Many of us have a lot of negativity about our putting, and if there’s one area of the game that frustrates us a lot, it’s this.
We all watch golf on TV and see a lot of putts dropped, but that doesn’t truly reflect what’s actually happening on the green.
An interesting statistic is always that PGA Tour players are more likely to miss an 8-foot ball than score it, but it feels like they’re shooting 67 and hitting all the holes in each round.
Mental performance coach Duncan McCarthy explains how to get the most out of your putt.
more freedom
One of the reasons some people become good putters is that they have a certain amount of freedom with the outcome. Their self-worth and confidence do not depend on whether the ball goes in the hole.
It obviously helps if the ball goes in, but they’re not hurt by missed putts like others are.
They don’t dwell on mistakes because they place less emphasis on the outcome of the putt than (presumably) enjoying the opportunity to make the hole.
They might be focusing more on the line, they might want to roll the ball down, or they might just want to roll this heavy weight. The focus is on happiness and contentment. It doesn’t matter whether the ball goes in or not.
process
It will help you focus on how to do your job well – hence the steps and process part. If you don’t like your putts, it’s probably because you’re not making the putts in the hole often enough. But you’re probably not making enough putts because you’re desperate to make more putts, if that makes sense.
It’s about giving up on results – you want to hole the putt, but you don’t need to hole the putt. There is a big difference. A bad putter needs to hole the putt to feel better in that moment. A great putter doesn’t need to go in to feel better.
We can all putt. Everyone will have a great day with the putter. For some, that might have been last week. For others, it might have been a year ago, but we’ll all have a great time with the putter.
memory
Most of us have good memories and we can develop good memories of putts, the best putts we made, the course at the time, who we were playing with and where the putts were. We don’t spend enough time looking back at our favorite old memories, just reminiscing about those moments when we excelled.
So be more selective with your memories. Remember the things you did and if you missed them, let them go. This is a putter. It won’t change the direction of your life.
Think about it, what’s holding you back? The reason you don’t like your putts may be because you rely too much on getting the putt into the hole instead of other parts like process, thinking, reading, and hitting the ball.
four-legged man
Try to get more involved in the task and have some clarity about it. People struggle with short putts simply because if you miss a short putt, you can’t make it up. On a subconscious level, people know this. For most people, it’s going for par or bogey, and they start to put pressure on that.
So you’re more focused on the outcome, and the closer you get to the hole, the harder it actually gets.
The finish line is in sight, the hole is four feet in front of you, and then you rush to the last obstacle because you forgot about the mission.
You’re almost there, but you still have a job to do. What is the line? At what speed do you want to scroll? Simply select where you want the ball to roll into at the back of the hole, or where you want the ball to roll through at the front. Then the eyes return to the ball and away.
This takes us away from the future and focuses more on the tasks of the present. I think people can do better and better at this.
Visualization
It’s best to choose a spot to roll the ball as this helps take our focus away from trying to get the ball into the hole. So you can choose a spot in front of the ball, which is good for alignment, or you can choose a spot two-thirds of the way from the hole.
When faced with a 20-foot-tall object, I like to recommend the latter because you just focus on rolling it over. This may be the pinnacle of breakthrough, and if you can do this, you have accomplished your mission.
About Duncan McCarthy
Duncan is a mental performance coach who has worked with golfers on all major tours.
He helped Erik van Rooyen to two wins on the PGA Tour, did the same for Marcus Armitage on the DP World Tour and helped Ashleigh Buhai win the Muirfield Women’s Open in 2022.
