Phil Mickleson---Why You Should Learn Putting From Him

Good old Phil Mickleson keeps on chuggin' along. I was watching the Cadillac Championship and Phil was 10 under when I was watching him last night.

But one thing that amazes me is Phil always practices short putting even in between holes if he has a chance. Yeah, I know you're thinking it's easy as pie. Hardly. Take a look at golfers who have issues with 3 to 5 footers,which are still considered short putts.

They are tougher than you think,and the simplest shots are sometimes the most difficult,not the long putts of 10 feet or more. Because all you're doing is getting the ball as close as you can without going
way past the cup,and there by getting a short putt to either par the hole,or less.

So,do like Phil does on the practice greens and do some short putts of 5 feet or less for 5 minutes. Think about that for a minute. If all you did was 5 minutes per day of short putting practice 7 days a week. That's 35 minutes a week,and for 52 weeks that's 1,820 minutes of short putting practice a year.  All from just short putting practice just 5 minutes a day.

What, you don't have 5 minutes a day?

Think about it this way. Most golfers,will never keep up practicing short putting 30 minutes to an hour a day. It will never happen. Even pros don't. Actually I should do an interview with some pro golfers and actually see how long they practice short putting,and putting in general when they practice.

I'll tell you right now,if you just take action and practice even 5 or 10 minutes a day 3 times a week you're going to become a better putter than the majority of casual golfers and even some top amateurs.

That's all it takes guys,and Phil would be proud of ya.'

Short Putting and how to get a handle on it for long term success

Short Putting and how to get a handle on it for the long term success                                                                                                                                                                                                          Okay,I've talked to several experts here in Canada and one in the US.One is Mark Harman from the US Golf Teachers Federation,and the other Brian Gallant,a Canadian local golf pro who has a big golf teacher following now.


They said most golfers don't learn the basics of putting from tapins to short putts                         before they learn medium range and long putts.

What I'm saying is you need a foundation from tap ins.That's why it's so
essential to do the so called easy putts first to build a base to expand
on.In my last article I gave you a good routine to use from Tapins to
short putts.

I'll give you another free routine to start from the beginning.Don't
like that,too bad!

Okay,here we go guys.Start by doing tapins for 10 minutes a day for
3 or 4 days a week for a month.Yeah a month.Sick of it already,too
bad.If you don't get it down you'll never get anywhere.After that
do one and two foot putts for another month and a half.

You could also include both tapins and one and two foot putts in your
daily putting,but I like golfers to focus on one area of putting.That
way you aren't going off in another direction unfocused.

This is simple but hard.You need to do the simple things extraordinarily
like tapins and short putts guys.Keep your putting routines simple,short
and focused.You could lengthen your routine to 15 or 20 minutes,but I find
most golfers never do what's needed if they lengthen it.

Only good amateurs and pros will focus and stay commited to a short
putting routine.Don't become one of the ones who falter.I want you
to succeed in putting.

Mark Grove

Instinctive Putting Tip From Brad Faxon---It's Like Doing Basketball Free Throws--Great Tip!

Faxon is one of my fave's when it comes to dead simple putting tips. It's not about the stroke,perfect mechanics or getting your alignment just right.

Brad talks about setting a line in your mind and just putting like an NBA player throws great free throws. You see that line and don't waste time getting into the perfect position putt wise.

You see the line and just know the right force to use,and feel the ball through your putting stroke.

We make things so difficult. Brad Faxon makes it easy.

Just watch,learn and do Brad's technique for great putting instinct.

Here's a Short Putting Tip That's Damn Difficult But Worth Doing

I know most of you say you're good at short putting,and are just lying to yourselves when you say that.

So here's a hard short putting tip.

If you have a hardwood floor at home try putting some five footers for 5 minutes. Just put a target to hit at the bottom of the wall. I don't care what it is. Plastic,metal or what ever.

Make sure it's not much bigger than a golf hole to hit. Don't want to make it easy.

This is actually a very difficult short putting exercise.

Why?

Because a hardwood floor is not totally level,and the type of material used is wood,and there for not conducive to staying on an aligned path. Most floors are plastic these days anyway.

This short putting exercise will make you really focus on keeping your body still and keeping your putter aligned and have a more forceful stroke at impact. You would think a softer stroke would do the trick. Hell no!!!

I tried this exercise and got all pissed off,but kept on doing it because it was difficult to keep your putt aligned. Even a top golfer would have a difficult time with this.

Think about it,it's not on a green,and the material you're putting on is actually slippery to the touch

of a golf ball,and will have a tendency to always veer off it's path.

Try it and see if you can make some good putts.

Maybe I'm wrong and you'll do it easy as pie. Don't know.

Or try this on a cement floor in your basement.

I'm not kidding. If you can do this by practicing it regularly, chances are you'll do better practicing short putts on a green.

Make things more difficult. That's one of the keys to short putting success guys.

Now go out and do it!

