Making no putts is golf's version of purgatory

[Cliffy2020]

Last weeks rounds:  74 & 77

 

74 - 6 birdie putts within 16’ (14’ 9’ 8’ 15’ 8’ 15’ 16’)made the 8’er.
77 - 6 birdie putts within 16’ (16’ 15’ 10’ 12’ 10’) made nuthin’

 

Played the first course two years ago.  Speed was great, most misses were last second decisions to add a touch of break to read, missing on high edge.  No 3-putts (had 2 35’ers to contend with).

 

Second course was new to me.  Misses were for similar reasons, then as soon as I didn’t add a nudge of break to the read, ball went low.  Again, no 3-putts (didn’t have a putt over 25’).  
 

Success - Committed to line, hit my mark with intended speed.  Edges were burned both days!  Ball could have easily bumped in for the same price on end of season muni greens.  
 

Nice to have a thread to vent without being too self indulgent and whiny 😉 Thanks for sharing wrxers- lessens my anxiety knowing other‘s’ struggles and successes.

[mstrege]

I hit 14 greens today and shot 80.  Felt more like hell than purgatory lol

[nsxguy]

On 11/10/2020 at 5:38 PM, Cliffy2020 said:

Last weeks rounds:  74 & 77

 

74 - 6 birdie putts within 16’ (14’ 9’ 8’ 15’ 8’ 15’ 16’)made the 8’er.
77 - 6 birdie putts within 16’ (16’ 15’ 10’ 12’ 10’) made nuthin’

 

Played the first course two years ago.  Speed was great, most misses were last second decisions to add a touch of break to read, missing on high edge.  No 3-putts (had 2 35’ers to contend with).

 

Second course was new to me.  Misses were for similar reasons, then as soon as I didn’t add a nudge of break to the read, ball went low.  Again, no 3-putts (didn’t have a putt over 25’).  
 

Success - Committed to line, hit my mark with intended speed.  Edges were burned both days!  Ball could have easily bumped in for the same price on end of season muni greens.  
 

Nice to have a thread to vent without being too self indulgent and whiny 😉 Thanks for sharing wrxers- lessens my anxiety knowing other‘s’ struggles and successes.

 

I'm not sure what you're venting about.

 

I believe the 50% distance for Tour Pros is about 7 feet. A single digit amateur ? Probably about 5.

 

And you didn't 3 putt anything ? So what's to vent about ? 

 

Thursday I had about my worst putting day in memory. 38 putts while making 2 birdies. I'm almost surprised my putter remained intact. 

 

But today, in a scramble on the same course, my putter was hot. Drilled 5 or 6 putts right in the heart. Brother, was I relieved !!!

 

Stuff happens. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[RSinSG]

This was a good discussion. Aside from the putting woes we all share at times, it made something else clear. On WRX if you post about something amiss in your game or something causing you problems at least one person will think you are a whiny complainer. Conversely if you want to share about something good that happened you will be declared to be a braggart. I don’t let the naysayers affect me much other than to chuckle at their attitudes.  If you can’t complain or boast about your golf game on a golf forum what’s the point of being here?

[Cliffy2020]

Pulled the trigger on a blast motion golf sensor.  Installed on both my gameable putters. The “Dark Knight”Odyssey Jailbird mini and my new “Starship” LAB 2.1 - last couple of days stats have confirmed, I align left and then under twist with an open face to push the ball on target (years of putting with a long line aid on putter((I aim left of target with)) and then compensate for the misalignment.  
 

The LAB putter exposes this quickly as it’s unbelievable balanced and smoothly tracks my natural, poorly repeated stroke.  
 

The Jailbird Mini (~45* of toe hang) helps me square the face. Just need to learn to aim at the target now ( vs left of target- I’ve blacked out all alignment aids on both putters to help, and it is).

 

The Blast Motion helps me cure both alignment and squaring the club face at impact with both putters.  
 

I think this little gem of technology will help me achieve my best putting stats moving forward.  Wish I would have found it sooner. (On sale now, 2-day shipping).  Easily paid for with my PayPal golf slush fund unbeknownst to the wife 👍🏼 

[Ripken08]

Did someone say Purgatory?

 

https://purgatorygolf.com/

 

Local course I have played twice.  Look at hole #13.  Well over 600 yards from Purgatory tees.  I know of a pretty good player that birdied that hole.  Took him driver, 3W, 3W to get on in regulation lol

[TheDeanAbides]

I don't think this is technical; I think it's psychological. The only way I know how to change from being the guy who never expects anything to drop to the guy who believes that he holes everything is this:

 

1) Hole LOTS of putts. Practise whatever length putts you feel confident of holing a very high percentage of. Doesn't matter if they're a foot. Make every single one mean something, but approach the process with relish. As soon as your energy drops or you lose your enthusiasm stop putting. You need to start seeing the ball dropping and feeling enthusiastic about it. Even a little fist bump every time one drops will help rewire your neural pathways. you need to have more memories of the ball sinking than missing.

 

2) Change your attitude. Stop talking about being a bad putter. Stop talking about the missed opportunities. Stop obsessing over it. Tell yourself you're a great putter. Tell everyone you play with that you've found a new love for putting. 

 

3) Learn to love just rolling the ball with a carefree attitude. Putting is like an adventure and good putters look at every putt with a twinkle in their eyes. They LOVE putting. 

 

If you don't learn to love it as much as ball striking you'll stay stuck. This process will free you up and improve any technical aspects too because you'll naturally start experimenting in a more relaxed manner. 

