Putting help please!!!

[harbor17]

I am having some serious problems on the greens. I am putting so bad lately I have lost all my confidence on the greens. I am an 8 handicap and play tee to green very well but when i get on the green I cant putt the ball close on lags and cant sink 3-5 footers. This is really holding my game back. I played last friday and yesterday and shot a 81 and 78 but had 36 and 34 putts. The final straw came yesterday when I 3 jacked back to back holes from about 18 feet! This is killing me. On the first hole I think I got so focused on the line that I left it 4 feet short and the second put it was a downhiller and I knocked it by 4 feet, of course missed the comeback. Then missed an up and down 4 foot par saver on the following hole.

 

Can anyone suggest anything I can do to improve my putting? Are there any good books on methods and technique? Please help!

[mac94]

Go to your course and take 2 30 minute lessons. Most of yourproblems will be solved.

[Heartgrad]

I'm not good enough (just under 8 hcp) to give anyone advice, but.... I can tell you that I had a similar experience to yours 2 summers ago. Putting had been what had kept me from getting down to 3 or 4 and from going really low when I've had a chance. Played back to back rounds where I shot mid 70s and couldn't make anything. I actually shot a +4 75 with no birdies, b/c I missed 8 makeable birdie putts. It was my first real chance to shoot under par, and with as well as I hit the ball I left the course feeling more hacked off than if I'd shot 90.

Well, I'm not qualified to give anyone advice, but what really worked for me was a chalk line. I knew that I needed more practice on the green to get better and one day, when I was going to putt, I happened to come upon an older chalk line someone had made a few days earlier. I started putting on it and realized how badly my "feel" from "real" was. My setup was a mess and my putts were going right where I started them, but I was starting everything right of where I wanted it. When I actually rolled them down the line, I couldn't believe how far left of my old setup it actually was. I switched to a putter with a flange-line (Byron Morgan SS 007, BTW. Awesome putter.) and got a chalk line that I use when my alignment is off. For me, it's proven to be the best drill in the world. Make a 5ft line and take putts from 3,4,5 and 6 feet. I spend an hour or so making putts from those lengths and it's really translated into fewer putts.

Now my handicap more clearly reflects that I'm not playing as much as I did before, thanks to having kids. If it's not one thing, it's another.