Anyone ever take a break or think of quitting because of putting?

[Obee]

Yes, about 7 years ago.
 

...And then I fixed my putting

[corazon424]

I am considering quitting. I have been playing for over 50 years. i cannot sink a putt longer than 18 inches and cannot reliably two putt from outside of 10 feet.  I have not hit even one putt with the putter's sweet spot, or seen a putt roll toward where I thought I aimed it, in at least 6 rounds.  Hitting the ball far and straight with a full swing is no problem. But it is boring being on or under 10 yards from each green in regulation and shooting 95.  

 

I reject advice to just have fun, buy new equipment, meditate, etc.

 

Hopefully it's just an alignment problem. Options include:

1) Meet with a teaching pro

2) Quit altogether

3) Keep playing like this.

 

Hopefully the pro can help, as option 3 is unacceptable.

 

 

[dwboston]

I'd suggest two things:

• Hover the putter a little off the ground.  It's easier to make a smooth stroke with the bigger muscles that way. 
• Look at the hole instead of the ball when putting.  Your brain/body will figure out the stroke to get the ball to the hole.

[kevinmdowney]

On 4/29/2022 at 4:44 PM, JermWRX said:

Doesn’t matter what kind of putter I try. I’ve tried them all. Doesn’t matter how I grip the club. I’ve tried them all. Doesn’t matter what my stance is. I’ve tried them all. I’ve taken lessons. I putt on a practice mat every night. I’ve tried using a mirror. I’ve used putter gates and other practice devices. Nothing works. I strike the ball so well. Hit fairways and greens all day long. Good out of the sand, and a very good chipper/pitcher. However, none of that matters because I can’t hole a putt. My lags could be 8’ short or 8’ long. My short putts are an abomination. My playing buddies know to never give me putts. Ever. Even if it’s 6”. It’s so frustrating, and honestly I feel like stepping away from the game that I love. Maybe just become a driving range guy, because I absolutely love striking the golf ball. Anyway, I guess this is just a venting post. Sorry. Lol.

Feel ya. Back into game after 17 year hiatus. Putting just awful. Might try side saddle.

[tatertot]

I went through a stretch a few years ago where I was shooting mid to high 70s while averaging nearly 40 putts a round. Came very close to quitting. Honestly, have never played that well since. I hate this game.

[indianagolf2]

Cmon man go see a putting specialist 

[MelloYello]

I've gone from someone who putted 80 times in a 2-day Club Championship to someone who averages 31.4 putts per round and who's seen recent rounds with 27 and 28 putts, respectively. 

 

Improvement is possible. Figure out what you're doing wrong. 

 

Best thing I ever did was to focus on why I wasn't making short putts. My alignment and ability to hit putts on line were both awful. Once I address that the whole universe seemed to change. Now, I can stand over a 20- or 30-footer and be aggressive because I'm not scared of 3-putting. 

 

I average a 3-putt about once every 25 holes. If you're good at the short ones, that's all you really need. 

[Obee]

49 minutes ago, MelloYello said:

I've gone from someone who putted 80 times in a 2-day Club Championship to someone who averages 31.4 putts per round and who's seen recent rounds with 27 and 28 putts, respectively. 

 

Improvement is possible. Figure out what you're doing wrong. 

 

Best thing I ever did was to focus on why I wasn't making short putts. My alignment and ability to hit putts on line were both awful. Once I address that the whole universe seemed to change. Now, I can stand over a 20- or 30-footer and be aggressive because I'm not scared of 3-putting. 

 

I average a 3-putt about once every 25 holes. If you're good at the short ones, that's all you really need. 

THIS^^^^
 

I went From ~31.5 putts to ~28.9 putts per round, And that journey started when I decided to become a fantastic short putter.

 

If you fix your 3 to 4 foot putting — and I mean truly fix it — you won't believe how much it carries over to the rest of your putting.

[596]

I went from averaging under 30 putts per round, to one day a switch went off in my right hand and i could actually miss the ball completely with a putting stroke. Try that once time... It totally blew my mind. I couldn't hit the ball at all, not a yip, not a joke, a total miss, and not once, I'm talking quitting right then and there. 

