So, you grab your putter, stand next to the ball, stroke the ball with your putter, & then hope for the best. Virtually everyone has the capability of making putts (& do!) regardless of putting style or athletic ability.  But it’s tough to argue convincingly against the fact that those golfers who routinize each part of their putting process will make more putts than those who don’t.  Let me illustrate what I mean by a putting routine by describing mine.

First I line up my ball (I mark straight lines on all my balls to make the process easier) on the path consistent with my reading of the green. Next I concentrate on placing my hands on the putter — the markings on my putter grip enable me to do this exactly the same way every time. I now build my stance @12 inches away from the ball, with my feet 6 inches apart (about 1 & a half the length of my putter head), and with the ball position directly under my left eye.  I place the putter behind the ball, look at my target, look back at the ball, and then within one second start my stroke. I start my stroke by concentrating on moving the putter head back with my left arm and moving the putter head forward with my right arm. This whole process takes me between 15 to 20 seconds.

My putting process is a sequence of steps that I perform in the same order every time. I never have to think of more than one at a time, with each step naturally leading to the next. Concentrating on the sequence of steps breeds consistency & builds a putting motion that you can repeat time after time.

A huge bonus to concentrating on the putting sequence occurs under pressure — when you have that 4 foot putt to break 90 for the first time or to close out a match.  Rather than battling crunch time thoughts about how important the putt is, you will be actively engaging your mind in going through your sequence.

Let me repeat a thought from my last post.  The best place to build a repeatable putting stroke is away from the golf course, away from all the distractions of the slope & grain of the green, lag putting, the wind, etc.  Your living room rug provides you with the perfect consistency needed for you to groove a repeatable putting stroke. And you never have to worry about the weather either.

Lee Triplett ***
The Frugal Golfer

Now that the cooler months are arriving for many of us, it becomes increasingly uncomfortable to get outside to play or to practice. So, the golf clubs get put away and we forget about the game for 2, 3, or 4 months. For some, this time may represent a needed break from the game, but for me and anyone else who want to lower their scores, it represents an opportunity.  It’s time to get serious about improving your putting!

Golfers who regularly shoot over 100 typically take more than 40 putts per round. Golfers shooting in the 90s average about 37 putts per round. Golfers in the 80s, about 34 putts per round, and golfers shooting in the 70s, about 31 putts per round. The pros average about 29 putts per round.  The lesson is clear — improve your putting and watch your handicap go down.

Most of the game requires a high level of coordination, strength, & athletic ability to play at the highest level — but not putting. Compared to the full swing, there is very little motion that goes into putting, which is exactly why most of us have the capability of becoming excellent putters.  We just need to learn how!

Judging slope, reading the grain of the greens, learning how to lag putt, etc. are all important to putting, and are best learned on an actual green. However, none of these skills will do you much good if you do not have a repeatable putting stroke — the foundation of all golfers who putt well.  Even if you have a putting stroke that is flawed with the grip, stance, or how you maneuver the club, the ball will still travel basically the same path every time when your stroke is repeatable! Once you are confident that your ball will follow the path you want, getting it to the hole becomes a much more reliable process.

So how do you go about building a repeatable putting stroke? We’ll talk about that in my next post.  But I can tell you where right now — it’s not on the golf course or the putting green –  it’s on your living room rug or a piece of indoor/outdoor carpeting in your basement.  And when? When there’s snow on the ground or you’re waiting for your laundry to dry or watching tv or in the middle of the night when you can’t sleep, in other words — whenever!

Lee ***

The Frugal Golfer