If your putts are not rolling to start with, instead they are bouncing here’s the reason…
Your putts are bouncing because you’re hitting down on the putts! Now, if you don’t believe that you’re hitting down on the putts OR you don’t believe that hitting down on the ball makes the ball rise, try this little experiment.
On your practice putting green place a ball down and then stand on the ball so it goes slightly down in the green. Now putt this ball as normal. You’ll notice that the ball jumps up first of all. This same philosophy applies to your putts from a normal lie.
To get over this problem I suggest you place the ball just inside your left heel. And check this using clubs because often people have the ball so far back and then when they put it forward, it’s not enough. So check with clubs or get someone else to tell you how you’re going.
Once you’re setup with the ball opposite your left heel, you then need to take the putter back low and slow and then accelerate through and up. This is about the only shot in golf where you should almost try to lift the ball. Of course you won’t be able to lift it, not much anyway. If you do lift the ball it will actually help the roll because you’ll get the golf ball to roll on top of the grass instead of through it.
To get this feeling of coming through and up I suggest you practice short putts with a wedge. This is great for teaching you to accelerate through the ball and up. You’ll find that if you don’t accelerate through the ball and up, the putt will be like a small chip shot. To get the ball rolling you’ll need to hit the putts with the flange of the wedge, like blading the ball and you’ll also have to accelerate through the golf ball.
Keep practicing with your wedge until you’ve got the feeling grooved, and I’d say this would be after about 30 days. So everyday do some putts with a wedge just to get the feel of this. You don’t need to do it to a hole, so anytime at home just do this. After a month of doing this you’ll notice a huge improvement in your putting.
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:09 am
AGAIN……………….. MAKES A LOT OF SENSE TO ME.
I ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT THE BALL WAS SUPPOSE TO BE IN THE MIDDLE OF YOUR STANCE!!!!!!
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:22 am
I discovered this approach to get the putt rolling sooner.
I’m a righty but I putt left hand down. Standing square to the line,I
position the ball just inside my right foot. I set the putter 1/2
inch behind the ball. This 1/2 inch back creates just enough UPSWING
on the ball, plus I tilt my hands back just enough to add a little
more loft to the putters club face. As I swing THROUGH the ball the
1/2 gap makes the club hit the ball on your UPSWING and the extra
loft makes the ball roll quicker. If you also put a line on the ball
and line the ball up, you can see the ball start to roll sooner off
your putter head. In doing this, you will have to adjust your
distance because the ball will have a TRUER roll and it will travel
further. This TRUER roll has helped me get closer and or sink more
putts from inside 20 feet. It might take some time to get use to this
method but it only took me about 2 weeks of practice 15-20 minutes
each day. I still practice this method every day for at least 20
minutes.