 

Fast forward 3 years to about 2 months ago. I've tried everything, 10 different strokes, 10 different grip positions, left handed, left hand low, side saddle, you name it.  Nothing really worked well except the claw grip, which I hate!!  2 months ago I went and bought a cheap arm lock putter.  Lights came on, fireworks went off, I can putt again.  3 to 5 foot putts with armlock is like cheating.   

[Obee]

3 hours ago, 596 said:

I went from averaging under 30 putts per round, to one day a switch went off in my right hand and i could actually miss the ball completely with a putting stroke. Try that once time... It totally blew my mind. I couldn't hit the ball at all, not a yip, not a joke, a total miss, and not once, I'm talking quitting right then and there. 

 

Fast forward 3 years to about 2 months ago. I've tried everything, 10 different strokes, 10 different grip positions, left handed, left hand low, side saddle, you name it.  Nothing really worked well except the claw grip, which I hate!!  2 months ago I went and bought a cheap arm lock putter.  Lights came on, fireworks went off, I can putt again.  3 to 5 foot putts with armlock is like cheating.   

 

LOL

Dude, the claw saved me. The way that you know if you need the claw if if you try to putt with just your bottom hand, and you absolutely can't do it because it spasms so much. That was me.

But put my bottom hand in the claw configuration and putt with only that hand, and the yip is gone.

 

There's something about the palm facing the target that is yip-inducing. Change the orientation of the bottom hand to the target (where the palm is facing the body), and ... VOILA!

Crazy game.

 

[RichieHunt]

Usually the ones I've seen quit are really good players that are terrible putters and just can't get to that next level because their putting is so bad or a player that has the full blown yips. 

 

One of my Tour clients was a pretty poor putter and has now turned into a capable putter.  Sometimes he's better than average and sometimes he's a little below average.  He got into contention recently but you can just see that he doesn't have the talent to be a very good putter.  Watching him it's almost like seeing that his brain doesn't compute to understanding the line and the speed.

 

Here's a few things I have found from my statistical research:

1.  For Tour players the greatest correlation between SG - Putting & specific distances is putts made from 5-12 feet.  From a specific distance it's 4-1/2 feet.  I always recommend doing the 'clock drill' with each ball at 4-1/2 feet away.  And then primarily working on putts from 5-12 feet. For amateurs it's putts from 3-15 feet because they miss putts from 3-5 feet more often than Tour pros do.

 

2.  Making putts outside 15-feet are primarily due to luck.  Even with Tour pros the make % outside 15-feet is a 'volatile' metric.  Meaning that a Tour pro that makes a lot of putts from outside 15-feet one season is like to regress toward the mean the following season and vice versa.  Outside of 15-feet your main goal should be to not 3-putt and putts will eventually start to drop.

 

3.  Speed is far more important than line.  It's kinda convinced me to stop worrying about hitting putts past the hole a certain distance.  If I aim to have the ball end up at the hole on 5-12 foot putts and those putts are consistently traveling anywhere from 2" short to 12" long of the cup...there's going to be a lot of made putts in-between.

 

4.  The best putters on Tour usually stick with the same putter for a long period of time.  The same usually goes for technique.  And the players that are poor putters that become good putters are seeing the fruits of sticking with the same putter and technique.  Conversely the players that go from putting well to putting poorly are often making switches to equipment and technique.  I think it's a case of being able to fully understand your stroke and being able to better fine tune things.

 

5.  The best putters on Tour only putt well (+1 stroke or more gained per round) about 1/3rd of the time.  The key is that they are good at avoiding poor putting rounds.

 

6.  The best putters on Tour have virtually no bias on left-to-right vs. right-to-left putts.  And the players that improve their putting in a tournament by more than 1-standard deviation see their miss bias fade away during that tournament.  Even the world's best can't avoid having a certain type of breaking putt.  So the goal is to figure out what breaking putt gives you the biggest problems, get with a coach and determine why that is and get work practicing that putt.

