Obee's Putting Improvement Thread

[Obee]

Sadly, no.

[Obee]

28 putts yesterday on perfect greens running 13 at Bear Creek.

Played a money match with two Korn Ferry pros, John Chin and Brent Grant. Always a treat playing with those guys. Chin is currently #7 on Korn Ferry money list, and Grant is #30. Just incredible how far they hit it. They are also both very consistent rollers of putts. Great routines. Great strokes. Ball always seeking the hole.

They played the (a bit up) blacks (7,050 yesterday, 75.3/145). I played the blues (6,450, 71.8/138). That allows me to have some of my drives end up in a similar place to theirs, though on most holes, they are still well by me, as they both hit it very, very long. Grant is currently #1 on the Korn Ferry in Driving Distance (329.5) and #4 in Total Driving. Chin is #14 in Driving Distance (314.5) and #2 in Total Driving. It's like they are playing a different game. Going to do a separate thread on playing with these guys.

My putting day:

2-putt from 12 feet. Tap-in bogey3-putt on impossible first putt from 45' at top of green to bottom. Best you could do was 12 to 13 feet. Missed the 14-footer. Tap-in1-putt birdie from 4-feet2-putt bogey from 9-feet Tap-in1-putt par from 7 feet0-putt. Holed 45-foot putt from several feet off back of green0-putt. Holed 18-foot putt from just off front of green1-putt par from 9-feet.2-putt par from 25 feet. Tap-in.2-putt par from 18'. Tap-in.2-putt par from 20'. Tap-in.2-putt par from 18'. Tap-in.2-putt par from 35'. Make 7-footer to save.2-putt par from 21'. Tap-in.2-putt par from 21'. Make 4-footer to save.2-putt par from 12'. Tap-in.2-putt par from 12'. Tap-in.1-putt par from 5'.The fact that I have been able to so easily go back and forth between slow and fast greens with this putter is quite heartening, since that was the whole reason I went in search of a new putter to begin with. Will try to post some video of me putting on my home putting mat if I get a chance.

[D0ch0l1d4y]

I've been lurking mostly on this thread, and taking advice from the posts. Over the winter implementing some of the tips here I've gotten to consistently roll the ball end-over-end.

Background on me - 40y.o. dad of 3 under 6y.o...so I don't play much and practice even less. Used to hold a +HC, but now I've held a HC between 2-4 for the last 15 years. Putting has ALWAYS been a problem.

Two things that have helped

Adjustment of where I squat when reading/aligning putts. I'm right-handed, left-eye dominant. Hadn't really thought much about it, but moving slightly off-center has helped in the alignment area.Alignment calibration using the line on the ball - Malaska techniques as presented on Be Better Golf Vlog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7RrP1DtM3oBall striking and tee ball have always been strengths - putting and short-game the weakness. I've shot 76 with 38 putts. I've averaged just short of 37 putts the last 10 rounds (last year - pre adjustment).

Played yesterday and had 31 putts. Still shot 82 but it was 1. The first time I hit a ball since October and 2. Walked 18 on a hot-ish day on a hilly course as an overweight fatty. Ran out of gas about hole 12.

1st hole - 2putts - 24' putt burned the edge, tap in - birdie

2nd - 2putts - 8' putt, misread (broke uphill - swear) tap in - par

3rd - 2putts - 40' downhill double breaker, tap in - par

4th - 1putt - chipped to 6' made putt - par

5th - 1putt - lost ball on drive...4 shots later...4' made - double

6th - 2putts - 8' breaker up the hill, rim job - bogey

7th - 2putts - 10' sidehill breaker, rim job - bogey

8th - 0putts - chipped in, no putts - birdie

9th - 2putts - 20' hard sidehill breaker, tap in - par

10th - 1putt - 6' downhill, jar - bogey

11th - 2putts - 28' downhill, 4' short, made it - par

12th - 2putts - 32' uphill, tap in - par

13th - 1putt - 12' downhill-sidehill - bogey

14th - 3putts - 36' double breaker, 4' short, came back and looked at me, bogey

15th - 2putts - 6' misread - bogey

16th - 2putts - 8' missed short - bogey

17th - 2putts - ho-hum - bogey

18th - 2putts - 40' downhill to tap in - double

7 Fairways, 7 greens

My actual goal for the day were no 3 putts and no doubles. Driver put the doubles on the board and just one 3 putt, but the level of confidence on the 3-8 foot range is a nice change of pace. I know I won't make most of them, but they ALL have a shot to go in.

