New PB

I'd put this in my blog, but I'm switching DSL providers and for some arcane reason the new DSL won't be working for another 10 days or so. So I'm reading and posting from my phone, but for some reason I can't do a blog post that way.

Anway, my PB has dropped from 96 to 95! I know that's not a great score but hey, a PB is a PB. 45 on the first nine is only one stroke over my PB for nine. So I was pretty happy with that.

My last round was on Thursday, and it went very poorly, and my last trip to the practice range, described in my blog, was also a mess. So I wasn't exactly filled with optimism this morning. But I resolved to do all I could to slow my swing down, so that my hands wouldn't outrace my body. Last night I looked at a video, frame by frame, and saw some hideous images of my arms well into follow-through, but my feet were still both flat on the ground and my hips square. Ugh. So I slowed everything down today, remembered to pause at the top and...struck the ball pretty well. I spent a lot time on the practice green before starting, but it wasn't enough. I 4-putted twice, and 3-putted 5 or 6. If I could fix that I'd be in the 80s. I haven't settled on a putting routine yet, so that's my next task.

Still, a PB is a PB!

__________________
Todd
Philadelphia, PA
USA

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller

Well done Tod. Moving in the right direction.

Congrats on your pb !

Man you gave up at least 9 strokes in putting. If you fix that you will easily be in the 80's . Good luck bro....

Adding my congrats to the list...

For me, putting is about confidence, take some time to find a comfortable stance and grip and work with that. The strokes you save on the cut stuff will definitely see you in to the 80's.

Good job.

Cheers

OK, you need to build your own putting style and routine, there are two ingredients of my putting that really make a difference to me:

1) Use the same tempo for every putting swing, only alter the swing length not the speed.

2) Watch the point on the ball you want to strike, not the putter.

I've been doing something that has been helping in my full swing: pausing at the "top" of the backswing. This helps me with the distance factor. I'm not leaving so many short. But my aim is poor, so I miss too many 4-6 footers.

My two four-putts yesterday had the same pattern. First, a long approach putt, 20-25 feet, uphill. I hit about 5 ft past the hole. A near miss on the downhill putt, rolling to 4 or 5 ft below the hole. I miss the short uphill putt and then tap in.

I do tend to fixate on the putter and whether it's moving in a straight line, as I do my practice swings, and I guess I stay fixated on it when I make the actual putt.
My problem seems to be perception. I try to find an intermediate target and aim for that, but when I'm alongside the ball that target looks wrong. If I go for it anyway I do better. The problem is that greens don't have a lot of distinguishing marks, so it's easy to lose sight of that target when I set up my putt. I find myself wishing I could spray a little powder on the green to make a mark that I could see. In fact I once tried something like that and it worked great, but it's obviously illegal to mark the green.

I keep thinking I should buy a long putter and try sidesaddle putting, but I don't really know if that would help.

__________________
Todd
Philadelphia, PA
USA

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller

You can however mark your ball...

So you could try drawing a long straight line on the ball and couching behin d the marked ball, position it so that the line is pointing along your target line, then align youself to this line when putting.

The thing you need to do here, is once you've selected your line, you have to trust it...

Only over time trusting your targets will you learn if you are reading correctly...

If that makes sense...

Good luck and keep at it...

Cheers

I shot a 93 this morning, pushing my PB down by another stroke. And I took 3 or 4 penalties for lost balls because for the first hour or so there was a pretty substantial fog. I was hitting the ball very well with the irons. Off the tee, I wasn't brilliant, but acceptable. A PB is a PB!

Great stuff Todd, especially after your recent struggles.

As someone who also been having big problems off the tee I can appreciate the difference "not brilliant but acceptable" makes.

Cut out the penalties and get the flat stick working and that PB will drop even further.

Good Luck.