 

7.  For Tour pros, typically they putt the best on greens grass that they grew up playing.

 

 

 

 

 

RH

[Obee]

54 minutes ago, RichieHunt said:

Usually the ones I've seen quit are really good players that are terrible putters and just can't get to that next level because their putting is so bad or a player that has the full blown yips. 

 

One of my Tour clients was a pretty poor putter and has now turned into a capable putter.  Sometimes he's better than average and sometimes he's a little below average.  He got into contention recently but you can just see that he doesn't have the talent to be a very good putter.  Watching him it's almost like seeing that his brain doesn't compute to understanding the line and the speed.

 

Here's a few things I have found from my statistical research:

1.  For Tour players the greatest correlation between SG - Putting & specific distances is putts made from 5-12 feet.  From a specific distance it's 4-1/2 feet.  I always recommend doing the 'clock drill' with each ball at 4-1/2 feet away.  And then primarily working on putts from 5-12 feet. For amateurs it's putts from 3-15 feet because they miss putts from 3-5 feet more often than Tour pros do.

 

2.  Making putts outside 15-feet are primarily due to luck.  Even with Tour pros the make % outside 15-feet is a 'volatile' metric.  Meaning that a Tour pro that makes a lot of putts from outside 15-feet one season is like to regress toward the mean the following season and vice versa.  Outside of 15-feet your main goal should be to not 3-putt and putts will eventually start to drop.

 

3.  Speed is far more important than line.  It's kinda convinced me to stop worrying about hitting putts past the hole a certain distance.  If I aim to have the ball end up at the hole on 5-12 foot putts and those putts are consistently traveling anywhere from 2" short to 12" long of the cup...there's going to be a lot of made putts in-between.

 

4.  The best putters on Tour usually stick with the same putter for a long period of time.  The same usually goes for technique.  And the players that are poor putters that become good putters are seeing the fruits of sticking with the same putter and technique.  Conversely the players that go from putting well to putting poorly are often making switches to equipment and technique.  I think it's a case of being able to fully understand your stroke and being able to better fine tune things.

 

5.  The best putters on Tour only putt well (+1 stroke or more gained per round) about 1/3rd of the time.  The key is that they are good at avoiding poor putting rounds.

 

6.  The best putters on Tour have virtually no bias on left-to-right vs. right-to-left putts.  And the players that improve their putting in a tournament by more than 1-standard deviation see their miss bias fade away during that tournament.  Even the world's best can't avoid having a certain type of breaking putt.  So the goal is to figure out what breaking putt gives you the biggest problems, get with a coach and determine why that is and get work practicing that putt.

 

7.  For Tour pros, typically they putt the best on greens grass that they grew up playing.

 

 

 

 

 

RH

 

Great stuff, Richie. Thank you!!!

[BigEx44]

On 7/18/2022 at 11:18 PM, kevinmdowney said:

Feel ya. Back into game after 17 year hiatus. Putting just awful. Might try side saddle.

 

Sidesaddle was the answer for me.

I averaged around 38/30 putts a round with every traditional putter and putter method I tried.

Then went sidesaddle about 10 yrs ago.

Now avg about 31/32 putts a round.

 

 

[MelloYello]

15 hours ago, RichieHunt said:

3.  Speed is far more important than line.  It's kinda convinced me to stop worrying about hitting putts past the hole a certain distance.  If I aim to have the ball end up at the hole on 5-12 foot putts and those putts are consistently traveling anywhere from 2" short to 12" long of the cup...there's going to be a lot of made putts in-between.

 

I kind of disagree with conventional wisdom here. I always hear people talking about speed but speed isn't very hard to control this close to the hole. Place someone on a chalk line out to 10-ft and they'll often make a majority of the putts, which is far more than had they not had the line to "cheat" with. To me, that signals that it's really all about seeing the line, setting up and hitting the ball on that line. 

