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.
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
Reply : Sun 14th Dec 2008 19:59
Working on your putting Mark will certainly pay dividends.
And seeing as the weather is not too good at the moment it might be worth doing.
I had a putting/chipping lesson about two months ago and it has certainly worked for me.
Most of my putts now stop close to the hole, within a foot.
I've also started to drop the odd 15 to 20 footer, and I'm getting some good results from six feet in.
Russ
Reply : Mon 12th Jan 2009 19:43
I only ever have a few practice putts before a round for that same reason. I hate to leave myself a long putt on the first.
Reply : Mon 12th Jan 2009 19:47
I see you are from Greater London, Wassadb, so how about bringing along your skills to the North v South match on April 20th at Wokefield Park, Reading. You can add your name by clicking on Groups/events and then looking on the left hand side for the competition, don't sign up for the North by mistake.
Reply : Tue 13th Jan 2009 08:33
I only ever practice putting to get a feel for the speed of the greens. If like last week the course has a full 18 tempories, I'll stay in the clubhouse drinking a nice warm cuppa.