the shaft. What happens at the top end of the grip is applied to both the shaft and the clubface.

Rule your hands and rule the clubhead and face through the ball, into the air, into the hole.

Having said that our hands are generally much quieter in golf than most would believe.

Add to that they are the direct connection to the clubhead via the shaft AND clubface via the shaft. What happens at the top end of the grip is applied to both the shaft and the clubface.

Rule your hands and rule the clubhead and face through the ball, into the air, into the hole.

Having said that our hands are generally much quieter in golf than most would believe.

Great Point!

Watching someone with educated hands looks like they are very quiet not “handsy”.

Guru, maybe this one can go into the Two Paul’s Iseek Video Library?

Joe Clark, Sr. is a PGA Master Professional who putts looking at the hole. Says once you line up the putter, trust that you’re going to hit the ball the way you lined up and look at the hole. No need to look at the ball.
However, I’d say most of us would be uncomfortable and “flinch” or yip it.
Lots of putting advice out there. The golf school articles are good.
It would be valuable to know what type of putter you are, arm pendulum, shoulder rocker, push stroker. Tour pros predominately use rocking shoulders.

Grip in lifelines of both hands.

I’m a pusher, only comfortable with pushing, for feel. I equate it with the same pushing move as my chips, short pitches.
I line up the putter vertically or slight forward lean at its fulcrum point/low point which is directly beneath the left armpit. That puts the ball pretty much directly off the big toe, or a bit inside of that. Flat left wrist, bent right, and I push it. Body weight on left side, right foot set back from target line.
We all struggle with flippin’ the left wrist pulling it off line. Couple of thoughts I use: “Freeze the right wrist.” That works pretty well. I also think about establishing just a touch of lag in the backstroke and maintaining it through. I’ve seen a recommendation to follow through on the plane line also.

From six feet in, here’s something to toy with. If you center the shaft on your belly button (belly putter or not), establish the Y, pin both elbows to the sides and putt entirely mechanically back and thru with those elbows pinned to your hip bones, the putt becomes incredibly consistent and straight. From 3 or 4 feet in, it’s a “can’t miss” kind of deal. Try it.
I guess it’s a hip-swivel powered.
However, under pressure, it might not hold up due to the slightest hint of distrust in the pure mechanical nature of it. Not much feel. It takes a lot of trust. But success builds trust. I’ve only occasionally used it in competition.

Finally, Jimmy Ballard says “If you try to take the putter straight back and straight through, you’ve hooded it.” Need to allow it to take the open-square-closed attitude if you’re not swinging on a straight vertical plane (which would be hard to do).

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However, I’d say most of us would be uncomfortable and “flinch” or yip it.
blockquote>

That was not my experience nor the experience of everyone I have spoken to who has ever putted this way.

Something to consider is that for short putts you can see both the hole and the ball – initially that can be a bit disconcerting.

cj

Sounds obvious? Why do elite players go low in their rounds? It is because they can putt. So many of them flush it the same and putting sets the best from the not so best. If you know a guy at your local club who shoots under more times than not, ask him what he thinks or watch his stroke. If you know a tour pro who is doing well, rattle his brain!
6 foot putts? steady hands’light hand pressure, practice and confidence, ball position and a putter that is fitted for you height etc.

What is the correct position for the ball when putting? Also I like the sound of varying the grip pressure. Has worked well of late for me.

Seems logical that the correct position for the ball when putting would be exactly at low point of the swing arc of the putter for whatever type of stroke being used.

Joe Clark, Sr. is a PGA Master Professional who putts looking at the hole. Says once you line up the putter, trust that you’re going to hit the ball the way you lined up and look at the hole. No need to look at the ball.
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Loren,

I have no wish to be contentious but you hear this drivel time and time again and I have to wonder why.

Just for starters, the hole is more often than not the end of the journey, the putt having to be started off on a line completely different to directly at the hole.

In my humble, and admittedly limited, experience, 9 times out of 10 any guy who is staring intently at the ball, his immediate objective, with the intention of contacting the ball in the middle of the putter face, and thus propelling it in the desired direction, fails miserably.

This is why putts are missed – heel of the putter contact misses left and toe contact misses right. Centre contact and you are at the races.

How the heck is anyone going to achieve middle of the putter face contact, and send the ball off on its intended line of travel, if he is looking somewhere else?!!!!!!!!!!!??

I have tried both and very much favour looking at what I am aiming at – the ball – and propelling it on a journey that will end at the hole; no matter what line it has to follow to get there.

Burner, I agree with you.

Your argument is with Mr. Clark, Sr. and not me.
Sorry, I should have put in quotes “No need to look at the ball.” as that was from him on DVD, if I recall correctly. Something to that effect.

I don’t advocate looking at the hole (or target, rather) either. As you do, I want to make sure contact with the ball. The mind’s eye tells me where it’s going.

What are you trying to say here? This seems contradictory to the rest of your theme:

In my humble, and admittedly limited, experience, 9 times out of 10 any guy who is staring intently at the ball, his immediate objective, with the intention of contacting the ball in the middle of the putter face, and thus propelling it in the desired direction, fails miserably.

So if you stare intently at the ball you fail miserably?

Speaking of middle of the clubface, there are those who say the line on the putter may not be the true middle and to suspend the putter vertically, tap the face with a tee and look for the place where that does not cause rotation. Draw a line on it there.

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However, I’d say most of us would be uncomfortable and “flinch” or yip it.
blockquote>

That was not my experience nor the experience of everyone I have spoken to who has ever putted this way.

Something to consider is that for short putts you can see both the hole and the ball – initially that can be a bit disconcerting.

cj

How can you be in two places at once when you’re not anywhere at all?

