Help! - I`m missing 75% of all 3 foot putts

Whatever I do, they won`t go in. I`ve tried everything I can think of - lining up the maker`s name, using a blade of grass between ball and hole, putting for the back of the cup, changing putters. . . . .
It`s SO frustrating because my biggest recent improvement has been chipping and pitching from around the green - I`m getting really good at getting them to 3 feet from all over the place - but they may as well be 25 feet away because I miss the putt 3 out of 4 times . . . . if there`s a slight break and I play for it, it stays straight and misses, if I try and putt straight through it, it breaks and misses, I feel as if I may as well walk up to it and tap it one-handed as if it was a gimme that I didn`t need.
By the way, I`m 47, is this an age thing?

unless you are playing on tour greens, everything from 3 feet is straight or at very most just off centre.
Never aim outside the hole.
Firm and straight is what you want.
Chances are that by this stage you are expecting to miss them and are looking up anxiously to see the ball go in.
Focus on the ball and on the spot where the ball was until you hear the ball in the cup.
There is *NO* reason to miss more than 10% of 3 footers, its a straight putt!
Go to the practice green and hit 10 balls from 1 foot (with the pin out)
after you make all ten, move to 2 feet and keep going until you get to 5/6 feet.
Good luck.

Do you by any chance wear glasses with bifocal or progressive lenses? If you do, you'll find it's almost impossible to line up a straight shot, because the bottom part of your visual field is curved by the glasses. If you hold a club parallel to the ground and look down at it, it'll seem curved. I wear glasses like these and learned that for golf I need to use contact lenses or I might as well putt blindfolded.

If that's not the problem then I think by now it's a mind thing--you expect to miss the short putts, and do. Apart from practice to get your confidence back, I'd suggest putting quickly, without much reading the green, practice swinging, waggling or other rituals, all of which create more time for your anxiety to escalate. Have the attitude that it's an easy putt and not worth a lot of thought.

__________________
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

Tune in to Golf Channel. You are bound to see putting guru Dave Pelz. In fact you will see him ad nauseum.

Yeah, I do wear glasses, but they`re not bifocal or anything,they are just for short-sightedness and I`m always watching the golf channel . . .

Time to just step up and hit it. There shouldn't be that much break in a 3 foot putt. Pick inside left or right, and put a little steam on it.

3/4 of your problem is that you know you miss 3/4 of your putts.

You are convincing yourself you are going to miss before you even start your backs swing. Step up with your same routine and stroke the ball with confidence, tell yourself you are going to make the putt, visualize the ball going in the hole.... and all that other mental approach stuff.

Myself, I vary from about 25 - 35 putts per round - depending on how many GIR I have. If not on in reg, I rely on my chips to get me close enough to one putt. Do I always get up and down? No, but you have to have the mental hunger to believe you can get up and down and you need to practice because few of us hit all the greens in reg. Putting is reliant on your confidence. No matter what the distance or how many breaks in the green, I expect to sink every putt I take. I know that that is not realistic, but if you don't try to sink it and you aren't hungry enough to sink the putt, how will the ball go in??? Do I miss 3 footers? Sure, but I never think about the ones I missed, only the ones I have made. Positive thinking my friend....

__________________
Gord

Quote of the month:
"It's easy to see golf not as a game at all but as some whey-faced, nineteenth-century Presbyterian minister's fever dream of exorcism achieved through ritual and self-mortification." ~Bruce McCall

To be a sucessful putter, you have to think like gord. You need to expect to make every putt. If not, you won't have the confidence to make any putt. That said, if you are going to miss, have it be long and on the high side of the hole.

Hi Mariner
You need to build up your confidence and stop looking anxiously for the ball to miss the hole.
On the practice green start from about one foot. Carefully watch the blade of the putter strike the back of the ball. Listen - don't look - for the ball to go in the hole. Do this several times until you are confident you can make 100%? OK, go back about 6 inches. Watch the blade strike the ball. Listen for the drop. 100%? OK. Back to two feet. Watch and listen. Make 100%. 6 more inches - repeat. Use the same technique from 3 feet and you will HEAR that lovely rattle most of the time.

Hmm I wonder where you got this technique from?

Thanks guys, yeah, I can see it`s mostly a mental thing, and I need to get on the practice green and hole hundreds of them I think.
I played this morning with the "I don`t care" approach to my 3 footers - I missed 3 out of 7 of them (better, but just to underline how annoying it is, I got 83 and I`ve been trying to break 80 all summer and that`s the sixth time I`ve got within 4)
2 of the 3 missed ones were 3-putts on greens hit in regulation which is something else I seem to make a habit of - I think I would rather miss the green and have a chip because I really LIKE chipping, I guess the expectations aren`t there and it`s a freer stroke when compared to a putt, which I`m becoming fearful of . . .

Like I say (and too often, as far as I'm concerned): From birdie to bogey in three easy putts.

Mariner,

It's been 7 months now since this thread was started. How are those 3 feet putts going? Is it right, that there is very little break in that length?

I'm a shocker for that length inside 6 feet. I am quite anxious standing over the ball. I'd prefer a longer putt.

I don`t worry about them anymore and I`m not as bad - one or two get away now but not half a dozen, and in general my putting is OK, 29 or 30 per round.
I don`t hole many outside 6 feet but my 3 putts are coming down.

I modified your statement to reflect the answer you dug up yourself.

It's a 3 footer. Putt like you don't need it. I bet you'll be amazed with the result.