Putting.

[Kor.A.Door]

I didn't want to thread jack Jbones about his new putting stroke. I think many of us have issues there.

 

Anyway, I went out to the Wells Fargo at Quail Hollow on Teusday, and I like to watch some the pros as they warm up/practice on the range as well as the putting green, and how they practice. Well, that 14 year old kid Guan was out there

And he was working with someone, teacher, or maybe someone else's teacher, he came out at about 2:00pm, we watched him for a while, and then we Went and walked the course, when we came back at 4:30 he was still putting, still working with the teacher. Has anyone Put in that much work on the putting surface, and if or when you do, what things do you work on.

 

Lets put aside the fact that most of us don't have that amount of time with work and family activities, but I wonder if there is a way to put in that type of work in a condensed version. Whether we do it over several days or something like that, or just shorten the amount of time on a specific point.

 

I really enjoy putting, and when I put well in a round, I can really make some putts, I just want to focus my practice on things that make a difference, instead of just putting. I know I can be really good at times on the green, and I want that all the time.

 

By the way, the kid seemed to me to be a little bit of stuck up snob, he was not very friendly at all. He didn't acknowledge any of the kids, or other fans, I think he has been watching Bubba, who was also there.

[JMiller]

I didn't want to thread jack Jbones about his new putting stroke. I think many of us have issues there.

 

Anyway, I went out to the Wells Fargo at Quail Hollow on Tuesday, and I like to watch some the pros as they warm up/practice on the range as well as the putting green, and how they practice.

I am going to the Wells Fargo on Saturday. I am excited for this the weather is supposed to finally turn around in NC tomorrow. We shall see if the weather people are correct or not

 

Well, that 14 year old kid Guan was out there And he was working with someone, teacher, or maybe someone else's teacher, he came out at about 2:00pm, we watched him for a while, and then we Went and walked the course, when we came back at 4:30 he was still putting, still working with the teacher. Has anyone Put in that much work on the putting surface, and if or when you do, what things do you work on.

I put a ton of time into my putting, I focus mostly on my tempo, keeping that same tempo / timing with different length strokes. some 2:1 ratio of some kind. Tour Tempo is nice for this because they have a few different 2:1 ratios you can play around with and see which one is closest to you.

 

Besides tempo I work with a drill my instructor calls "the coin drill". All you do is put a dime 18" in front of the ball and the focus is to roll teh ball over the center of the coin with different length strokes and the same tempo. This is to practice getting the ball on the line you pick only.

 

I think a lot of people say distance is the most important, which it is very important as it determines line. However, when you are first starting to groove your stroke consistency the best way to do it is focus on direction and then READ the distance results from the different length strokes. I use the coin drill in 4 direction on new courses to get my speed, uphill, downhill, left right, right left. Focus on the line with different length strokes and see where the ball goes keeping the same tempo. So for example 4" back results in 4', 6" back results in 7', etc I find that it allows me to adjust for green speed a lot faster now then before I used the drill.

 

Sorry for rambling, the main two things are tempo and direction that I work on and then get the speed / distance as an after thought.

 

 

Lets put aside the fact that most of us don't have that amount of time with work and family activities, but I wonder if there is a way to put in that type of work in a condensed version. Whether we do it over several days or something like that, or just shorten the amount of time on a specific point.

I honestly do "the coin drill" in my house all the time on wood floors, I'm not looking for speed I am looking at my tempo and length of stroke with pure contact rolling over the coin. I do this indoor practice 5 to 15 minutes a day and on the course I do it 30 min before my rounds. I just do it as much as I can as often as I can even if that's only 5min that day.

 

For me I find that if I work on something 5 to 15min a day the repetitiveness builds my confidence up faster then doing it once a week for an say 1hour. I find small bursts of pure focused practice on a consistent basis more effective then long sessions of infrequent practice.

 

That goes beyond putting, over the winter when I was switching my swing from one-plane to Hybrid plane thanks to golfer's elbow in my right arm. I sat there 30min a day making left arm only swings to strengthen my left arm and naturally in a full swing I wanted to lift the arm a little to get leverage under the club. Before I ever made a swing this spring I was very close to having my full swing figured out well at least the backswing positions. I only needed one different feel that I found after a couple weeks of coming back and I was golden. Now it's more about sequencing the downswing and tempo / transition.

