Putting Changes

I've never really spent much time practising putting, the occasion session during the week with some chipping practice.

I've had 1 putting lesson last year and my coach said everything looked good, gave me a couple of tips, but in general I had a sound putting stroke.

Recently as my handicap has dropped I've felt my putting hasn't kept pace with the rest of my game. The odd silly missed 3 footer, a few too many 3 putts from distance. Not holing enough 10 foot putts etc.

So I decided to spend a bit of time studying and working on my technique.

First thing I done was get one of these. Yes Putter Pathfinder

It has an alignment mirror to make sure you're eye line is right over the line of the putt. I found I was a couple of inches inside the line.

Plus a club head guide. You can set the little magnetic pins at the edges of the putter so you have to stroke it between them along the aim line. if you're off-line then the little post waggles.

This really gets you taking it straight back and through.

Took a bit of practice and really makes you concentrate on you're alignment and stroke.

The other change I've made is a slower, longer backstroke, then a just a flowing stroke through the ball.

The first two changes have really helped with the short to medium length putts, the last change seems to give me much better distance control.

Before the change I was averaging 1.8 Putts per hole, after the change I'm averaging 1.7. Ok, 0.1 doesn't sound much. But over 18 holes, that's almost 2 shots !!!!

I'm probably averaging about 30 putts per round, whereas before 30 putts would be a great round. Most of the time I'd be around 33-34 area.

(Oh the low blips on the graph are 9-hole rounds !!)