 

I suspect that telling average golfers to worry about speed when they can't even hit their line is a big part of why so many struggle. You'll never master speed at any appreciable distance and develop touch if you don't make a confident stroke and in my experience that all begins with starting that ball precisely on the line you're seeing / feeling. 

 

 

[RichieHunt]

2 hours ago, MelloYello said:

 

I kind of disagree with conventional wisdom here. I always hear people talking about speed but speed isn't very hard to control this close to the hole. Place someone on a chalk line out to 10-ft and they'll often make a majority of the putts, which is far more than had they not had the line to "cheat" with. To me, that signals that it's really all about seeing the line, setting up and hitting the ball on that line. 

 

I suspect that telling average golfers to worry about speed when they can't even hit their line is a big part of why so many struggle. You'll never master speed at any appreciable distance and develop touch if you don't make a confident stroke and in my experience that all begins with starting that ball precisely on the line you're seeing / feeling. 

 

 

 

Speed control is even more precise when you get this close to the hole.  For instance, when golfers struggle from 3-5 feet are struggling with hitting putts too firmly.  There's a smaller percentage of these players that play too much break, but it is also combined with hitting the putts too firmly.

 

The best putters on Tour when measured, have the most consistent and least distance to the hole when they miss their putts.  

 

The same applies for those that can't get the line...their distance control is going to suck as well.  

 

 

 

 

 

RH

[MelloYello]

18 minutes ago, RichieHunt said:

 

Speed control is even more precise when you get this close to the hole.  For instance, when golfers struggle from 3-5 feet are struggling with hitting putts too firmly.  There's a smaller percentage of these players that play too much break, but it is also combined with hitting the putts too firmly.

 

The best putters on Tour when measured, have the most consistent and least distance to the hole when they miss their putts.  

 

The same applies for those that can't get the line...their distance control is going to suck as well.  

 

 

 

 

 

RH

 

I just know I've always struggled with the 2- and 3-footers. Some guys just bang them in but I constantly lipped out. If the putt had a little break I would almost always miss it, too. I never felt comfortable putting on a side-slope. 

 

As I practiced to get better at hitting those on line, I naturally improved immensely out to 10- and 15-feet as well. A lot of it was perfecting that start-line and learning to commit and bop them right in without so much hesitation. I've learned to hit them harder and not just "die them in" as I would with longer putts. 

 

To me it seems speed control is a very advanced concept one can't begin to get to until they've done the above. I don't see the need to be worrying about lag putts or holing more mid-length putts until one is deadly on all the easy (straight) stuff and particularly strong inside 6-ft. 

 

 

[cav5]

Putting so hard to be good at. Even the majority of 5 handicaps suck at putting, they just don't know it.

 

I think the core of it is that everyone uses some sort of stilt, besides cameron smith lol.

 

They use alignment on the putter or on the ball, or use a funky grip.

 

Most people use a line on the ball when they can't even read a green so it doesn't really matter

[Mikeflj]

On 5/1/2022 at 6:25 AM, mrpriceisright said:

You are not alone.   I can't think of anyone I know who has not had a problem putting.
My own putting is just so inconsistent and usually poor -  recently after 5 holes I'd had 6 putts, the next week same course after 6 holes had had 5 three putts!

I have found myself watching the putter head going back (a definite no-no) and tend to do better when I focus on a spot on the ground 9 inches in front of the ball, try to roll it over that spot and just think stroke tempo.  I also try to keep arms/elbows locked into the torso and use the torso to make the swing (no hands or wrists), with a slight forward press.   I also tend to take the club back way too far on short putts (which leads to deceleration) and have to consciously go back only a few inches on putts under 6 ft. The youtube channel "AXYS golf" w Eric Kaplan has some great putting videos and he explains his 5 body locks method for putting. 
The long putter doesn't work for me (to date),  but has worked well for a good few pro's who struggled w putting. 
I've certainly closed my eyes sometimes, particularly on longer putts,   seem to remember Johnny Miller saying he'd done that at tour events at times.
Putted ok cross handed for a couple of years,   then this year, on the first hole one day, switched back to regular grip as it felt more natural (and proceeded to make a few that day).   The short putts are the worst,  missing a couple from 3 feet can wreck an otherwise good round and it sure is tough to score really well if you don't make anything outside 6 feet all day.

