Part II: It’s a game of bad.

I have spent countless hours on the range working on my good shots, and it didn’t help at all.  Now I identify bad shots on the course with 80BREAKR, and work on those exclusively, and it’s helping my game a lot.

“Golf is not a game of great shots, it’s a game of great misses.”

~ Phil Rodgers (Play Lower Handicap Golf, 1986)

I now believe your golf game is about limiting the bad shots, and not perfecting your good shots.  In some respects, that’s obvious.  You are not going to play well hitting it out-of-bounds or into the woods all the time.  On the driving range, it’s easy to just beat a bucket of balls off onto a wide open field with no trouble and no consideration of direction, short, long, or game management.

As described in Is there really a secret trick to improving putting?  (Part I) a couple of months ago, I decided to tackle annoying issues I was having missing short putts and getting lag putts in the same area code as the hole.  Putting used to be a strong part of my game, and I want that back!

I spent the last couple of months only focused on putting.  I’m determined to improve putting before moving on to other parts of my game.  How much practice?  Only a couple times per week maximum.  I really feel like moving on, but my putting is so much more satisfying now, but I know I have farther to go.  I’m getting that confident feeling when putting, and not thinking about the putting stroke 90% of the time.  That’s the gap I want to close.  Santa brought me a fat putter grip for Christmas, and I like the feel of it!  I still have two grips, one for short putts and one for long putts for the two different swings.

Short Putts

(less than 8 ft for aggressive putts)

I dropped the thoughts of “acceleration” and thoughts of a short back swing now, it kept me too mechanical and conscious of the putting swing.

 

Routine

1. Check the line and speed from different angles and other side of the hole
2. Mark the ball, then align my line on the ball for direction to start the putt
3. Glance at the ball, press-forward slightly to start the swing, and drain it.

Long Putts

(putts to get it close; over 10 ft)

Routine

1. Read line, walk to other side of hole
2. line up ball line with starting line for putt
3. standing up taller, take a couple practice “chip swings”
4. step-up to ball, glance at hole, visualize the speed, and stroke the putt

 

 Here are yesterday’s results at Carmel Mt. Ranch.

I’m not waiting until I don’t have ANY bad putts, that’s unrealistic.  For instance, I don’t consider nor mark a putt “bad” if I hit exactly the line and speed I want and it does not go in.  That’s a good putt.  I’m not going to punish myself for a bad read.  Dave Pelz says on average, a pro golfer hits about 50% of their 6 foot putts.  I certainly am not trying to get to a pro level, but I want to have all no-thinking, no-steering, no fear putts.

For me, a bad putt is a weak stroke where the ball doesn’t reach the hole for a putt under 10 feet, or a push, or a pull, or a lag putt leaving yourself 4 feet above a hole with your next putt a treacherous down hill putt when you were planning on leaving yourself 2 – 3 ft below the hole. (5th green yesterday)

Last week, I had a lag putt that needed to go up a steep hill, then just barely crest the top of a ridge and trickle to the hole to get close.  I got to the top, but stopped a foot short of trickling down to the hole, causing the next putt to go 10 ft by and a 3-putt.  I’m calling that a bad lag putt.  Much better to go ahead and get down that hill for sure on the first putt; I knew better!

I’m almost ready to move on to chipping improvement but I want to get my putting steady enough to stay in reasonable shape before moving on.  I had several poor pitch and chip shots at La Costa the other day, but had a great day, ok score.