#TrustMeImaDoctor

Without even seeing him hit a putt?

Yes. With decent information. I do it almost daily through internet or text.

No one seemed to mention this but, how about trying a new putter? (not belly)

I used a scotty newport 2 for years and practiced my ass off with minimal results.
Mid-way thru last summer I got a hold of a TM spider ghost, put a big grip on it, and have been putting awesome ever since.

Keep the old putter in the basement, but sometimes just a new look gives you new confidence

There is no "right way" to putt, obviously.

That said, the one piece of "conventional wisdom" that really helped me to THROW OUT was that the pace of the backswing should be the same as the pace of the stroke. While this might be true for many people, I found that in my case, I started saving a ton of strokes by using a slower backswing and more pace on forward stroke (maybe by a margin of 1:2), and keeping the putter low to the ground and reaching for the target.

Whatever works, of course.

I didn't read through the whole thread, but if this hasn't already come up, how do you warm up on the putting green? I like to start with some longer putts, 20-30 feet, and make about five putts from that distance. I don't try to read the break, just to get the speed right. If it's off, I'll repeat it again. Then I'll work my way in to 15-20 feet, 10-15 feet, etc. If at any point there's enough space open to roll some real long ones without messing up anybody else's routine, I'll do that too.

I then like to end by making a handful of 2-4 footers in a row, moving around the hole in a circle and thus getting different break and uphill/downhill putts. That's a good way to end confidently.

I find this usually gives me a good feel for distance control, and although it doesn't always pan out on the course, I think that's more a factor of my lack of time/available practice greens to work on my putting.

For what it's worth, my handicap is in the 22-24 range and I average 36.36 putts per round over the last 1.5 years since I started tracking it.

Heh -- warmup routine on putting green is something like hitting 2-3 putts with a single ball from distance of edge of green to furthest hole, then back to hole closest to first tee or my bag.

Yeah -- I suck at practicing

So I got a little bit of a trip report after two rounds of play this weekend.

I went ahead and bought Rotella's book on the recommendation by some of you. I'm only about 75% of the way through it but I definitely took some thoughts away from it and applied it to my own game as an experiment.

The two biggest applications I made to my own game were:

a.) To accept I'll miss putts. Amazingly this cleared my mind for b
b.) Pick one singular spot to target on the green. I used to just haphazardly choose "1 cup left" on putts, but now I pick my line and then choose a specific spot on the green. The spot may be ahead or behind the hole (depending on slope) but it's almost like I have a Tiger Woods video game cursor focus on where I want to aim.

I spent ~ 15 minutes before my round on Saturday putting with both my eyes closed or by looking at my target and not at the ball, just to develop some feel.

The results didn't disappoint:

So three weekends ago I hit 31/36 greens and had 1 birdie and 10 3-putts.

This weekend, I hit only 23/36 greens but had 6 birdies and ZERO 3-putts.

I'd expect my 3putts to go down, especially since I am missing more greens, but I had 5-6 putts of 40-60 feet where I either lipped out the putt or ended up w/i a 18" circle of the hole.

I started out yesterday's round on a tear birdieing 3 of the first 6 holes including good looks of 8 and 15 feet that I missed due to misreads.

Anyways, I realize it's LOL Sample size, but I haven't felt more confident with my putting. I've got another 3 or 4 rounds this coming weekend and am expecting some good results.

Thanks again for all the advice guys. Another reason why this forum rocks.

Did you change your grip?

grunching here, and maybe we shouldn't give advice as ucbanana seems to be really,progressing well

reading about pros they love the chalk line to make sure you are hitting squarely

pro's very precise on aim and very often inside hole aim (ie they jam putts 12 feet and under)

visualizing actual putt is very important and sometimes i cant see it. visualizing helps see where the putt will go in hole squarely. somewhat contradictory to my last point

anyone have advice on reading long putts with multiple and or subtle breaks. seems like i miss seeing 12 foot break on 50 footer or see break wrong way. people say earlymbreak isn't too important but i think if it move a little then it has 50 or 60 feet to get way off-line. should say my home course is mountainous so subtle breaks can be hard to see, tones of multiple,breakers too

Only thing I changed was my mental approach to a putt

Glad to hear that alone worked for you!

Whoa. That's a monumental improvement. Pros don't even putt that good.

Lots of luck obvs. I'll report back after this weekend

Awesomeness. Which Rotella book did you get?

6 birdies is so awesome. most i've ever had was 5.