Need help putting...

[Hacker]

To answer the original question, YES you can get a putting lesson. I had one with Gregg Foley at Kevin Haimes this past Friday.

While I don't consider myself to be a great putter, I don't think that I'm horrible either. My lesson consisted of 3 parts. He hooked me up to the computer with a laser affixed to the shaft of my putter and had hit hit 5 balls. The computer/laser measured a ton of different stats, face angle, path of the head through the stroke, length of the stroke, speed of the putter head etc. The astonishing thing for me is that even though I'd swear on a stack of Bibles that I had a pendulum swing (those who play with me know that I stick my elbows out to the side and really exaggerate that pendulum motion) but when I saw my path as measured by the computer, turns out that I was actually closing the face in the backswing, just like a typical outside in swing. It certainly didn't feel like I was swinging outside it, but I was.

Second part was to go out to the practice green for a short lesson on how to approach reading greens (this is where I really struggle, partly because of poor vision and color-blindness) he also touched on eye dominance and how to select intermediate targets.

The final part was the more technical side, stance, grip, ball placement.

All in all, I was very happy with the lesson and I'm confident that I'll be a better putter for it.

[Shreen]

Do you putt ok on the putting green? For me I always putted great in practice, but had problems on the course. There are 3 putting drills i like to add pressure to you up
practice. Set up on a straight section of the practice green. Put tees down at 3, 6, and 9 feet. You have to make 3 putts to advance to the next distance, so nine consecitive putts to complete. Any miss and you move back to 2 feet. Adds pressure and you putt a lot of 3 and 6 footers so they become routine. drill 2 - sloped prtion of the green, set up from 4 feet - 1 uphill, 1 downhill, 1 left to right, and 1 right to left. 2 ball per station and start over if you miss. builds pressure and confidence on those short breakers. or drill 3 - Do a nine hole course on your putting green, some short, some long, some middle. every hole a par 2. Keep playing until you shoot under par.

Have done these a lot. makes practice more interesting, gives you the pressure of having to make a putt, and builds confidence. its back to basic. not worrying about you stroke, just get it into the hole!

[iggsplode]

anyone have some alternatives i can use for practicing putting in my house? i have no carpet anywhere but was thinking of buying a big mat or something to practice on.

any suggestions?

[nokids]

anyone have some alternatives i can use for practicing putting in my house? i have no carpet anywhere but was thinking of buying a big mat or something to practice on.

any suggestions?

http://www.golftown.com/gtcommerce/s...11351C564.aspx

[iggsplode]

as completely awesome as that is.. id like whatever it would be to cost roughly $2400.00 less than that...

[nokids]

i used to fear putting, but now i have a routine i do and it makes me comfortable in any putting situation.

1)read the green as you are walking up to it
2)guage the power you'll have to hit the ball with
3)find the line you're going to hit the ball towards (take some practice strokes while looking at the line you've chosen to confirm the power)
4)set up your feet however it makes you feel comfortable, but no wider than shoulder width apart. i like to align the ball slightly forward so when i hit the balll the putter makes contact with the ball on the upswing.
5)put weight on back of feet
6)relax arms
7)grip the club, whatever works for you
8)eyes should be over the ball
9)keep head still during swing (i dont keep my head down staring at the ball, i like to put my head at an angle where i am mostly looking at the ball but i can still see the hole out of the corner of my eye)
10)swing equal distance on the backswing as you do in the follow through.

[byerxa]

anyone have some alternatives i can use for practicing putting in my house? i have no carpet anywhere but was thinking of buying a big mat or something to practice on.

any suggestions?

I went to Reno Depot and bought a 20' length of carpet used in entrance ways to malls, office buildings, etc. in the winter time. It has a solid rubber backing and is meant to be rolled up and stored, i.e., does not shed rubber and fabric bits. I found one that has a good surface for putting and since you pay by the foot you can get as much (or little) as you want.

