Back to the putting basics

I’ve been practising a lot but with little improvement, in fact my handicap has gone up from 11.9 to 12.1 since I started this blog. A fair reflection that I’m not doing well. In fact I was so worked up about a competition recently that it affected my sleep, a far way from getting out of my mind as I aimed to do.

This was highlighted further by a fourball partner who after a frustrating round, gave me some putting tips. He gently pointed out that we were friends first before giving me an accurate demonstration of my putting process which resembled a Charlie Chaplin skit. He pointed out that he never knew what I was going to do when putting, there is no consistency, it was wooden and the whites of my knuckles were showing.

He mentioned that he watched Rory Mcilroys putting sequence and it reminded of something I had read in the 15th Club by Bob Rotella. Just look at the target and trust yourself to let the ball go. So the sequence we worked on to remove my mind from putting and allow a natural stroke is this

1. Look behind the ball and pick a line.
2. Walk along the the line up the ball and take a couple of practise swings
3. Step beside the ball and line up putter.
4. Step into putt, look at target and hit.

It’s uncomfortable to just look and hit as I still feel extra effort and thought means better results. I like the fact then when lining up you are always on the line. I know relaxing and allowing my mind to naturally take care of this process will be better, a lot better, but I don’t “feel” it or truly know this for sure in myself. I’m going to stick to this process for a month and report back the results here hail rain or snow.