home putting practice and chipping
I promise I can identify with you here! I've been on a long journey and still enroute - shortly heading to the Harold Swash Putting Clinic to get even better! So I'm not a great putter, but I've dropped from 15 to 8 in 15 months and achieved a lot this season, order of merit win etc. I'm not preaching what's best, but if you hear me out I'll share a little bit of what I've learned... if you REALLY want to get good at putting -
(a) Please do definitely get putting lessons from a proper putting coach, you need to know how to get the best posture, arms, shoulders hands feet set-up, club path, strike etc. in order to hit the putt on the line you want at the speed you want. And if you putter isn't setup right that could mean off-centre strikes and you'll struggle to control pace. In the end, your technical skills will either enhance or restrict your ability to control pace. Phil Kenyon is the man behind Harold Swash school and is the reason I'm going there.
(b) you can use a carpet at home (putting matt is great), I have two plastic bottles half filled with ballast, then a string attached between them, this allows me to get my eyes over the ball, and see it starting on line. I use a putting mirror as well as a swing plane and visio path matt.
Use tiny targets to roll the ball to, I use little sticky black dots that I can stick to the carpet at various distances and do fun tests trying to stop balls on them, do the same thing on practice green with tee-pegs, scoring your results and trying to better them.
(c) always pick a spot beyond the hole, or at the back of the hole where the ball should finish if you miss the cup, this relates to your practice and is your "picture" of what speed you want to achieve. Never think back to other putts to decide speed, just let your brain/body respond to what you see.
(d) have a quick simple routine when playing, so you can react to the distance test without second guessing yourself. Use a positive statement such as "roll it to hole it", then go for it and do not get into "outcomes", it always feels great making good putts, but if you get emotional it's hard to control speed/pace. I found I have to read putts from in front, low side and behind (x3 angles), then I take x2 practice strokes from behind the ball (not next to it), step in, take a 2 second look at my target, 2 second look at the spot on the back of the ball I want to strike, whilst saying "roll it to hole it" to myself and then let it go.
(e) do drills with your eyes closed and looking at the hole and not at the ball is a great way to develop pace control. There was a Japanese golf who shot 63 on tour last year holing putts from everywhere whilst looking at the hole only, like Speith does but this chap was holing out from 25+ foot doing it... in a tournament!!!
(f) pull back game - play 9 holes on a putting green, if you miss short you have to pull back x2 putter lengths from where ball finishes and then hole out from there. If you go past, you have to pull back x1 putter length, so if you miss you'll always have a minimum 3ft putt. Keep your scores over 9-holes and try to beat your best, you can do this against friends etc. (log all scores and keep tracking them over the year). I played this against my coach, got spanked badly for coming up short! Helps to reduce 3-putts, I promise! It's a one-ball game that really narrows your focus.
(e) Probably the most important thing... use something like this SKYPRO to measure your tempo. It took me a while to properly understand it, I achieved perfect tempo by slowing my backswing (in the end). Tempo dictates your innate ability to control speed. But I had to fix my path, and my shaft lean before the stats told me I was getting better.
This device has test modes, where to test yourself against the technical skill with 10 putts.
So if you know what you need to improve this will fast-track your learning like nothing else.
(g) Please read Putting out of your mind by Bob Rotella - brilliant book!
Sorry for the double long message - I promise I know your pain... Last year I was leading a 36 hole medal by 6 shots and I had 5x 3-putts over the back 9, and lost by 1 stroke. This year, I'm pleased to say that I now 3-putt very rarely. I also forgive myself for coming up short because I know I can handle 3-6 foot putts.
Good luck buddy.