One other tool that helped A LOT is the Trident Align marker. First round using it, but added to the confidence of the setup changes made over the winter.

Thanks for all the tips guys.

 

 

[Obee]

Love to hear about this! 30 putts per round is definitely doable. Keep that in your sights! :-)

[Neurotica]

Great thread Obee!

I too have been lurking on here but have found lots of good tips including making sure of an end over end roll on your putts.

So I’ve just experimented with all of my various putters and grips and methods until I found a combination that works for me. Ended up with 28 putts with 1 3-putt my last round for a 76!

My combo for what it’s worth: PING Vault Anser 2 35” Superstroke pistol gt 2.0 countercore with a tourlock pro 100 gram back-weight. Standard reverse overlap putting grip.

[Petethreeput]

i am right handed.

Two years ago I went to LHL but felt like my speed was off on long putts. So I started to putt RHL from distance.

Now I am fiddling with putts outside 10’ish RHL and anything inside this distance LHL.

Am I on a fools errand?

 

[nitram]

I know you've heard that speed is more important than line and speed is a touch and feel thing. Keep working on the LHL and you should become more comfortable with how it feels.

[Obee]

Regarding the Fool's Errand: Potentially you are.

When I originally switched to the claw, I was only using it inside 20 feet or so, but when to switch back and forth always filled me with anxiety (I'm an idiot), so I committed after my very first tournament round with the claw where I was switching back and forth to commit 100% to claw only, even on 100 foot putts, putting from off the green, etc.

Best. Decision. Ever.

[Petethreeput]

Thank you. I was just wondering because as I mentioned, I had gone LHL 2 years ago, and I definitely roll the ball better. And would say my putting from inside 5' could almost be considered good LHL because the putter head is more stable. But I also felt I was hitting more 5' then than I am now when I was putting from distance LHL. So I have been alternating for the last year+ and wanted to get a read from others who went through putting changes to a new grip/style. I will go back to LHL all the time and work on the longer putts.

[dmecca2]

I putted LHL for a season and I feel like my stroke was better, but, like you, my speed control was off. I just didn't have that feel that I had with the normal grip. Unfortunately, speed is everything with putting and it doesn't matter how good you roll the ball if you don't match it up with the correct speed for your read. Occasionally I will practice LHL and take some practice strokes LHL during a round, but I believe some people just don't have the feel to putt that way and I'm one of them.

[Yuck]

Woot, woot! I broke 30! Putts that is.

 

29 putts, only one three putt. 5 birds, 3 bogie 70. No missed 2 footers. Only missed three 5 footers. All in all one of my best putting days in years. Longest putt made was 11 feet. I consistently holed the 2-3 footers that have long haunted me. I did get away with Lipping in one twelve incher, but that was focus not a yip. Happy days ahead.

[Obee]

Yes!!! You got this! Keep updating us!

[DLev45]

Have to give this a bump because I had an excellent putting day yesterday, and all of I changed was my pre-round warm-up. So if it helps anyone else, it’s worth it. I’m a 6.5 cap and typically shoot in the 78-83 range as a normal average. I have been listening to a lot of mental game audio books lately, and came to the realization that I need a true pre-round routine. I have a pre-shot routine, but my typical pre-round routine always involved hitting a bunch of balls randomly on the range until I felt comfortable with my full swing, and then putting with whatever time I had left over. Sometimes that was 5 minutes and sometimes it was 15 minutes. There was no method to it at all.

And yet worse, my putting warm-up was “drop 3 balls, hit them to that hole. Drop 3 more, hit them to that other hole... etc.” Zero structure, and just a bunch of randomness.

Yesterday was the first day of the new routine I used. I will spare you the driving range/chipping green details since this is a putting thread, but here it went.