 

If its any solace,  quite a few golfing greats (including Hogan) struggled putting at times.

This thread has a lot of ideas and different things to try......   good luck.
 

Thanks for this I checked out the AXYS video and I was totally doing the hunched over not letting my thoracic spine rotate. I played today and putted much better. 
 

[RmoorePE]

I'm not good enough to give many tips, but I improved my putting this spring/summer by changing thought patterns. I.e. some days the ball just goes where it is supposed to. 6 footers feel like gimmes and so on, but on days where I  struggle I changed my thought to "just hit a good shot". I.e. when you are chipping from 10y off the green, you mostly aren't thinking "make this shot", but you are thinking about a landing point, or hitting the middle of the clubface looking for a result within putt range.

 

So, when my putter is not working or even when I feel like I can't read the greens, line and speed  - I change the thought. "Just hit the ball in the middle of the clubface". This smooths out my stroke and typically gets much better results, it also gives me better outcome control (emotional control). Having completely melted after multiple 3 putts in a round, this method helps me keep steady until the putts start falling. The trick is to  really  stop caring about everything except hitting the middle of the clubface. The only result I want is a solid strike.

 

 

 

[Obee]

23 hours ago, cav5 said:

Putting so hard to be good at. Even the majority of 5 handicaps suck at putting, they just don't know it.

 

I think the core of it is that everyone uses some sort of stilt, besides cameron smith lol.

 

They use alignment on the putter or on the ball, or use a funky grip.

 

Most people use a line on the ball when they can't even read a green so it doesn't really matter

 

You're right about many 5's. Then there are the 75 year-old 5's who used to be +1's who take your lunch money on the putting green!! 😉

[Krt22]

On 7/20/2022 at 9:12 AM, cav5 said:

Putting so hard to be good at. Even the majority of 5 handicaps suck at putting, they just don't know it.

 

I think the core of it is that everyone uses some sort of stilt, besides cameron smith lol.

 

They use alignment on the putter or on the ball, or use a funky grip.

 

Most people use a line on the ball when they can't even read a green so it doesn't really matter

Is it really that hard to be good at it? Putting is the least complicated stroke, statistically speaking putting is where ams and pros are the closest in skill, 98% of the time there are really only 2 variables (speed and start line), every lie is perfect, etc. In reality good putting is quite simple, can you control your speed and can you start the ball on it's intended line. 

 

I think the average amateur just goes about improving putting all wrong. When it comes to the full swing they get lessons, they get fit, they read books, they scour the internet. Then when it comes to putting, they act like it's this mysterious thing, they buy every putter under the sun, they change grips, they change stance, they waste time practicing with inconsistent strokes or they don't practice at all. Then once on the course they let the round influence their putting strategy when that is the one strategy that really should never change (which is largely just control the speed). They try to "make" putts, they have a decent birdie opp and hammer it by and say that's OK because they didnt leave a birdie short, etc.

 

 

[Krt22]

1 hour ago, Obee said:

 

You're right about many 5's. Then there are the 75 year-old 5's who used to be +1's who take your lunch money on the putting green!! 😉

Those are the most frustrating guys to play in match play. They never get in trouble off the tee and once they are within 10ft they are good to make just about anything.  You are 60+ yards past them in the fairway licking your chops and walk away with nothing. They just chip away and let you beat yourself lol

Edited July 21, 2022 by Krt22

[MK7Golf21]

1 hour ago, Obee said:

 

You're right about many 5's. Then there are the 75 year-old 5's who used to be +1's who take your lunch money on the putting green!! 😉

 

I know a guy who was a 5 handicap or and moved to the Sr tee's in his league. All of a sudden since moving to the Sr tee's he is closer to a + handicap, lol.

