Starting Shorter Putts On Line

[Gavwlee]

Not sure when or why this started happening, but on putts shorter than 6 ft, I'm pushing ALL my putts. Longer putts, I have no trouble starting them on the intended line (not that I'm making them, just less frustrating). For context, on a 5 foot putt (no break or grain), I aimed at the center of the hole (had my playing partner verify) and missed the putt right by about a hole's width about 5 inches beyond the cup. If my push was consistent, I'd just aim to the left of my target line and push my putts, but when I do that, the putts go straight. Makes getting up and down near impossible and applying unnecessary stress on my 2 putts.

The obvious answer to me seems like my face and/or path are open to the target line at impact, but the question for those out there that have worked this out...Was it grip, posture, ball position, putter, all of the above (aka crap putting stroke)? or is this just a part of this silly game and I should embrace it since my livelihood is not at stake?

[Shapotomous]

Could be your eye/head position with respect to the ball.  Your subconscious thinks you are aimed left instead of straight on and it compensates by pushing the putt right.  Try with your eyes behind the ball or straight over the ball depending on where you are now.  I made a similar change last year getting my eyes behind the ball a little more because of pushed putts.

Another change I have made in the past was to putt shorter putts cross handed to have them online more consistently.  After adjusting my head position last year I haven't had to do that again....yet!  

[CarlH]

Videotape your putting stroke and post it here and you'll get some better responses.  More than likely, you have a bunch of unnecessary movements going on, but without seeing you in action, it's merely a guess.

[cnosil]

1 hour ago, Gavwlee said:

Not sure when or why this started happening, but on putts shorter than 6 ft, I'm pushing ALL my putts. Longer putts, I have no trouble starting them on the intended line (not that I'm making them, just less frustrating). For context, on a 5 foot putt (no break or grain), I aimed at the center of the hole (had my playing partner verify) and missed the putt right by about a hole's width about 5 inches beyond the cup. If my push was consistent, I'd just aim to the left of my target line and push my putts, but when I do that, the putts go straight. Makes getting up and down near impossible and applying unnecessary stress on my 2 putts.

The obvious answer to me seems like my face and/or path are open to the target line at impact, but the question for those out there that have worked this out...Was it grip, posture, ball position, putter, all of the above (aka crap putting stroke)? or is this just a part of this silly game and I should embrace it since my livelihood is not at stake?

The ball basically goes in the direction the face is pointed since that has the greatest influence on direction.  There are a multitude of reasons that can cause this.   Since your stroke seems to produce decent results on longer putts, I would make a wild guess that you are holding the face open trying to guide the putt because you feel like you make too long of a stroke.  Even with short putts you have to make a complete stroke;  maybe try to lesson grip pressure on the short ones. 

[Gavwlee]

16 hours ago, cnosil said:

The ball basically goes in the direction the face is pointed since that has the greatest influence on direction.  There are a multitude of reasons that can cause this.   Since your stroke seems to produce decent results on longer putts, I would make a wild guess that you are holding the face open trying to guide the putt because you feel like you make too long of a stroke.  Even with short putts you have to make a complete stroke;  maybe try to lesson grip pressure on the short ones. 

Hit the practice putting green this morning thinking about your comment. Seems like for shorter putts, I was trying to steer the ball into the hole and holding my face open and not allowing it to close in the putting arc. After relaxing my grip a bit, I started treating the shorter putts like a more precise lag putt and seeing better result. Gotta keep working on this to get the "feeling" ingrained.

17 hours ago, Shapotomous said:

Could be your eye/head position with respect to the ball.  Your subconscious thinks you are aimed left instead of straight on and it compensates by pushing the putt right.  Try with your eyes behind the ball or straight over the ball depending on where you are now.  I made a similar change last year getting my eyes behind the ball a little more because of pushed putts.

Another change I have made in the past was to putt shorter putts cross handed to have them online more consistently.  After adjusting my head position last year I haven't had to do that again....yet!  

This is interesting! I tried to really take notice of this a bit and realized that on longer putts, my eye position is actually half a ball behind the ball and I'm better able to see down the putt line, at least it feels like it. On my shorter putts, my eyes are were a bit ahead of the ball and I didn't even notice. I took address like a longer lag putt and took a shorter stroke (to account for shorter distance) and combining @cnosil's tip (loosen grip pressure a bit), looks like I'm heading in the right direction (pun intended).

 

Thanks all!

[CRW]

You might also try, at least when practicing, the "Heads Up" putting method.  I don't use it on the course, but I do it often in practice to sort of re-calibrate my stroke.  It can get mechanical at times, and the heads up method forces you to be athletic and react to the hole like you would if you were going to toss or roll a ball to the cup with your hand.

https://golf.com/instruction/putting/heads-up-putting-technique/

[heavygolffeels]

Buy a yard stick. Practice at home.

 

[DiscipleofPenick]

If you're missing short putts it could just be lack of focus more than an issue with technique. You could be rushing or just not giving yourself a chance to settle over the putt. As they say, treat the short ones with respect.

[Gavwlee]

11 hours ago, scooterhd2 said:

Buy a yard stick. Practice at home.

 

That’s the 1 training aid I own and use with my 6 year old daughter! For a moment, I wondered if this was making me more “steery”. TBH…These days, my daughter has been straight out beating me in our race to 15 consecutive down the ruler…I may have to stay up after she goes to bed to get some more practice in

[jtgavigan]

I use the eyeline putting mirror as it has a gate drill on it. Before I got the mirrors, I used 4 tees. I would get an alignment stick out and lay it on a flat part of the green. I would push a tee all the way in the ground to mark where I would put the ball each time at one end of the stick.

Then, place a tee half way into the ground as my target at the other end of the stick. Halfway down the stick I would then build a gate just over a ball width apart with the final 2 tees. Then, I would remove the stick and try to hit 10 consecutive through the gate and hit the target tee. The tee all the wat in the ground would mark a consistent ball placement. I hit the right tee most often. 

You can also add a putter blade gate to ensure you are hitting the sweet spot if you wish.

 

Another drill is to get a chalk line device (any hardware store has them, used in flooring). You can then find a straight putt on the practice green and stretch the chalk string out along it. Thumb the string and it puts a chalk line on the green to putt by.