So Frustrated! Inside down the line?
The problem is that I 3 putted 11 times. I feel like I could improve my score drastically if I could stop 3 putting.
I watched the informercial on golf channel about Inside down the line. Has anyone tried this? If so would you recommend it?
thanks!
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I have two putting aids, one by Eyeline Golf and one called the Boomerang. The eyeline works on developing a stroke where the clubface is square to the path, which moves on an arc from inside on the backstroke, to square at impact and back to inside on the release. This is similar to what Stan Utley teaches. It also has a mirror with lines on it so that you cah literally see where your eyes are with respect to the ball placement, as well as whether your club and shoulders are square, etc.
Here's a link:
The Boomerang is more for working on speed. It consists of a putting track with a ramped device at the end. You can adjust the angle of the ramp and the depth of the cup. The steeper the angle and shallower the cup, the harder it is to hole the putt and make the ball stay in the hole. There are a lot of favorable posts on this forum for the Boomerang.
Here's a link:
I also highly recommend Stan Utley's book, "The Art of Putting."
Finally, this has helped me more than anything. Check out Geoff Mangum's podcasts and videos from his blog. His concepts have helped me a lot with respect to being able to read greens and develop touch. Distance control is the key to avoiding three putts, and his ideas are the best I have found.
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I don't think you'll find what you're looking for in the path of the stroke. I'd be willing to bet none of your 3 jacks were the result of a bad path.
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Tempo, tempo, tempo.... Working on that has improved my putting dramatically. My stroke is much smoother, lagging is way better, and it just feels like a whole new game on the greens. I rarely 3 putt any more. I still sometimes will take an offspeed stab at the ball, but old habits die hard. Check out Geoff Magnum's stuff.
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Do you estimate that you spend as much practice time on your ball striking as you do your putting?
The good news here is that you are now aware that there's much more to the game than 'good ball striking'.
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I don't think you'll find what you're looking for in the path of the stroke. I'd be willing to bet none of your 3 jacks were the result of a bad path.
While technically this is true, path is incredibly important, because being on a good plane allows you to square the face easily and swing in rhythm, two things that cause three putts when done badly.
Anyway, inside to DTL is a bad setup, I think. You are basically changing planes at impact. Try inside to inside, or DTL, not a combination.
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I'm willing to bet your 3 putts are the result of a bad first putt leaving a long putt for your second--which you then miss. I would recommend practicing distance putting first. Simply practice putting at different distances on the practice green. That's what I did and cut my 3 putts per round dramatically.
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While technically this is true, path is incredibly important, because being on a good plane allows you to square the face easily and swing in rhythm, two things that cause three putts when done badly.
Anyway, inside to DTL is a bad setup, I think. You are basically changing planes at impact. Try inside to inside, or DTL, not a combination.
Boiled down to the most basic, putting is "speed" and "line". Putter path has nothing to do with speed and is only a 17% determinant of line/direction. Which plane are you referencing, and why is it ideal to stay on it?
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I'm about five inches from being an outstanding golfer. That's the distance my left ear is from my right. ~Ben Crenshaw
moral of the quote golf is a mental game, meaning putting is a mental game...its all confidence.
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work on you speed. thats it.
The best putting aid out there though is........ Putting Green!!!!!!
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Go get a putter fitting! It will change your life.
j/k
EDIT: How are you three putting? Give us some examples. Poor lag putting? Poor short putting? Both? You don't need training aids for poor speed control and / or green reading. You need to practice more, roughly half of your practice time should be on putting.
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Gunny you know why you three putt better than any of us.... we can only guess.
What I might suggest is a simple assessment that builds on what you might read about if you visit Geoff Mangum's website. Geoff breaks down putting into
Reading the Green/Putt
Distance Control
Aiming the Putter
Stroking the Putt
So do this little assessment: On a scale of 1 to 10, rate how good you think you are in each of these areas. With 1 being Terrible and 10 being as good as a PGA Touring Pro. Once you have done this then you might want to seek advice on how to get better at each of the four components.
Second, since you 3 putted 11 times in your round. What is the pattern? Are you long or short or both? Do you miss putts within 3 feet of the hole? From what distance from the hole is your three putting catching you? For example, you could have 3 putted since all your initial putts were at least 50 feet from the hole (which is a ball striking caused 3 putt). So all you can share will help us guesses and guiders.
We need more info to help you or you will get the normal suggestions and platitudes: Practice Distance Control, Work on your Green Reading, Improve your Stroke, Have your putter checkedfitted, Putting is all mental, etc. etc.
