Putting -again!

First medal of the season and its the same old story - i shot a 76 as a 5 handicapper which sounds good (par is 72) - the only thing is I had 40 putts!
Every putt I hit ends up on the right line but short of the hole. According to pretty much everyone I play with my practive putt is fine but as soon as I get over the ball my backswing is max 4-5 inches and i just swing quicker the further away I get.
I know that I swing with my arms and not my shoulders- I cant seem to engage them when I need a backswing and my rythmn is awful because my swing is based on speed not on length of backswing
Im left handed but play right handed - is it something to do with that?
Can anyone help

Thanks

ps. I was thinking of buying Pelz's putting bible- is it worth the money?!

Try some drills first:

* Take you trailing hand, and place it on your leading wrist. So you are only holding onto the putter with your leading hand. Now putt using your shoulders. This will completly connect your shoulders to the club . Get this feel down. Now, place the trailing hand on the club normally. And repeat the drills feel.

* Setup normal and get ready to make the stroke. Now, close your eyes and make the stroke. Feel the distance you are taking the club back and through. Feel the timming and the easy pendulum affect.

* If you are finding a lot of putts short, make a point to finish longer, and hold it there longer. Don't force it there, just make a mental note to let the finish stay there, adding a purposful pause.

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I'm a golfaholic, no question about that. Counseling wouldn't help me. They'd have to put me in prison, and then I'd talk the warden into building a hole or two and teach him how to play. ~Lee Trevino

I think you are trying to hard to stop the ball at the hole. If you are on line and you are putting online. Try to putt the ball 1 foot past the hole. At 5 handy cap you are trying to hard to stop the ball at the hole. Try and be like the rest of us have fun with it. At 5 keep up the good work

I share your pain. I played a bounce stableford last night and left all my putts short and its so frustrating. Then of course you over compensate and whack them 5 foot past

I hit 14 GIR last night and had 11 3 putts ..

Time for some emergency action on the putting green. If only my wife would let me put one of Ians putting greens in the back yard

Well, I've taken 36 and 30 putts in my last two rounds.

I've got one of those 'newfangled' putters with adjustable weights. (http://www.mentorsportstech.com/vmoi...els&modelid=d1) Unlike drivers, however, you can add enough weight to make a difference (from a minimum 17g to a whopping extra 220g [the weight of a 4 iron head]).

I'm starting to think there's no 'right' way to putt. I'm a straight back, straight through guy, who putts with an open stance. But what I do when I putt is to simply hold the putter and feel it's weight. Then I look at the hole, look at my ball, and then look at a point in between, trying to see the hole and the ball in my peripheral vision. One last look at the hole, and then I putt.

To quantify the above statement, I also spend time on the practice green before the round. I take my Duet (putter) and drop 2 balls about 8 feet away, on a flat putt with no break (or as close as I can get). Then I putt one of the balls, just trying to die it into the hole. If I'm short or long, I change the weights accordingly. Then I try again. I keep doing this until I'm either holing putts or left with 6" second putts. This is my default weight for the round.

That was the method I employed when I dropped 30 putts - 8 of them 1 putts ranging from 4 to 14 feet. (yes, I 3 putted twice, fully operator error. I was trying to ram the ball into the cup on a cross break. Brilliant. X( )

This isn't based on any method other than my own personal trial and error.

FWIW, my stroke is long to short, and I don't worry about what my head is doing.

__________________
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A new highlight: Golfing the home course on Christmas Day.

I say it too often: If it's golf club shaped, you can play with it.

For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.

Thats really interesting because mine is short to long, possibly in some misguided attempt to accelrate the putter through the ball. Perhaps I need to go back and revisit. May try that when I play again on Friday

Its putting thats stopping me getting my handicap down towards the 5-6 mark. I just cant seem to find a comfortable and consistent method

I recently finished B Rotelli "Putting out of your mind". He makes a number of good points in the book. There are some that have really helped me
1) Try and make all putts - that does not mean to blow them past the hole. Either try and just role them in, or try and put them in the back of the hole. Leaving a putt short is no different than going past the hole - they are both misses.
2) And this is the best advice in IMO. Pick as small a target as possible, a blade of grass, a discolored part of the cup. Focusing on the hole is too large a target area.
3) Preshot routine - keep it the same
4) Drills - putt 3 balls at 3 feet, 5 feet and 7 feet and keep going to you make them all in a row. this will put pressure on your putting practice
5) Practicing short putting is much more important than long putting. Constantly watching the ball miss the hole is bad for your mind. He states, the short putt is the equivalent of the lay up shot in basketball and the basis for the rest of the game.

Putting Woes
I am not a bad putter, but I have spent most of my time on my swing. Now that I am hitting Fairways and greens (although probably not close enough0 Hogan's answer to a fellow who complained about missing 10 footers was make them six footers). ANyway I have trouble reading greens. I get distance pretty well, but see break left and right on the same putt. So I hit it down the middle and hope- sort of the way one drove home after too many drinks in his wild and crazy years- down the middle of three lines.
SO what is the secret or technique to reading greens????
Desperate to get to par
D

hit the ball harder

Did anyone (in Europe) see that article in Golf Monthly about looking at the hole as you putt ( as opposed to looking at the ball and hearing it drop)

They clained that 28% more putts went in this way??? Anyone ever treid this.. seems a bit wacky but i'll give anything a go right now!

Looking at the hole is a well known practice drill, but I have never (seen it) used in play. Let me know how it goes if you try it!

Here's a link to the article

http://www.golfonline.com/golfonline...143007,00.html

hi paul,
i saw the article and thought it a bit radical but i am so abysmal at putting im gonna try it at the range tonight
i couldnt be any worse!

Me and you both Slats

If that was true, you would see all of your pro's putting with their head up, looking at the hole. If it sounds too good to be true, assume that it is.