Positioning your ball for more effective putts December 12th 2006

Positioning your ball for more effective putts December 12th 2006

This is for both long and short putts

Learning some basic Putting techniques and practicing them regularly,will get you further than the most complicated putting stroke Mechanics.It's not that hard to figure out. Practice is the key to Puting. Learning how to position and hit the ball is more important than a perfect putting stroke.Having better ball positioning will help you keep it more square to the hole and if it needs to break and round off, you can compensate for that more easily.

When you have putts that are just tap-ins, if you use a longer stroke your puts will veer off centre of the hole usually.The ball should be placed halfway between both feet in your putting stance for tap-ins.This will keep the contact force and speed of your putt in moderation.
Tap-ins should be done even more than long putts. The simplest putts are sometimes the most difficult. For longer strokes and long putts,the ball should be placed closer to the left foot for lefties,and the right for righties.

Here's one more tip to keep your putts in a more accurate alignment. If you putt with the ball positioned close to the foot closest to the hole including tap-ins, your putts will be harder to keep square to the hole, and will usually slice to the left or right of the cup. By not positioning the ball in an advantageous spot for the length of the putt, your putts will always have problems with accuracy and control. Start practicing your putts by positioning the ball close to the inside foot, and halfway between each foot. If you think i'm wrong about positioning the ball close to the foot nearest the cup,try practicing those putts for a while and see if i'm wrong or right.

Become a Better Short Putter Using This Tip To Practice More Live On The Course Type Putting Shots

Usually i talk about short putt tips from 5 feet or less. In this one we're talking 10 feet or less.

This is a good drill using as close to live play as possible. Here's what you do.

From 10 feet set out 3 balls,but not at the same angle or lie from the hole. Put them at different angles and levels of ground on the green. This way you're experiencing more real live play on the course.

You'll get better results from short putting as well.

Use this short putting for all your putts of 10 feet or less,down to even your bloody tap-ins!

Watch the video from this guy. Not sure who he is,stupid me.

Just watch it and you might actually learn a thing or two.

Like I keep saying, you don't need to practice putting even half an hour an day. 10 or fifteen    minutes a day of focused short putt practice will make your game a whole lot better.

Just try it

Much success on the green guys!

The Butch Harmon Short Putting Tip For Those 3 Footers That Are Eluding You

Butch Harmon has been a golf teacher and instructor to many of the top pros,amateurs and just kick around golfers like your buddies and mine.

But I was looking around the www.golfdigest.com site and always head right to the Putting instruction area. Golf Digest is one of the best instructional magazines and websites for golfers
of all sorts.

But one nagging thing so many golfers ignore is short putts. Most of you still think you only need to practice your long drives,and long putts,and the short putts will take care of themselves.

If any of you have been following this blog or any golf instructor who knows their stuff putting wise,you'll realize that the toughest putts are short ones of less than 6 feet.

Butch Harmon would tell you that too.

So,here's another round of 3 Foot Putting Instruction. And yes, I did get these tips from Butch Harmon,off the Golf Digest site. But anyone can teach these things including me. But none
of you think it's important.

It's the non-sexy shots like short putting which will make or break your game,period.

If you think differently, you're on the wrong blog.

So,here's my Butch Harmon 3 foot--basic common sense short putt tip.

Yes, it's boring,but so are a lot of things we do in life.

Get used to it Dough-Boy.

First of all you need to do this.  Now I like to do things differently so you learn from the foundation,not from the short putt it's self. Having a foundation will make you a better short putter, or long driver. Okay, first of all when you're preparing to short putt,Keep your damn head and body still.

If you don't your head and body will move all over taking your short putts offline.

Next,keep your elbows in and not flared out. And for christ sakes don't move your hands on the follow through. Keep your hand still and don't be moving them all around.

These two things are so important---keeping your head and hands still and elbows in. Take practice shots,and just practice moving this way with,and without the putter in hand as well.

As far as your head goes only move it after you've taken your putt and fully followed through on your short putt.

If you do all of what I said here first, your short putt strike will be more online and flush with the ball and be more dead on to the hole.

People seem to think that just taking the shot first is more important. hell no!!!

This even goes for long drives,pitch and wedge shots too. If have to understand how to do any of this before taking an actual shot.

Yes,some people have unorthodox styles and get great putting results. But very few get great results not doing what pro teachers have learned through the year's.

This  is why what I'm teaching you is so important to become a great short putter.

Become a practitioner of putting practice---that's short putting practice and your game will become better if not incredible.

Like they say in business,and they should--Results Not Typical.

Meaning, I can't guarantee success for you. But just try this short putting tip guys.

10 minutes a day 3 times a week. You don't have half an hour a week? Come on.


If you love golf and want to be a great short putter, you'll do what it takes.

For more info I'll always put up valuable info you can use to be a better short putter.

For more info on short putting tips from the great people at Golf Digest just go to:

www.golfdigest.com

Thanks to Butch Harmon.

Mind you I twisted the short putting tip around so I'm not copying. But it's still valuable
to rabid golfers like you.

Much short putting success guys.