Who here has taking putting lessons?

Just curious what you guys have worked on and what you took away from the experience of a putting lesson.

I'm currently sitting about a 5 handicap right now and there's little doubt in my mind that I won't be able to improve until I start to make my par-saving putts from short range (3' to 6'). This is the thing that's holding me back. Every round seems to be a disappointment right now as I think back to the 3 or 4 putts that I missed inside 6-ft.

Not formally but I used to play a lot of golf with my teacher. Learned a great deal.

Steve

Have you even practiced 3-6 footers for like an hour straight and really dial it in?

If you make the time investment up front to figure your short putting out and learn how you like to aim and be able to hit the ball where you aim you will be able to practice way less and be able to get in the zone way quicker with shorter practices.... just sayin

But if that dont work then see what others say...

I've had a few putting lessons and also a few sessions to learn aimpoint express.

In short, I couldn't recommend it highly enough. The main takeaway for me though is fundamentals around alignment, pace, picking a line and hitting it. The key takeaway from there (for me anyway) is still practice, practice, practice.

It may seem strange but in general practice seems to make little dent in my overall putting abilities. I might see a bit of an uptick in my lag putting. Obviously if you aren't practicing, it's hard to be dialed in with speed. But with the short putts I just feel I have no reference point for what is "correct" so every day is a battle to find it again. This cannot be how the best players do it.

I think my green-reading is plenty good enough for the greens I play. I just don't seem to have any ability to hit a given line on shorter putts and often my speed control and touch is terrible when I need to hit it gently.

I've taken putting lessons and found them really valuable. My setup is changed allowing me to have my eyes over the ball. This change also made my putter shaft more vertical so there is less arc to my stroke. I've also developed a practice routine that helps me do a much better job of starting the ball online, make pressure putts and have better overall distance control.

The setup change alone made a big difference, the ball starts online better and rolls much smoother and better. One interesting result of these changes, the ball rolls a bit slower buts goes a bit farther.

I plan to continue getting putting lessons as a part of my improvement plan.

What's your practice routine?

I have taken one putting lesson back in 2013. The putting instructor confirmed my grip and setup were good. By using a laser, he showed me that although my feet, knees, hips, and shoulders were square to my line, my tendency was to aim a few degrees right of the target. On 10-footers, I was 4” right of my intended target. We spent more than an hour working on my aim point. Next we worked on distance control. My putting statistics improved by 2-shots per round, from 33 ppr to 31 ppr. I work at checking my aim point regularly. I don’t use a line on my ball because I lose the “freedom” in my stroke. Instead, I pick a target about 18” in front of my ball, line up my putter then body to that target, then trust the aim point and stroke the putt.

I recommend finding a competent instructor and taking a putting lesson. One lesson may set you on the path to better putting.

Most ams start with a flawed conception of what they are capable of when it comes to putting. They accept that they can't putt like the pros, or even close. They are wrong (usually).

Becoming a great putter starts with believing you can average ~28.5 - 29 putts per round and hole 99.5%+ of your 2.5 to 3.5 footers (even though we play on greens far, far inferior to the average PGA Tour pro (you will also need to tidy up your short game if you want to get to sub-30 putts per round, usually).

(From Wikipedia) The world record holder in free throws is a man named Tom Amberry (November 13, 1922 – March 18, 2017). Tom was an American podiatrist who is best known for holding the Guinness world record for most consecutive free throws made, having made 2,750 of them in a row in a span of 12 hours over the course of one day in 1993 at the age of 71.

The world record holder in free throws is not an NBA player. Or a college hoopster, he was a podiatrist -- who dedicated himself to a very simple athletic motion -- much like putting.YOU (yes, I'm talking to you!) can become a GREAT putter. Maybe not the best putter in the history of the world, but a GREAT putter.

And don't don't anyone come back to me an say that free throw shooting isn't the same as putting. Of course it's not exactly the same, but it's damn close. You execute a simple motion to move a ball forward in space. With putting, you do the same thing, but the vagaries of putting surfaces and the size of the hole means you can't make 2,750 in a row from 6 feet (or whatever length you want to choose, outside about 2.5 to 3 feet).

Let's do this, people!!!! :-)

Aimpoint was probably slightly left field of your ask, but I certainly love it. For the sake of hitting a line and pace control something like a Puttout may be what you're looking for. If I feel like my face control is going, I sit on that for half hour with music, 'tube or a podcast on in the background.

Also great for lockdown calls whereby you can sit on mute. Basically guarantees a putter in your hand most days if you can leave it setup.

Do you have a "consistent" miss inside of 10 feet? I used to pull a lot of putts from that range. I thought it was because of my stroke. After getting fit for a putter, I found out that my stroke is actually pretty consistent -- I was just consistently aiming that putter left of the target. I ended up finding a putter I could actually aim at the hole and now I have a lot more confidence on putts inside 10 feet.

I once took a several hour lesson from Geoff Mangum. It was easily the best golf instruction I have ever had and possibly the best instructional session of any kind that I have ever had.

GM is a smart dude and approaches putting with the application of neuroscience and physiology, not cliches and tips.

If that's the case I would have you start at square one....

Can you putt to a point 1 or 2 feet away and hit it, with a straight putt? Forget about the hole for now and put a tee in the ground or aim at a 2nd ball. Practice hitting to the tee but learn how to aim with your line on the putter and then you have to be able to deliver... so you'll learn 2 things are you aiming where think you are and can your stroke do what you want with a very short one. Once you get good at that then you have the ability to make 3 footers etc but this works on straight putts and then have to work on curved short ones... But at least you'll know if your technique is any good with the 2 footers, too many people dont dial in first to see what they are working with... ijs

Didn't take a lesson, but read @Obee 's putting thread and got fit for a putter. I went from routinely exceeding 36 putts/rd with multiple 3 putts and now average 30-31 with multiple sub 30 rounds and even an all time low 21 putt round last month (chipped in on 18). 90% of my putting practice (which isn't a lot to begin with) is indoors hitting straight putts. All other practice becomes less relevant if you cant consistently start the ball online or takes a lot longer to build in the proper compensations

I have taken a few putting lessons. The best I ever received was from David Orr. John Graham was the 2nd best. The others didn't really know much about putting as they thought they did.

To me, it's best to either get on SAM Puttlab, Capto or the newest versions of Trackman with your initial lesson. I'm sure David and John don't even need those reports, but it did help me with understanding where I was and what we were trying to accomplish and why.

A few of things I would take away from putting lessons are:

You do have to work on it and much like the golf swing, it won't happen overnight. It will happen quicker if you're dedicated to working on it than if you're trying to make changes to your swing. But it won't be overnight. You're not going to putt great all of the time. And you're not always going to putt better than you did. But over the long haul, you'll putt better overall. So don't get discouraged. Putting improvement is about improving your skills as a putter. Improving green reading, aim, getting the ball to start on the line, speed/touch, making good contact. If you improve on those, your putting over the course of time will improve and you'll start making more putts.While putting coaching does involve mechanics, it's more about player development.Make sure you get properly fitted for a flatstick.

RH

Dude. This warms my heart.

As usual, Richie, wonderfully insightful post. :-)

I had a putting lesson that helped a lot. I used to aim way right and flipped my right hand to square it without even realising that I did that.

I have gone from an atrocious putter to a competent putter and I hardly practice putting anymore (limited practice time so I would rather practise something enjoyable that doesn’t hurt my back).