I have putted successfully through entire (club) tournaments with eyes closed. Once a competitor failed to catch a tossed ball and it ran across the line in the middle of my putt. He apologized profusely, but I never saw it. The ball-tosser said “Never mind, he had his eyes closed.” Very long side hill putt, wound up about 1” above the hole on the “pro” side.

I look at the line from below the hole and from the side, address the ball, look at the aiming point, imagine the line, look at the ball and putter alignment, close my eyes and stroke/imagine the putt. Phenomenal results on long putts, occasional disaster on very short ones. But I yip/yank those also with my eyes open, a lot.

Johnny Miller said that in his ‘73 final round at the U.S. Open in which he shot a 63, he was so nervous that he couldn’t look at the ball while putting. I believe he looked at a point about 4” outside the ball, with eyes glazed over, so to speak, the way you do when you’re really tired and your body forces you to rest.

There’s a lot to be said for the subconscious in putting.

Loren ,
Thats right that worked for johnny on the day and as is true for most things ,no one way is right for everyone.

So how do you build a repeatable stroke? patience… persistence ?
Can you learn it or do you develop a feeling based on your own perception of being good or otherwise.

Can others influence it buy the way they react to your putting ?

Sammy, great questions, cause for thought certainly.

Understand that I’m no pro, but a successful hdcp-flight club competitor playing more than 50 tournaments a year, finishing in the top three in annual points standings in most years.
But over 20 years of competition of this kind, and lots of study, I have ideas of my own and many others on the subject. So I’ll offer my thoughts on your questions.

Regarding “others”, I play by the adage “Golf is a game you play by yourself. You can’t win, you can only play.” However, I seem to be no good at match play. Performance anxiety, I guess. Or I don’t want to “beat” anybody. Somehow won a Club Championship in-flight once at match though.

“Repeatable” implies mechanical grooving. I think it’s “feeling” instead and every putt is different.
There are two books I’d recommend.
One is The Inner Game of Golf by W.Timothy Gallwey who also wrote Inner Tennis and Inner Skiing, et al.
Another is Extraordinary Golf by Fred Shoemaker.
And of course there is the Clear Key concept mentioned here before with its 32 ball drill.
I’m at the age where memory retrieval is becoming difficult and his name escapes me at the moment.
These have to do with the psyche of golf, of course, and taking the forebrain out of it. Turn it over to the subconscious.

I’ve used the Clear Key, “The rain in Spain falls mainly on my head”, or some such.
I’ve done some of my best putting using Gallwey’s “back-hit” mind pre-occupation routine, to allow the subconscious to do its thing.
Sometimes after analyzing a putt I figuratively throw up my hands and think “I have no idea about this putt. But my subconscious knows everything there is to know about it.” and just walk up and stroke it, sort of on auto-pilot, but definitely not indifferently.

There are a couple of mechanical thoughts I use now. One is “freeze the right wrist”, because most misses are yanked due to flipping the left wrist. I putt with a flat left wrist now, bent right, so freezing the right prevents flipping the left. Works better than “Don’t flip.” Gallwey says the mind doesn’t hear a negative “don’t”. (So if you want to miss a tree don’t think “Don’t hit that tree.” Instead say “Hit it through that open spot.”)
I also think to allow the face to open and close naturally, and sometimes think about allowing a bit of lag.
I’ve also tried just looking at the “Y” and maintaining it throughout. Mixed results. Not enough to stick with it.

Try this. In a practice round where score doesn’t matter, or on the putting green, if you miss a putt and blow it by 2, 3 or more feet, walk over and past the hole on a line to the ball and without looking at the hole just reach down and stroke it backwards one-handed, between your legs. I’ll bet it goes in about 90%, and gets a good reaction from others. But if you turn around and try, chances are your made percentage will be less.
Go figure.

Carey Mumford?

I was standing on a putting green with a mate recently who plays off 5 …he kept missing putts and was saying how bad his putting was….. i observed him for 15 minutes not saying anything.

Then i asked why was he practicing missing for as all the putts he was hitting were from 10’ or more.

So he started from 2 to 3 ’ and got some confidence…. he went on to win that days competition.

People quite often have a basic technique yet never learn to trust and believe in themselves why reinforce missing putts practice making them.

Good on ya, mate. (Practicin’ ‘stralian.)

Yeah, 3 balls from 2’, make ‘em all. 3 balls from 3’ make ‘em all. 3 balls from 4’, miss one and have to back up to 3’. Miss one and have to back up to 2’.
Make ‘em all, go to 3’, to 4’, etc.
Play the game out to 10’ or whatever goal.
Great drill. Vary the angles.

Oh, I see. You already said that earlier. Sorry.

Burner
In my humble, and admittedly limited, experience, 9 times out of 10 any guy who is staring intently at the ball, his immediate objective, with the intention of contacting the ball in the middle of the putter face, and thus propelling it in the desired direction, fails miserably.

Loren
What are you trying to say here? This seems contradictory to the rest of your theme. So if you stare intently at the ball you fail miserably?

Speaking of middle of the clubface, there are those who say the line on the putter may not be the true middle and to suspend the putter vertically, tap the face with a tee and look for the place where that does not cause rotation. Draw a line on it there.

Loren,

I am just saying that hitting the ball in the middle of the putter face whilst looking at the ball and the putter face together is no easy task for most. Doing it whilst looking only at the hole, therefore, would be nigh on impossible.

Experience will teach you which part of the putter face gets you the contact you require, irrespective of any misleading markings, in order to prevent off-centre deviations occurring. It seems we are in accord on this.