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I was a horrible putter up until the beginning of last year. I ordered a SeeMore(M1) putter and it changed my putting unbelievably. When I first got it I used the Rifle Scope Technology and noticed I was missing everything consistently to the right. That made me think to aim the ball using the line on it squatting behind the ball. Now I get putts on line consistently and only have to worry about speed which lets me have a lot less doubt with my stroke. I just aim my ball and align it with the line on my putter and I'm good to go. At address I feel I am aiming left, but it is just my vision playing tricks with my mind. Long story short, for years I was aiming wrong and missing tons of putts. I still occasionally game the SeeMore, but aiming the ball from behind(and trusting it standing over the putt) made a huge difference(sorry Johnny Miller).
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While technically this is true, path is incredibly important, because being on a good plane allows you to square the face easily and swing in rhythm, two things that cause three putts when done badly.
Anyway, inside to DTL is a bad setup, I think. You are basically changing planes at impact. Try inside to inside, or DTL, not a combination.
Boiled down to the most basic, putting is "speed" and "line". Putter path has nothing to do with speed and is only a 17% determinant of line/direction. Which plane are you referencing, and why is it ideal to stay on it?
I don't care which plane he is on, just that he not switch planes. If you are inside, you are likely on a plane resembling the angle of the putter shaft. If you are straight, you are on a different plane.
I agree with you about speed and face, rather than path, I spent a few weeks with the Pelz gang. My point, however, was that though center contact and face angle are most important for speed and line, being on a consistent plane/path allows you to make centerface contact with a square blade. That is why practicing path is important, because it allows you to more easily maintain sweetspot alignment and face angle. If you are inside to straight, you are changing path/plane at the ball, and keeping any consistency with face contact and angle will be very difficult.
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I practice my putts more than my irons/driver. The reason being is that I can actually practice putting at home on my carpet.
I practice distance control, and aim and the results are pretty good.
On the course the lag puts were descent but the ones that I had most trouble was the makeable inside 6 footers.
Most of the time I would miss it to the right and it would lip out or completely miss it altogether to the right.
I have a very straight back and forth putting style, and I use a plumber neck type putter. I heard somewhere that if you have a
straight putting style you need to use more of a face balanced putter instead of toe balanced? Would this explain why I am
missing most of my putts to the right?
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I would recommend "No Peeking!" suggested by Tiger Woods.
Whenever I find my putting stroke unstable so that I miss a lot of short putts, I tend to peek where the ball is going.
When I focus on making good conact with the ball, my putts are much better. So I would recommend that you focus on making good contact with the ball and try to look at where the putterface makes contact with the ball for a split second longer without peeking. If you peek, you tend to move your head too early so that you just can't make clean conact with the ball in putting.
Tiger Woods suggested this: Practice putting with your left eye closed if you're right-handed, which prevents you from seeing the target line with your peripheral vision. That will make it easier to keep your eyes looking straight down.
Hope this helps.
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Yeah I make sure I dont move my head or keep my eyes off the ground after the ball leaves the putter face. I make sure I dont peek for good 2-3 seconds after I putt.
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I don't care which plane he is on, just that he not switch planes. If you are inside, you are likely on a plane resembling the angle of the putter shaft. If you are straight, you are on a different plane.
I agree with you about speed and face, rather than path, I spent a few weeks with the Pelz gang. My point, however, was that though center contact and face angle are most important for speed and line, being on a consistent plane/path allows you to make centerface contact with a square blade. That is why practicing path is important, because it allows you to more easily maintain sweetspot alignment and face angle. If you are inside to straight, you are changing path/plane at the ball, and keeping any consistency with face contact and angle will be very difficult.
Gotcha
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I practice my putts more than my irons/driver. The reason being is that I can actually practice putting at home on my carpet.
I practice distance control, and aim and the results are pretty good.
On the course the lag puts were descent but the ones that I had most trouble was the makeable inside 6 footers.
Most of the time I would miss it to the right and it would lip out or completely miss it altogether to the right.
I have a very straight back and forth putting style, and I use a plumber neck type putter. I heard somewhere that if you have a straight putting style you need to use more of a face balanced putter instead of toe balanced? Would this explain why I am
missing most of my putts to the right?
Gunny
You say your lag putts are decent.... here is a way to tell whether they really are decent. I suggest this since while you mentioned 3 putting, you are now writing about putts within 6 feet.
Eddie Merrin, a famous older pro golfer, said that if you are a decent lag putter that means you are able to hit the ball within 1 foot of the cup for every 20 feet of the putt. So on a 20 foot putt, if you miss, the miss should be within 1 foot of the hole, on a 40 foot putt, if you should miss, you should be within 2 feet of the hole. ....etc.
