Putting Lessons - Have you had them.

Firebird · April 24, 2020

Hi guys, I was speaking to a group of golfers a few months ago and I asked this question. The responses were quite amusing. Most said know however when I asked if they had lessons most said yes, several said 2-3 times a year.

I find it interesting that we get lessons to potentially correct our swing but not necessarily our putting.

Kanoito · April 24, 2020

I believe putting requires less eye-hand coordination and it's easier to fix myself (with a mirror, putting gates, and other gadgets).

I do a monthly check-up with my pro and there is always something off with my swing, but he said there was nothing wrong with my putting.

theebdk · April 24, 2020

To answer the question directly I was struggling last year with longer putts. Way too many three putts. Took a quick half hour lesson and he identified the problem within a couple of minutes and he gave me a drill to fix. Much better today. But I have only had two putter lessons in over 25 years. But this part of the game represents a large percentage of your score.

Think about all of the lesson types available; driver, 3 wood, hybrid, irons, putter, sand, chipping, pitching. I bet the vast majority, maybe 95%, are in the full swing area including the driver and irons. This year, while we were still indoors, I took two full swing lessons; driver and irons. Made improvements in each that are showing up on the course. And because we are on Trackman I was able to practice and understand the key numbers I was trying to achieve.

As soon as we are able to take lessons again and our short game area opens up, I am going to take a couple more lessons. First a sand lesson as I seem to be struggling a bit. And then chipping. I am making too many club selection mistakes and not ending up with a one put chance.

ObsessiveIndecisive · April 24, 2020

I had been looking for in-person putting lessons but couldn't find anything by me. Once lockdown started, I ended up taking a class with a guy I follow on IG @pottersputting. He works with a few PGA guys and I actually really liked the experience. I have 2 more I already bought but I am waiting to get on some actual grass instead of my 7' mat.

cnosil · April 24, 2020

I have taken many putting related lessons. Lesson can range from stroke mechanics to green reading. Ultimately it depends on what a player wants out of the lessons. For me, I like to learn and understand and I love putters in general so:

I took some in person putting lessons to improve the consistency of my stroke
I took a vector putting class (similar to aimpoint) that helped me understand green reading.
I got fit on a SAM puttlab so I could understand the details of my putitng stroke and my tendencies
I signed up with an online coach that I have been using for many years that has really helped me understand putting as a whole, the influence of the putter, the influence of my decisions on how I putt, and how to evaluate what is happening when I am playing.

I think I understand the putting stroke pretty well (at least my own).

Could I have gotten better on my own, sure. Do I think the lessons helped, most definitely. One thing it did was stop me from switching putters all the time to try and cure bad putting days. As I said I love putters so I do try them out, but I understand how those putters will impact my stroke and the potential results.

People will say that improving putting is the fastest way to improve scores; that probably depends on the person and what their issues with putting are. Without lessons if you work on being able to roll the ball into a 6 foot diameter circle around a hole from any distance and be able to make that resulting 3 foot putt, you would be considered a good to great putter.

GolfSpy Dave · April 24, 2020

Had an interesting lesson with someone using the Capto Putting system. Here's the LINK.

Was similar to SAM lab type data, but it was way more realtime and the instructor knew right away how to tweak my stroke based upon the data. Interesting too for the Indian not the Arrow folk as my numbers changed dramatically when I tried different putters. Impact efficiency, basically smash factor, changed quite a bit with the different putters. That was something not surprising based upon how different putters feel when rolled, but it was cool to have the data to back up that feeling.

Aim point lessons have probably had the greatest impact on my putting. Reads are so much better than pre-Aimpoint

Firebird · April 25, 2020

I have to admit that I have never had a lesson, then again I am generally a very good putter. If I have more than 36 puts it is unusual.

Putting is such an individual thing so I suppose it might be harder for a pro but the amount of golfers I see that putt badly because of poor understanding in a far few.

CrazyGolfNut · May 8, 2020

I have never had an outdoor putting lesson but when I was fitted for my putter, it turned into a lesson. The fitter spent about 20 mins with me and we made a couple of corrections which helped a lot when I took it to the course. I would like to go outside someday with a good instructor using a real green.