Be honest with yourself, how often do you practice your putting?
I find myself asking this question to many of my students. Unfortunately the answers I hear are nearly always the same. Most golfers spend little or no time actually practicing their putting. Having a few putts on the practice green before your game doesn’t count.
So why don’t most golfers spend any time trying to improve putting? Are we obsessed by distance? Is it because we think our putting strokes are good? Is it because there are other variables that we have no control over like speed of greens? Is it because we can’t read the greens?
I don’t know the answer; I don’t think there is one answer to this question. So let’s ask a different one. What would make you practice your putting?
How about lower scores!
Yes that’s right, if you practice your putting you can lower your scores faster than working on trying to hit the ball longer or better.
Firstly we need to see how many putts you are having. Print out the Putting Record Sheet that is at the end of this blog and record what you do next time you play. The C/P is to record whether you Chipped or Pitched on to the green, just enter C or P in this column. Then you record the number of putts if your first putt was less than 6 feet away (<6′) or record the number of putts you had if your first putt was more than 6 feet away (>6′).
If you do this you have started on the path of lowering your scores. Once you have completed this task you will already have a better understanding of your putting performance. We can then start to set goals so that you achieve success on the putting green.
You would bring this Putting Record Sheet to an initial interview and assessment of various influences on putting performance.
To start with I ask for increased time to be invested in practicing putting, routines are to be established and mental control and focus discussed. This happens before the putting stroke is changed. Results start to improve almost straight away.
If you follow this process then I am confident that you will see your scores lower without having to change your golf swing.