 

Sorry for the ramble again but I am just making the point that as busy as your life gets you can always do a little work in the house or office in your down time as long as the family and bosses don't look at you strangely

 

I really enjoy putting, and when I putt well in a round, I can really make some putts, I just want to focus my practice on things that make a difference, instead of just putting. I know I can be really good at times on the green, and I want that all the time.

If I were to rank the "things that make a difference" they would be as following:

1) Putting

2) Chipping, Pitching, Bunkers

3) Wedges / Short Irons

4) Mid / long Irons

5) Tee shots

 

I think that's sort of obvious, but a lot of times people don't think about it that way. a 1' putt counts as many times as a 300 yard drive isn't golf great. I think most people would drop their handicaps by a ton if they spent more time in the first 3 items on the list.

 

By the way, the kid seemed to me to be a little bit of stuck up snob, he was not very friendly at all. He didn't acknowledge any of the kids, or other fans, I think he has been watching Bubba, who was also there.

Well, I sort of look at it this way. He is an AM it's not like the fans are lining his pockets with millions of dollars yet. Plus he is 14 years old in a country that is completely different from his home country. It does take some time to adjust to little differences in society and given English is a 2nd language maybe sometimes he feels that people might have a really hard time understanding him or him understanding you in the slang involved in our language. So it might come off like the boy is stuck up but in reality it could be a number of other reasons that he comes off as not being friendly.

 

I don't know what is going on through his head, but really he went from a random 14year old boy to a golfing sensation / world wide known name pretty much over night by making the cut at the Masters. That is a lot of fame for anyone to handle.

[Jgolf]

By the way, the kid seemed to me to be a little bit of stuck up snob, he was not very friendly at all. He didn't acknowledge any of the kids, or other fans, I think he has been watching Bubba, who was also there.

 

I have a friend who played tournaments with him in China, and although he routed for Guan at the masters he said that he was a jerk and that his father kept going around trying to dq everyone else playing against his son. Now this was 4 years ago, and I hope he's grown up (his game obviously has) but your feeling may be very correct.

[whiskey golf]

By the way, the kid seemed to me to be a little bit of stuck up snob, he was not very friendly at all. He didn't acknowledge any of the kids, or other fans, I think he has been watching Bubba, who was also there.

 

Maybe that Master's ego is getting to him.

[revkev]

I'd reverse 4 and 5 on JMiller's list - tee shots are important as they set up everything else - they most definitely don't have to be 300 yards though.

 

I spend at least 50 percent of my practice time on putting - I'm willing to wager that if you polled this by handicap the lower the handicap, the more likely the guy/gal works more on putting than anything else. If you factor in all the around the green stuff that would be 75 % of my practice time - I find there is a huge benefit to the long game by working on chipping and pitching anyway and it's not as tough on the body.

 

On to putting - I'm certainly not doing any 3 hours because I don't have the time or concentration level. My general routine if I'm just practicing putting (often times I kill two birds and working on chipping and putting together playing the ball out into the hole)I throw three balls down at about 10 feet and stroke them to the hole to get the speed of the green - I then putt 4 footers at that cup until I make 9 in a row - sometimes I do it by hitting three, three, three from different spots, sometimes I do it by stroking 9 (or more realistically how many ever I need) from the same spot, sometimes I do it by moving around the hole in a circle until I've holed 9. Regardless that's what I do - always.

 

From there I have a variety of drills that I like many of which have already been mentioned. The three that I haven't seen yet are:

 

1. putt balls from the center of the putting green to the finge in a variety of directions trying to get it to hop up onto the fringe. (learned that from watching Annika on Playing Lessons one time.)

 

2. find two holes that offer a realitvely straight up hill/down hill putt and two balls uphill and two back down - I don't hole out when I do this - I'm looking to roll the ball consistently 18 inches past the hole both ways.

