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The Paradox Of The Putt
It is perhaps the supreme irony in golf that the simplest shot in the book seems to cause the biggest problem to the largest number of golfers.
A putt is easy to try because it really is a simple shot and anybody can do it without need of special training. Even small kids can be seen doing this stroke. And some routinely knock down putts that early. Often, kids who showed great promise with their putting continued playing the game in their adult life.
What then, goes wrong? If putting is easy, why does it causes players lose their cool and mouth expletives? Nobody seems to be able to provide an answer. Experts are just as baffled as inexperienced amateurs over this one. The answer that might be nearest to the truth is that putting is 90% mental.
One company once tried to produce a machine that will putt with accuracy. Much to their chagrin, their machine proved to be a big disappointment and consistently missed some shots. They stripped it to its frame, redesigned the whole thing and put together a much improved version, or so they hoped. And, guess what? The machine scored a bogey. Clearly there is a lot more to putting than technique or skill or whatever, the surface for example can be a factor, and the wind too.
The best lesson to take from the above is that you really never are going to achieve putting perfection. Machines built to precision and tested under all contrived conditions cannot achieve the desired result so it should be unrealistic to expect people to do better.
When you miss what look like an easy putt, so be it, after all to err is human. It happens to even top professional golfers. Remember what is said earlier that putting is 90% mental and you will just be putting yourself in a worse spot if you cannot control your emotions and let your frustration get the better of you.
It does not mean however that you should not make any effort to improve your putting. In fact there are a lot that you can do to improve your putting - develop your mental toughness, change putters, spend more time on the greens, change your stance, practice and practice more. Take your lead from the professionals. So many professional golfers who've suffered terribly from the 'yips' on the putting green, such as Bernhard Langer, found their salvation in the broom handle putter - maybe you should give one a try.
A putt is easy to try because it really is a simple shot and anybody can do it without need of special training. Even small kids can be seen doing this stroke. And some routinely knock down putts that early. Often, kids who showed great promise with their putting continued playing the game in their adult life.
What then, goes wrong? If putting is easy, why does it causes players lose their cool and mouth expletives? Nobody seems to be able to provide an answer. Experts are just as baffled as inexperienced amateurs over this one. The answer that might be nearest to the truth is that putting is 90% mental.
One company once tried to produce a machine that will putt with accuracy. Much to their chagrin, their machine proved to be a big disappointment and consistently missed some shots. They stripped it to its frame, redesigned the whole thing and put together a much improved version, or so they hoped. And, guess what? The machine scored a bogey. Clearly there is a lot more to putting than technique or skill or whatever, the surface for example can be a factor, and the wind too.
The best lesson to take from the above is that you really never are going to achieve putting perfection. Machines built to precision and tested under all contrived conditions cannot achieve the desired result so it should be unrealistic to expect people to do better.
When you miss what look like an easy putt, so be it, after all to err is human. It happens to even top professional golfers. Remember what is said earlier that putting is 90% mental and you will just be putting yourself in a worse spot if you cannot control your emotions and let your frustration get the better of you.
It does not mean however that you should not make any effort to improve your putting. In fact there are a lot that you can do to improve your putting - develop your mental toughness, change putters, spend more time on the greens, change your stance, practice and practice more. Take your lead from the professionals. So many professional golfers who've suffered terribly from the 'yips' on the putting green, such as Bernhard Langer, found their salvation in the broom handle putter - maybe you should give one a try.
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