Going back to your last round when you 3 putted 11 times, the questions to ask yourself are:
1. What was the length of my first putt and how close to the hole did I get it?
2. Based on your answer to the first question, how did you do regarding the Eddie Merrin Rule?
If you are not getting the putt within the Eddie Merrin Rule distance, may I suggest you spend a lot of time on distance control... on a practice green on the golf course. BTW, you can even do this Rule as a drill, by setting up 20, 30, 40, 50 feet away from the cup, and practicing until you can consistently get the ball within the prescribed distance.
For those second putts no matter the distance, it sounds like you are missing them right? So you are either pushing them, aiming wrong or reading them wrong. Not sure I can help on the reading them wrong on a chat site.
You can check your aim lots of ways. If you have a buddy he can stand behind you and tell you, or once you are set up have him hold the putter and you can get behind it and look yourself. Or you can buy a LPAS and practice with the laser indoors on your carpet. Online retailers like In The Hole will sell LPAS (Laser Putter Alignment System) for about $50. I use mine all the time to help refine my aiming.
There are lots of suggestions on this website regarding pusing putts...
If you want another Tiger Woods drill that seems to help him be great from 5 feet..and should help you with pushing the putts. Set up 5 feet from the hole on a level putt, put a tee close to the toe and the heel of your putter, so you form a gate. Now using only your right hand on the putter, hit 8 balls in a row--without touching the sides of the gate. Then put both hands on the putter, and strike 4 putts in a row with out touching the sides of the gate. Practice this until you can make 50-100 in a row.
If you have difficulty with this drill. Then practice for a while without a ball until you can consistently swing the putter through the gate with only your right hand and then with both hands. You can get even better if you try this with only your left hand on the club also.
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There are two drills that I practice a lot that improve putting.
First, I find a relatively flat putt, I pace off about 20' on each side of the hole and place a tee. Basically I take seven big steps and place a tee in the ground on opposite sides of the hole. I take three balls. Hit three putts from one side. The putts have to at least get to the hole, or stop at least within the putter length behind the hole. If a putt comes up short, or if the balls goes more than 3' past the hole, you have to start over. You have to hit three putts from one side, then three from the opposite side, then three from the original side, and then one from the opposite side. So all together, you have to make ten putts in a row that either end up in the hole, or at least to the hole and no more than 3' past. It is simple, and it is great at learning distance control. I have shown this drill to many friends and it has helped everyone of them. It is more difficult than it sounds at first. Once you can consistently make all ten putts finish to or past the hole by no more than 3', you will improve on the course.
The Second drill is easy. I take a chalk line to the practice green and snap a line from about ten feet through the hole and about 18" past it. I then just practice hitting putts down the line. Obviously you need a fairly straight putt.
The thing that I have found that will kill your putting stroke faster than anything is THINKING about it on the course. You have to stop thinking about your stroke, path, mechanics, etc on the course and focus on the hole only. Nearly every single time in the past that I have struggled on the greens it is due to me thinking about my stroke instead of the hole. Second biggest mistake, moving your head on short putts. Keep it dead still. GL
Answers:
I practice my putts more than my irons/driver. The reason being is that I can actually practice putting at home on my carpet.
I practice distance control, and aim and the results are pretty good.
On the course the lag puts were descent but the ones that I had most trouble was the makeable inside 6 footers.
Most of the time I would miss it to the right and it would lip out or completely miss it altogether to the right.
I have a very straight back and forth putting style, and I use a plumber neck type putter. I heard somewhere that if you have a
straight putting style you need to use more of a face balanced putter instead of toe balanced? Would this explain why I am
missing most of my putts to the right?
First, although practicing putting at home is better than not, I would strongly recommend practicing on a real green to a real hole...
Second, you need to spend the majority of your time practicing from one foot away and working your way back to 4 feet...
Keep it simple and keep your head/body still...
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its funny how noone talks about setup or ball placement when talking about putting but i notice i get my best results with most of my weight on my lead leg, the ball back about an inch from center, and i setup square to the line on my ball and try to hit that line with the sightline of my putter.....dunno if its a good way to putt but I recently had 6 1 putts and no 3 putts in a 9 hole tournament doing this
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Find a PuttLab somewhere near you.I was struggling and found out so much about my swing it's amazing. Plus I discovered what putter syle/specs work best for me. It allowed me to zero in on what I was doing right and build off of that.
+1 on the 20 foot and snap line drill. I do the same thing and it helps a great deal.