I know this works because I was you, and it works in all other areas of life too. What a man thinks he becometh. 

 

Edit: I came to this understanding by looking at my short game around the greens. Chipping has always been a strength of mine because I feel confident and love to experiment with trajectories and different spins - for 20 years I felt like I was going to hole nearly every chip and miss every putt. I averaged a chip in a round and 36-40 putts over that time shooting 75-80. When I recognised that I hated putting, didn't enjoy practising and felt like Moe Norman about the whole concept I vowed to change. It's made a huge difference and now I expect to make my fair share and have got my average around 30-32 per round. I still chip in regularly. 

Edited November 17, 2020 by TheDeanAbides

[Members Only]

On 8/2/2020 at 11:53 AM, MtlJeff said:

Right?

Now, i am a good golfer who in my time has been through all sorts of slumps. I've had years where i was so terrified of hitting driver that i used it only once in a 36 hole club championship. I've had years where i've struggled with irons.....but there is nothing quite like making zero putts. To me it's the worst feeling in golf. Nothing leaves you more unsatisfied after a round than making nothing after having like 10 good looks

I've hinted at it a bit, but this year has been a dry spell for the ages for me putting wise. I am a legit 1.0 index right now, and through ~25 rounds my high for birdies this season is 2. That is not a misprint. We have a 500yd straightaway par 5 on our course that i have birdied zero times in 2020. Today i hit 16 greens in regulation and shot a 75. Earlier in the year i went 7 straight rounds without a birdie, though to be fair those were my rounds 2-8 of the season after a 3 month Covid layoff.

I am the king of the no-birdie 77. And i don't expect sympathy. I realize playing off a 1 is very good golf

All i am saying, is making NO PUTTS is the worst feeling in golf.....of every struggle i've had.

Does anyone disagree with that? Anyone else had one particular slump that just killed your season?

Coming from someone who is in your handicap and playing range, I agree but also disagree. Yes, there is no feeling like striping it hitting 80% of greens and fairways and shooting over par because your flat stick is...well...flat! Or even worse, getting up and down is impossible because your short game rocks, you get a million looks at par from within 10 feet and lip out or make nothing.

 

The flip side to this argument is that golf, like poker, has a ton of variance involved. I can only imagine how stacked against you the odds are at any given moment on less than perfect greens. Unless you are rolling on Augusta like, well manicured, and daily rolled greens, there is going to be a ton of variance, and I bet incrementally it increases every foot or so that you are further away from the hole! You will have days where everything goes in, and days where the opposite is the case. I wouldn't let it weigh down on you. Think about the slump Spieth is in currently, or the one Henrik had years ago. Henrik recovered, can Spieth do the same, especially in terms of him getting his putting back to what it used to be where 20 footers for him were like 4-5 footers? Time will tell.

 

Golf has a ton of variance. Keep grinding playa!

[ClubBuildRookie]

On 11/16/2020 at 4:39 PM, TheDeanAbides said:

I don't think this is technical; I think it's psychological. The only way I know how to change from being the guy who never expects anything to drop to the guy who believes that he holes everything is this:

 

1) Hole LOTS of putts. Practise whatever length putts you feel confident of holing a very high percentage of. Doesn't matter if they're a foot. Make every single one mean something, but approach the process with relish. As soon as your energy drops or you lose your enthusiasm stop putting. You need to start seeing the ball dropping and feeling enthusiastic about it. Even a little fist bump every time one drops will help rewire your neural pathways. you need to have more memories of the ball sinking than missing.

 

2) Change your attitude. Stop talking about being a bad putter. Stop talking about the missed opportunities. Stop obsessing over it. Tell yourself you're a great putter. Tell everyone you play with that you've found a new love for putting. 

 

3) Learn to love just rolling the ball with a carefree attitude. Putting is like an adventure and good putters look at every putt with a twinkle in their eyes. They LOVE putting. 

 

If you don't learn to love it as much as ball striking you'll stay stuck. This process will free you up and improve any technical aspects too because you'll naturally start experimenting in a more relaxed manner. 

I know this works because I was you, and it works in all other areas of life too. What a man thinks he becometh. 

 

Edit: I came to this understanding by looking at my short game around the greens. Chipping has always been a strength of mine because I feel confident and love to experiment with trajectories and different spins - for 20 years I felt like I was going to hole nearly every chip and miss every putt. I averaged a chip in a round and 36-40 putts over that time shooting 75-80. When I recognised that I hated putting, didn't enjoy practising and felt like Moe Norman about the whole concept I vowed to change. It's made a huge difference and now I expect to make my fair share and have got my average around 30-32 per round. I still chip in regularly. 

Great advise!  You sound exactly like Dr. Bob Rotella in the CD titled “Putting Out Of Your Mind”.  It’s a great CD.  Too bad my wife don’t like listening to it when we are traveling somewhere.   

[TheDeanAbides]

5 hours ago, ClubBuildRookie said:

Great advise!  You sound exactly like Dr. Bob Rotella in the CD titled “Putting Out Of Your Mind”.  It’s a great CD.  Too bad my wife don’t like listening to it when we are traveling somewhere.   

Thanks. I've never listened to any Rotella. Came to this on my own. I'm glad he's helped you out! 

[me05501]

I think a lot of us are deceived by every aspect of the pro's games we see on TV, from the distances they hit the ball to club and shot selection too...but maybe putting most of all. 

They make a lot more putts than we do because they practice it with intent. Also, due to selective presentation of the shots shown on TV, we see a higher percentage of made putts than misses which deludes us even further.