3 - lag putts from 30 feet to the fringe

3 - lag putts from 40 feet to the fringe

3 - lag putts from 50 feet to the fringe

3 - lag putts from 10 feet to a tee on the green

3 - lag putts from 15 feet to a tee on the green

3 - lag putts from 20 feet to a tee on the green

3 - lag putts from 25 feet to a tee on the green

10 - putts from 2ft at the hole

The idea is obviously that you focus on nothing but dialing in speed for the first 21 putts. And then the last 10 putts are putts you are going to make to get confidence in the ball going into the hole. And maybe most important of all, you don’t practice MISSING a single putt.

So I went through that routine and have to say I did feel a level of new level of confidence on the 1st green than typical.

Shot 75 (+3) on 9/18 GIR with 29 putts. I average 33 putts.

I shot 35 (-1) on the front and only hit 4 greens with 11 putts! Seven one-putts and 57 feet of makes on the front side.

I did cool off on the back with two 3-putts, but both were from 30+ feet 1st putts and weren't offensively egregious. Had 6 foot sliders for par on both where I hit the lip on the low side but they just didn't fall.

But I feel like a brand new man with the putter in my hand, and if you don't have any structure and focus to your putting warm-up, I recommend it as a must going forward. Just dropping 3 balls and hitting them to random holes doesn't really compare and give you much control/variable to learn anything.

 

 

[Obee]

YES!!!!

This is literally why I post on this forum. I love helping people get better. Thank you for sharing this with all of us.

[DLev45]

The main takeaway for me, albeit from a very small sample size, is that focused calibration of speed, making sure you have both some controls and variables, should be your priority on the practice putting green over putting to actual cups and trying to make random putts. The latter is what I see 95% of people doing, my previous self included.

Sure you still have to make them out on the course. But I believe most people that play regularly are good enough green readers that they aren't going to miss by much if they are close on the speed.

It paid off for me as early as #1. I missed barely missed the green on my approach, hit a sub-par chip and left myself a 6-7ft putt for par. That's normally a putt I am going to grind over, especially when it's the difference in par and bogey on the first hole of the day. But I oddly didn't feel that at all on this particular putt and was surprisingly confident I was going to make it, and did.

The most telling stat of the my day aside from the obvious 9 one-putts was getting 7/10 first-putts from outside 20ft+ inside of 3ft. I only had to face 3 second-putts outside of 3ft.

 

[hoselpalooza]

Quote

The main takeaway for me, albeit from a very small sample size, is that focused calibration of speed, making sure you have both some controls and variables, should be your priority on the practice putting green over putting to actual cups and trying to make random putts.

 

the ladder drill is good for this, too.

Edited November 25, 2020 by hoselpalooza
fix broken formatting

[Bob M]

Obee - Thank you so much for starting and pursuing this thread as I have learned a great deal from it. After retiring last year after 34-year at BofA, I started playing golf again (after quitting in 2009).

 

My putting was really poor, but after reading this thread I started using the claw grip, a closed stance and more upright putter. Over the past few weeks, my putts per round have dropped from around 34 or 35 to around 31. Thanks again for your help!

[Obee]

On 8/19/2020 at 4:44 PM, Bob Merrill said:

Obee - Thank you so much for starting and pursuing this thread as I have learned a great deal from it. After retiring last year after 34-year at BofA, I started playing golf again (after quitting in 2009).

 

My putting was really poor, but after reading this thread I started using the claw grip, a closed stance and more upright putter. Over the past few weeks, my putts per round have dropped from around 34 or 35 to around 31. Thanks again for your help!

 

That is so cool to hear! Where you from, Bob?

[Bob M]

I'm from Rhode Island, so the local season has pretty much wound down until the Spring (it officially ended November 14).  

 

Since writing my earlier thread in August, my putts/round have been in the 32-34 range (although I did have one terrible round of 38 putts in September). However, I am rolling the ball MUCH more consistently with your approach and the quality of my misses is much higher than before. My second point may sound strange, but what I mean is in each of my rounds since beginning to use your putting method (claw grip, closed stance, high MOI putter) my misses have been significantly closer to falling than they had been in the past (lipouts and near misses including a few which stopped on the edge).  Also, I was much less likely to leave lag putts so short that making the next putt was highly improbable. Prior to August, I typically had 4-5 three putts per round, whereas by the end of the season it was down to 1-2. 