 

3. find two holes about 25 feet apart and putt a ball to each with the goal of holing out in each direction before I three putt. You may be surprised, unpleasantly, at how difficult this can be - it's probably my favorite drill to do after holing the short ones because it sharpens my birdie range stroke.

[JMiller]

I'd reverse 4 and 5 on JMiller's list - tee shots are important as they set up everything else - they most definitely don't have to be 300 yards though.

 

Really the list should be listed as 4, I was being more specific in distances for "approaches". Long approach is a little different then a short approach in my eyes (numbers 3 and 4). I almost always have mid to long irons into Par 3s and some longer par 4s. I almost always have mid to long irons on Par3s and long Par 4s my target size is bigger then if I have short iron / wedge in my hand.

 

As long as you keep the ball in play off the tee, then your iron can bail you out, if you screw that up, your wedges can bail you out, if you screw that up maybe the putter can still save the par. There is nothing that can bail you out from poor putting.

 

So if you want to make that list more simple

1) Putting

2) Short game / wedges

3) Approaches / irons

4) Tee shots

 

Gary Player had a comment that sort of fits here...

You get any 16 handicap, You have Tiger Woods hit the first two shots on Par4s and Par5s then have the 16 take over from there, the 16 handicap would be a 10. You take the same 16 handicap and have them hit the first two shots on par 4s and Par 5s then have Tiger Woods take over the 16 handicap would be a 3 .

[Kor.A.Door]

Thanks all for the tips.

 

Have fun on Saturday Jmiller, outside of some of the greens, the course is in really nice shape. The have redone 4 teeing area, and moved the chipping area to the left of the practice range instead of the right side, and they added a small putting green just behind the practice tees. So if you have been there before, it will be slightly different than when you were there last. There is always such a good field here that it really is an excellent tournament to go to.

 

Some of the greens are horrible, the cut them too short and they burnt up bad, which you can see on TV, they re-did 8 and 10 last week because they were so bad, so when you see some of the greens with your own eyes you will be shocked. From what I heard when I was there on Teusday the Dozers are going to be waiting on Sunday afternoon, because they are going to tear out all the greens and redo them with Bermuda, In preparation for the 2017 PGA. Anyway, have a good time out there.

[Rickles]

I am a Dave Pelz nut so most of this stuff is straight out of the "Putting Bible"

 

Practice mechanics in doors. Make a little station inside where you can leave it. Mine is in my office. Use a putting track or arc or whatever you use. I also like a mirror underneath to see the alignment of your shoulders and your eyes over the ball. Then put something down like stickers to mark where your feet should be and where the balls should be. All of these things get you to set up the same way every time. I also practice with a metronome at my natural putting ryhthm. I use a track and make straight back straight through strokes with the metronome not hitting the sides of the track in my correct set up position. I do this a few of times a day 5 to ten minutes at a time.

 

Then when I am outside practicing. Usually a couple times a week for 30-45 minutes I forget all about mechanics. I usually do three drills.

 

1. The Circle Drill: I piut four balls around the hole 3 foot out straight up and down and then opposite for left and right side hill. I go around the circle until I make 20 in a row. If I miss, I start over.

 

2. I find two holes 15 feet apart or so relatively straight up and down hill. I use 3 balls and put 3 up hill, 3 down hill, 3 up hill, 1 downhill. The putts do not have to go in. They have to finish even with the cup to 3 feet past. All 10 have to do this. If at any point I hit one too long or too short I start over. This drill teaches speed for those birdie range putts and speed in general. It also provides some pressure.

 

3. Play games against other people on the putting green and putt something on the line. There are tons of games look some up.

 

Also it is important whether practicing indoors or out to always go through your routine on every putt.

[revkev]

I so agree with that last paragraph of Richard's!

 

I'm still not biting on JMiller's preference for approaches over tee shots but I do appreciate his point - I play with way too many golfers who are DOA at the green because they've pumped it OB or in the water off the tee - that's the importance of driving in my opinion - figure out a way to get it out there that doesn't hurt the scorecard. For a better golfer the approach shot may well be more important because so long as he's not taking a penalty he has some tools to recover.

 

But I think we're giving advice for mid to high handicappers here -