Putting help

Hi Everyone,

I'm trying to lower my handicap (currently 23) and time after time it's my putting that's letting me down most

Last 2 rounds have seen putts of 45 and 41 (41 is my season average!)

With 51 and 52 being the total of all other shots for the rest of round.

So you can probably see where i'm losing out mostly.

I used to play with an Odessey White hot xg 7 and have recently changed to a Ben Ross Pure Red Scottsdale style putter, with the odessey i was missing the hole top side consistently and with the Ben Ross i'm missing top side or being too short/long.

I need more practice, but running a business and having a 6 month old and we recently moved house, it's hard to find the time, and when i do i tend to just head for a round rather than practice green.

I'm after any advise regarding practise drills etc, putters to try out or any other advise you may have.

Thanks in advance [img]http://reviewall.net/find/me.jpg[/img]

You are certainly struggling with your putting Andra. My average putts for the year is 32.7 and I don't consider myself to be anywhere near a hot putter. There are however plenty of tips and advice to be found on this site; just look at Tips/Videos. Perhaps you play on a course with particularly severe greens, but clearly you have room to improve. Good luck.

Andra

The figures for putting you gave look like your putting needs some work. Why did you get rid of your XG #7? was it just for a change?

You say you were missing high. This is unusual for a bad putter low side is normal. forget about line at the mo and focus on weight. You will never be 4 foot wide on a putt but you can easily be 4 foot long or short.

Also loads of tips on utube but it can be overkill.

Good luck.

Dave CAC handed Geordie.

Andra have you thought of a putter fitting? I had one a week ago and bought a new putter last week and for the first time in ages no 3 putts this weekend.The guy who fitted me actually asked if i had had a putting lesson to which i replied "no" and his reply back was "good answer" He showed me some errors i was making and Its given me more confidence definately and most putter manufacturers have an online putter fitting as a guide. I practice on the carpet for about 15mins a night with getting the weight of my putts right on different carpets in the house and at the range i use the putting green more than the driving range itself. Good luck

Just to throw a spanner in the works:

If your putts are making up about 45% of the shots you take on the golf course should putting also take up 45% of your practice time? I am being pedantic as clearly this is not the case for any 'ordinary' golfer. My putting stats are probably similar to yours yet I think putting takes up about 5-10% of my practice time. Do you think it is just a case of enjoying actually hitting balls more so that is how we spend our time? Just food for thought

Chris, I think it is fairly widely acknowledged that the wedges and putter are not practised enough by higher handicap players when their importance to scoring is considered. When I analyse my golf it is the one or two slightly wayward drives per round (often finding OOB) that cost me so dearly, not the putting. However it is the one part of the game that we can practise indoors or without venturing onto the course or practise range and where muscle or the lack of it is no handicap. Interesting eh!