Mental Aspects To Great Putting
There’s a commercial that once had an actor stating, “I am not a doctor, but I play one on TV.” I want to offer a similar disclaimer: “I am not a sports psychologist, but I play one in this article.”
One of the great strengths of my game when I was playing my best was putting. Several people remarked I was one of the best putters they ever saw, and no less than my old mini-tour pal Boo Weekley gave me such plaudits. (Funny, though, no one ever said what a great ballstriker I was!)
Having worked with my good friend, USGTF sports psychology consultant Dr. Gregg Steinberg, on the mental aspects of playing fi rst-rate golf, and based on my success with the fl at stick, I think I have a good understanding of what it takes
mentally to putt at high level. Hopefully, some of this advice can be put to good use with your students. Here are what I consider the mental keys to my success:
Comfort with the putter itself.
Some players are notorious for going through several putters each season, while others stick with the same one year after year. Put me into the latter category. This doesn’t mean I think my putter is perfect, but I know what it will do and what it
won’t do, and what my tendencies are with it. It’s also like an extension of my arms. In other words, it doesn’t feel like it’s an instrument I’m wielding, but rather it’s like a part of me.
I used to change putters about every two to four years when the magic would seem to run out. The putter I have now, a Ping GoWin 5, has been in my bag since 1995. When I recently changed the grip on it (a grip that was falling apart and one that Winn no longer makes), I went through three different grips before I found one that felt really good. I don’t think this can be underestimated.
If a golfer is changing putters frequently, by defi nition he or she has not really found a comfort level with any putter. Occasionally, I will bench my putter for a couple of days when it’s misbehaving (of course, it’s never my fault) to try to get a different feel, but I always return to my gamer, and usually it’s behaving well once again.
Comfort with your setup.
When I say “comfort,” I don’t necessarily mean just go with whatever feels good. It also has to be fundamentally correct. For example, open shoulders may feel good to a particular golfer, but they are not fundamentally correct. The fundamentals that really matter (in my opinion) are having a square clubface and square shoulders. Everything else, I believe, is largely a matter of preference. Once the clubface is square to the intended starting line and the shoulders are square, it should be relatively easy to find a matter of comfort in the other setup aspects.
Trust in your line.
Have you ever read a putt to go a certain way, then when you got over the ball, you saw something different? I think this has happened to all of us. When this happens to me, I back off and quickly take a look at the putt again. I then make a firm decision and go with it, and don’t second-guess.
Once a player has trust in the line, the mindset must be to hit the ball with the proper speed. It doesn’t matter if it’s a 3-foot or a 53-foot putt; the focus during the stroke must be on rolling the ball the correct distance. Trying to “guide” the ball on the correct line will almost certainly lead to a missed putt.
Trust in your stroke.
The mindset I never use is to try to make the putt. The mindset I use is to put the ball on the line I picked with the speed I picked. In the end, isn’t this the same thing as trying to make the putt? Kind of, but not really. Trying to make the putt is results-oriented thinking, while the other is process-oriented thinking. Some teachers, and for that matter some excellent putters, will disagree and say that the mindset should be to make the putt. I see where they’re coming from, because trying to make the putt and trying to putt the ball on the correct line with the correct speed are somewhat the same thing…but I maintain the subtle difference of results- vs. processoriented thinking is very important.
One aspect about trusting the stroke that I also consider important is to make a putting stroke that goes through the ball to the finish. If someone makes a putting stroke that is akin to hitting at the ball, the clubface will probably not be square at impact. If you or your students have trouble with this aspect, I’ve found that looking at the front of the ball instead of the back of the ball helps greatly in this regard.
Trust in yourself.
It’s possible to have trust in your stroke but not trust in yourself. For example, you’ve done the drills and put in the work. You know intellectually your stroke is fundamentally sound. However, you have to believe it, and this is an emotion. You have to believe you’re going to make a good stroke. You have to believe you’re going to put it on the correct line with the correct speed. No less than Jack Nicklaus once said something to the effect that you don’t have to “know” that you’re going to make a good stroke, but you better believe you are.
Anytime I miss a putt that I didn’t misread, it’s almost always due to not trusting myself. I might wonder if I made the right read, or if I’m lined up correctly. I might have an imperfection in the green that I wonder if it will defl ect the ball. I might be worried about missing the putt. These thoughts almost always lead to a poor stroke.
Summary.
It’s necessary to put in a certain amount of work on the putting green in order to build a trust in yourself. Gary Player famously said, “The more I practice the luckier I get.” According to one of the many biographies on Ben Hogan, his devotion to practice was a result of him telling his wife Valerie that he didn’t trust his swing. Valerie supposedly said something like, “If you practice more, you will learn to trust it.” The same can be said in putting. Putting in the work builds the trust that you need.
However, many of our students won’t have the time to practice adequately. Still, they can build a trust by visualizing themselves making good strokes and “watching” the ball fall into the hole. And, if they utilize their practice time properly with good habits, this can also go a long way in building the trust factor.