Practicing putting ~10-20 minutes an eavening in the winter makes a big difference. Focus on setup, alignment, and the stroke. Don't get too wrapped up in "making" putts but instead focus on the technique. It takes a long time to get a good putting stroke into "muscle memory" or whatever you want to call it.

[iggsplode]

I went to Reno Depot and bought a 20' length of carpet used in entrance ways to malls, office buildings, etc. in the winter time. It has a solid rubber backing and is meant to be rolled up and stored, i.e., does not shed rubber and fabric bits. I found one that has a good surface for putting and since you pay by the foot you can get as much (or little) as you want.

Practicing putting ~10-20 minutes an eavening in the winter makes a big difference. Focus on setup, alignment, and the stroke. Don't get too wrapped up in "making" putts but instead focus on the technique. It takes a long time to get a good putting stroke into "muscle memory" or whatever you want to call it.

thx, thats exactly what i was thinking of doing. any idea what the name of the type you use is? how much did you pay roughly?

have you found any way to make some "breaks" or anything in it? putting a book under it or something like that? it'd be kinda neat to be able to mildly simulate some different situations..

[nokids]

thx, thats exactly what i was thinking of doing. any idea what the name of the type you use is? how much did you pay roughly?

have you found any way to make some "breaks" or anything in it? putting a book under it or something like that? it'd be kinda neat to be able to mildly simulate some different situations..

add newspapers or clothes.

[byerxa]

I have no idea the brand name for the carpet I got. It was on a roll and is about 3 ft wide. It was not too expensive and is sold by the foot. It works very well and rolls up easily for storage.

As for breaks I don't want to practice breaks in my winter routine. As I mentioned I focus on the mechanics of putting, hence I wanted as straight as putt as possible so I could see accurate feedback to my work. I believe practicing breaks in the basement is not very useful because managing breaks is purely an issue of reading the green. Reading a "break" in the basement is useless IMO. My goal was to develop a mechanically sound and repeatable putting stroke and ingrain it.

Then in the spring I get to real greens to get the pace dialled in (not hard with a good stroke). At that point it is a matter of reading the green properly and applying the proper aim and pace of putt. And since greens are different from day to day and course to course, this is an exercise that should be done before any round.

[iggsplode]

add newspapers or clothes.

that would work, thanks!

I have no idea the brand name for the carpet I got. It was on a roll and is about 3 ft wide. It was not too expensive and is sold by the foot. It works very well and rolls up easily for storage.

As for breaks I don't want to practice breaks in my winter routine. As I mentioned I focus on the mechanics of putting, hence I wanted as straight as putt as possible so I could see accurate feedback to my work. I believe practicing breaks in the basement is not very useful because managing breaks is purely an issue of reading the green. Reading a "break" in the basement is useless IMO. My goal was to develop a mechanically sound and repeatable putting stroke and ingrain it.

Then in the spring I get to real greens to get the pace dialled in (not hard with a good stroke). At that point it is a matter of reading the green properly and applying the proper aim and pace of putt. And since greens are different from day to day and course to course, this is an exercise that should be done before any round.

makes complete sense.. i can see why you would to use it for that. i was leaning more towards having something i can play with, not just pratice but for entertainment purposes as well.. im sure some of the boys wouldnt mind having a putting competition over the winter every now and then..

[byerxa]

I am re-doing my basement soon and I have toyed with the idea of raising the floor enough to put in putting holes Unfortunately our house is older and the basement ceiling is low so I most likely will not do that.

[lucus33]

keep your head down and still,be patient,after impact then you can look at the ball go in

[mikelaurin]

I put a crown jumbo grip on my itsy bitsy spider and have started to putt a lot better

[stevek]

add newspapers or clothes.

Most basement concrete floors are sloped for drainage. I bought a putting carpet/return machine from Golf Town last year and move it around the basement to get different breaks. I practise putting between sets of exercising and think it has really helped my putting this year.