[Ghostwedge]

When I quit obsessing over the line and paid more attention to speed is when I became a decent putter. Still sometimes suck as a 3-5 cap but the goal was to eliminate 3 putts. I'm not expecting to make a 15-20 footer but getting it to tap in range happens more often now. 

I would never quit the game over lousy putting, like hitting all the other shots to much.

[metaldog]

I started off putting about 1-2 hours a day on my practice matt, aside from trying all the different grips also like a golf swing tried what works what doesn’t work for your body parts, do I pivot from my shoulders? Delts? Abs? Etc., hard to explain the whole process, but this gave me better body awareness and different things I can do that seems to improve club face control (I even bought left handed putters$

 

what really transformed it for me was a luxury item gcquad, I can correlate each putting mechanical feel to a push or pull when I’m practicing at home, I’ve racked up 10000 putts on my gcquad over past couple months, this was transformative not just due to above reasons, but I I didn’t realize my home floor was off a couple degrees and irregularities on the putting matt gives you false results, and that’s where the frustration begins and you can’t match up feel with real

 

I understand there’s a mental aspect to it, but to me it’s like preparing for a test, if you’ve done all you can do the prepare for it then the mental anxiety goes away, and I highly believe putting has a lot of mechanical grind that be worked on before even needing to worry about the mental aspect of it. It’s like a bad shot on the range, there’s no way on the range it’s mental so it’s mechanical, and if I still have mechanical issues on the range same applies to putting, and I really can’t blame the mental aspect of it.

[Rocky Ball-boa]

If all else in this thread fails - try to divorce your enjoyment of the game from your score. I've finally managed to do this after many years. Even if you're scoring poorly, you still hit 2-3 really good shots before you get to that point. Enjoy those. And you're outside, getting exercise, meeting people and all that good stuff that comes with golf.

Don't throw all that away over a number on a piece of paper, which at the end of the day, matters very little to anybody but yourself. Your golf scores aren't plastered all over your car, they don't go on your CV or in your wedding vows in front of all your friends and family. Your dog won't bite you, your wife won't leave you, your kids won't disown you over an 82 even though you feel like it should've been a 78.

 

Caveat to this; You play on a tour, for significant money, then yeah I get it..

[Peter_b]

I second Erics Axys for locking down the Elbows and shouldergirdles to the torso. I think that’s the most important lock of what he proposes. I was unable to get the faceangle of impact even inside 1 degree measured with Skypro and Blast no matter what technique Utley , shoulders, grip or Putter, Putter toehang, expensive LAB Putters included. It was mostly 1.5 and and above, never negative.  I have 12000 putts my Skypro not practicing but looking for a method that works and a thread on putting here on WRX that gone south hard. With Axys locked Elbows I get inside 0, mostly between +- 0.3 which is what I was looking for. However it is not a finesse stroke, there is not much touch you can have with turning the full torso below the ribcage. Distance Control on slow greens we amateurs play on, mainly for long putts, is a major challenge or almost impossible to dial in, at least that’s the impression I have.  I will stick to Axys for now, but I am really asking myself what the shoulder girdles or elbows do to get the putterface so constantly 1-2 degrees open with so many players. I guess there are simply too many rotation points from the wrist over radius and ulna to the elbow joint, and a complicated two part shoulder gridle. But which one is so hard to control? Which one make the putt fubar?

 

[Sp4zRX]

On 4/29/2022 at 8:29 PM, JermWRX said:

9 last night with a buddy. Hit 7 greens. 4 putted once. 3 putted 5 times. 2 putted twice. 1 putted once.

I have been there. Somebody previously said similar but what has helped me is practicing very short straight flat or slight uphill putts. 6”-12”. Make sure the putts are rolling into center of cup. After you are able to make about a dozen in a row, then move it back 6” and repeat. In your case, stop around 3-4ft. For the next couple of months spend a lot of time on practice greens only practicing putts that you can make 100% of the time. You have to see the ball rolling in cup every single time you putt. Practice distance control from further distances but putt to the fringe, not a hole because you need to see putts dropping 100% of time when you aim at a hole.