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It appears to be very rare to find a thread about improving your putting and short game. A lot of players ask for help with their slice, hook, ball flight, swing, grip, etc. This is the fun part of golf, but is it the most important?

Does this mean everyone is great at putting? If you are, I wouldnt mind hearing your mental approach.

I think it's more that putting is the most personal stroke. There is a right way to swing a driver or iron. There's lots of ways to get there, but ultimately, right before impact, you have to get on plane with a square clubface. There isn't really any other way to do it.

Compare that with putting. Straight back and straight forward or swinging the gate? Do you like a heavy putter or a light one? Regular length, belly, or a 4 foot tree? What about grip: regular, reverse overlap, claw, saw, left hand low? Do you put the ball in the middle of your stance, off your left shoulder, right shoulder, etc.

Like I said, it is by far, the most personal stroke, simply because all of those methods can definitely work. Unlike swinging a driver or iron, there are many, many different methods that work.

Another difference is that putting is one of the few strokes that can be mastered through pure practice. If you don't have the fundamentals correct with your full driver/iron swing, you can beat balls every day for a long time and not achieve necessarily significant progress. However, if you putt everyday for a long time, you will learn how repeat your stroke and be able to play well with it. That's not to say that there won't be flaws, you may make mistakes, but if you practice everyday, they will become repeatable and hence predictable. And, that won't hurt you putting. Because all it really is is rolling a ball.

If you want to talk philosophy of putting, I read a pretty interesting tidbit a while ago from Nicklaus where he suggested putting aggressively to a spot three feet in front of the cup. The idea being that even if you blow past that three foot mark by 5 feet, you are only left with 2 feet back. And, since you are "aggressively" putting to that spot, you really shouldn't leave it short, meaning at most 3 more feet to go. My other idea is to identify a spot a few inches in front of the ball to aim for, a blade of grass bend differently, a discolored patch, an old pitch mark or spike mark, there is almost always something. Then, the plan is just to hit that spot, not the hole 10, 20, 40 feet away. Sure, the read may not always be right, but rather than thinking about the entire putt, I just work to hit that very close spot -- and the closer the spot is, the easier it is hit!

But, again, I go back to two paragraphs back, practice is the key. Practice on different greens, on different weather conditions, different breaks, different distances. The biggest issue is just getting out and doing it, and keep on doing it. There are a few good putters who are naturals, but most of us have to practice a lot and often to keep the touch sharp.

One method that I adopted (and appears to work) is to play EA Tiger Woods and try to bring the putting grid with you to the real green. Hard to explain, but the "ideal putt cam" helps me judge the break in real life!

First thing I do (obviously before starting to play) is take a gatorade cap sealer (the thin perforated part that was attached to the cap before opening it) and wrap it around the golf ball so i can draw a nice aim line.

Once on the green, mark your ball, pick it up and read the green while trying to imagine the "ideal putt cam" from the game. Now place the ball down lining up the aim line with the initial direction of your putt. DONT SECOND GUESS YOUR PLACEMENT OF THE LINE - its not as important as speed...which brings me to my next step - stand behind the ball looking at the hole and try to feel the length of the putt.

When satisfied with how ever many practicve strokes you've tried, now go and putt...keep your head down, dont look at the hole, and try to repeat your practice stroke right THROUGH the base of your aim-line. Count to three after you've hit the ball if that helps.

Its helped me bring my avg putts per 18 down to a shade over 30. On a bad day - somewhere around 2 putts per hole. It will dramatically reduce your three putts for sure!

But most important, having a pre-shot routine...gives you more confidence!

Putting is all about confidence. If you are unsure of the line or the power, you will rarely make a good stroke.

Putting:

I make my read, then I stick with it. I pick a spot on the line I've read about 2 feet in front of the ball, and that is my aiming point. It's easier to line up to a point 2 feet away than it is to a point 30 feet away. Then I step up to the ball, take my stance never looking away from that point. I take one more look at the hole to set the distance and I make my stroke.

Chipping:

More difficult to describe because there are so many more variables. Grass depth and thickness, slope where the ball lies, distance to the green and type of terrain between the ball and green, amount of green between you and the hole, green speed, and green slope in relation to where the ball is. I use different clubs (sand wedge and gap wedge most of the time, but could even be as low as an 8 iron or a 5 hybrid) depending on the lie, the length of the chip, and the type of shot I want. I usually try to let the ball roll at least half of the distance if that is possible, but for me chipping is so much about feel that I just usually end up doing what "feels" right at the time, and that is something that I can't describe. The one real key to my chipping and pitching is that my weight is about 75% on the left foot, and I don't shift it at all during the stroke... it's all a shoulder and arm swing with no lower body movement at all.