 

I ended the season in RI feeling good about my progress and improvement. If I continue to put the work in, I see that I will become a really fine putter. My offseason practice, therefore, will include different drills indoors on my PuttOut mat in order to really groove my stroke, roll and distance control  from within 6 feet. As soon as possible in the Spring, I will go back to working on lag putting. 

 

Thanks again for all of your thoughtful input on the golfwrx blog!

[milesgiles]

Obee, question for you and other good putters itt..

 

i came up with a little drill drill you might want to try. 5 balls from 12 feet (reasonably flat green), working around the hole. What I mean is, hit 5 from roughly 12 o clock, collect the balls and move to 2 o clock, rinse, repeat.

i keep going until I have holed 50. No practise swings, and I set a timer going. I would claim to be a relatively good putter (I think) and got it down to a smidge over 18 minutes. Anyone want to try it and report a time?

[b.mattay]

Just to throw it out there-Obee's combo of the Mickelson claw and closed stance is absolutely money with an armlock putter. Been messing around with it the last week and never felt this comfortable rolling the ball end over end. It just feels so solid-like a "heavy hit". Can't wait until spring hits so I can transfer this from my basement putting mat to the course!

[Obee]

1 hour ago, b.mattay said:

Just to throw it out there-Obee's combo of the Mickelson claw and closed stance is absolutely money with an armlock putter. Been messing around with it the last week and never felt this comfortable rolling the ball end over end. It just feels so solid-like a "heavy hit". Can't wait until spring hits so I can transfer this from my basement putting mat to the course!

 

Yeah, that's the thing for me -- I absolutely could not get the ball to roll end-over-end with an open or square stance. The only way I could do it initially was with a closed stance. So I just stuck with it.

[PJ1120]

On 12/6/2020 at 12:15 PM, Obee said:

 

Yeah, that's the thing for me -- I absolutely could not get the ball to roll end-over-end with an open or square stance. The only way I could do it initially was with a closed stance. So I just stuck with it.

 

Obee.....do you power the stroke with your left or right hand?

[Obee]

1 hour ago, PJ1120 said:

 

Obee.....do you power the stroke with your left or right hand?

 

It varies due to green speeds, but I prefer to feel like my hands are completely one unit. On slower greens, though, there is definitely a "pop" with the right (claw) hand for sure.

[Yuck]

There is hope.  I had an injury that kept me off the course for a month.  I was able to putt indoors and experiment with putters and techniques.  I settled on armlock / crosshanded with a Sik DW.  I have played four rounds since my comeback and averaging just under 30 putts.  Still hitting it poorly, but managed a 73 with 29 putts.  Making almost all of my 2-4 footers which have been my nemesis.  Now just waiting to see if my ball striking comes back.  Putting is clearly better, even taking into account more missed greens.

[getitdaily]

Another tip to improve your putting...move to a no sightline putter.

[b.mattay]

2 hours ago, getitdaily said:

Another tip to improve your putting...move to a no sightline putter.

For some people yes, for others (like me) a sightline is better 

[Obee]

2 hours ago, b.mattay said:

For some people yes, for others (like me) a sightline is better 

Sightline very important to me. Lining up the line on the putter with the line on the ball for me = almost unfair. LOL

[nitram]

4 hours ago, getitdaily said:

Another tip to improve your putting...move to a no sightline putter.

 

Putted that way for years (back in the day) with a PING Dalehead Anser. Fast forward 20+ years and I can't putt without a line, I've tried. Must be an age related thing...

[getitdaily]

38 minutes ago, nitram said:

 

Putted that way for years (back in the day) with a PING Dalehead Anser. Fast forward 20+ years and I can't putt without a line, I've tried. Must be an age related thing...

Man, I'm the opposite.  Putted with a Newport beach for 15 years. Then went high moi mallet. Just blacked out the sightline on my blackjack and things changed...I have an anser milled I've been putting with. It has no sightline. I also had a naked spider tour. Just better putter with no sightline.