Golf Forums - Better Putting

Last Boxing Day I received from my mother-in-law one of those home putting mats.

Each year we go round to her house for a family get-together and buy each other small presents.

Well, apparently this was on sale for a fiver, so she got it me.

You know the one I mean, plastic hole, with a bunker and water around it, on a slight ramp.  Then a six foot piece of plastic mat.

I used it a few times but we never really had the room, or me the time to use it on a regular basis.

Well last Easter we spent three days putting down a laminate floor in our dining room, living room and hallway.

So here I was watching the Merrill Lynch Shootout on Setanta, wishing I was playing golf.

I got the practice mat out and out came the marker pen.

With my tape measure I went from the front of the hole and put a mark at the 2, 3, 4 & 5 foot distance.  Then I made sure the mark was in the middle of the mat, it's only about a foot wide.  I then put the distance on the mat.

So here I am with my practice putting mat all marked up from two feet to five feet.

About two months ago I had a lesson on putting and it certainly helped.  He only changed two things, and worked a little on me making a smooth stroke.  Well it certainly worked.  My putting has improved over these last two months.

I then started at the two foot mark and everytime I holed a ball I moved to the next mark.  To be honest I never missed from the two to four foot mark, but the first three times I pulled the five foot putt!

What I started to do then was only line up my putter with the mark in front of my ball.

So there I was stroking in some lovely putts from two to five feet.

This now means I know I'm putting well and my confidence is high.

I know that there is no slope on this mat but having confidence in my putting is certain to help my game.

Russ

i will have to try these out,any other tips on putting is appreciated

tee to green no probs but the missed putts have got me pulling my hair out

Three other pointers for better putting.

1) Mark your ball.

Mark a line on the ball about 1/2 inch long.  Then when you have worded out the line of your putt you can put the ball down with this line pointing along your line.  This will give you confidence when putting as you know the ball is lined up correctly and your putter should be square with the line.

2) Your forward stroke should be longer than your back stroke.

No matter how long the putt your forward stroke should always be longer than your back stroke, this means you have accelerated through the ball.

3) Work out your distances.

When I have a putt that is shorter than six feet I have my feet closer together and I only take my putter back to the big toe on my back foot.  For putts between six and twelve feet I will take my putter back until it is outside of my back foot.  Anything longer than twelve feet it's down to feel.  For the longer putts I will also have my feet further apart than on the short putts.  A good drill is to put a ball down, put your putter down about three inches behind the ball and than push the putter forwards, this eliminates the back stroke and you get used to pushing the ball towards the hole.

I hope these help

Russ

thanks russ will try these out