All I can recommend to anyone is that they learn some fundamentals, then practice to see what feels good, then practice it, and practice some more. The only way to develop a good sense of feel is repetition. Just be sure that you are repeating good habits, not bad ones.

I for one thing can say what you don`t want in your putting.

And that is what Im doing: Changing my technique and never beeing comfortable with one!!

Finally realized what Bignose was saying. Find a way to grip the put thats the same every time, align the body the same every time, and "feel" the same putting stroke every time.

I have not done this and I have done everything from fantastic putts to horrible putts, mostly the horrible ones.

I guess the most important result is that you have a steady backswing so that you get a predictable outcome coming through?

One word to become a better putter 'REPETITIVE

This applys to grip, stance, and swing

Very important. I read the putt, placed the line where I wanted it started took my stance only to go "this doesn't feel right, let me adjust it..." I'll tweak it a little bit and stroke the ball. Many many times now, my first read would have had me closer to the hole than my second one. Sooner or later I'll learn.

I was tought a very simple yet it seems so straightforward and common sense. I choose a line carefully and then follow it from the cup to the ball, looking for a spot about 2 feet into the line. If you roll it over your chosen spot, What more can you do ? If you miss you have to think; well that possibly wasnt the line or the pace was off. But using this method has really improved my putting.

Yes, just by learning to putt, and avoid three putts, and occassionally make the 1 putt, will cut down 10 strokes easy from a game. Yesterday my putting was off, in fact was WAY off. it was the distance. I realize that if I get the distance right, even if I miss slightly right or left, I am left with a short tap in. But if I get the distance off, I can be looking at 6 feet back, esp, on severe slopes. To me judging flat distance is easy, but judging uphill or downhill distance is a hit and miss. I made many putts past 4 feet, and some short. Even made several four putts, could not believe it myself, as I usually feel very comfortable with my putting.

Your question is interesting. I agree with the personal aspects listed above, but feel that most people simply do not love putting and have less success putting (as compared to the rest of their game).

We all know putting is important to the score, but putting is definitely not the most fun on the golf course. I love when the putt goes in the hole from 20 feet and love the sound of the ball going in, but I really love hitting my irons to the green from a tough lie and driving the ball on the tee into the air far more.

Another factor is I generally hit the fairway about 50% of the time and hit the green in regulation about 50% of the time. Let's say I have 14 putts from beyond 10 feet away from the hole. If I make 2 putts from beyond 10 feet in a round, I am ecstatic. If you were a baseball player and batted .500 from the left side and .142 from the right side, would you like batting on the right side?

Lastly (my weakest reason), is the amount of time that the "average" golfer would need to put into practice to really change their scores from putting. An Alan Iverson interview comes to mind.

These are my reasons why most people do not put that much emphasis on putting (excitement, success rate, and lazyness).

I have improved a lot on my putting lately. I have very few three-putts these days. I am definitely putting on a new level. What is next is to start holing some of the longer putts. My change was to put my right hand more in control of the stroke. The reverse overlap grip did that for me. The club seems more stable in my hand allowing me to consistently trace the same path back and forward.

Do what I do when I am struggling with my putting...

...buy a new putter...

...the closet is getting full!!!

Seriously speaking, I used to do this, go back and forth between my closetfull when things went south, but one of the better pieces of advice concerning putting that I have received is to pick one putter and stick with it...for years...while you might experience a "honeymoon" period with a putter briefly after a change, for lasting improvement, you have to learn the feel of one club...

I know what this is like, experienced this last season. All of a sudden your not putting well so you change your stroke to find something new. The problem is, you never find what your looking for and continue changing your setup, grip, etc.

The reason i asked was because I have heard of a fellow who teaches alot of the Pros on the PGA and teaches a specific setup and stroke. His name is Mike Shannon. Then, we watched some golf and it was amazing to see how many players used the same setup!

A friend of mine at a Div 1 school was telling me about him; he had gotten a lesson from Mike not too long ago.

However, I think repetition was the best advice; I will work on it.