Putting Practice

[Jon Brakel]

What do you do to practice putting? More importantly, what does Brett do to practice putting? There's another thread out there about what putter do you use and that's all well and good but I think putting practice is probably THE best practice that you can do to improve your game. I know putting is key to Brett's success as it is also an ingredient to a bad round as well. When Brett tells me about a round where he thinks he left some shots out on the course he rarely talks about not driving far enough, or not parking his drives, he usually mentions a 30 footer that he thought he should have made.

I know Brett has a good putting practice routine going. Maybe he'll share it with us. The best advice I ever heard on putting practice was to practice making putts. Practice from where you can make 10 out 10 putts rather than 3 out of 10 or whatever.

[mirth]

i put my pin 5' from the sidewalk in front of my house & throw 8-10 putts 2x from each sidewalk square until I'm throwing from my front porch (about 30'). Seems I've had a lot of metal lately, just need to get those shots more centered....

[WkeBrd3]

From the PDGA board...

Pozzy's Putting Game

First, a little on the background and concepts about the game. There are a bunch of objectives it accomplishes:

1. Repetitive Motion. Some people have criticized the game because it repeats the same putts over and over, and they prefer to play a game like HORSE, where you move all around, more like a real situation. Both have value for sure, but IMHO, to become a great putter, you first need to train your muscle memory, which involves serious repetition of the exact same motion.

2. Fun. Practice for the most part sucks and is boring. Most of us would rather play rounds. This game is very much a "game" which has a scoring system, so it's not just practice. You set a score, then keep trying to beat it.

3. Competition. In order to simulate the pressure of real tournament putting, this game has an element of competition. First, as you keep score, it becomes you against your best score, much like golfing is you against the course. But because the rules are uniform, you can compete against other people in different locations. For example, Jason, Mike D, and I used to have a competition where we'd say that whoever gets the highest putting game score when we meet at the next tourney wins and gets some cash or whatever. So for the few weeks before the tourney, I'm competing against Jason and Mike whenever I practice, and that definitely ups the pressure on my putts.

4. Don't over-shoot the pin. One of the worst things you can do while putting is to blow by the basket and miss your comeback putt. This game punishes you HARD for doing that.

5. Consistency. There are huge rewards for hitting all your putts, encouraging consistency.


So here are the rules to Pozzy's Putting Game:

First, you need 10 putters, preferrably identical to your every day putter. Having less means you have to keep picking them up, which gets boring. Throwing 10 in a row keeps it fun and lets you work on the muscle memory.

Mark out 5 spots in a straight line from the pole hole, at 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 feet. If 10 footers are a complete joke, then move it to 15, as we did after a couple months of playing. That in itself was proof of how well the game worked, as when we started it was hard to get all 10 in from 10 feet, and after a while it was impossible to miss one.

So once you have your game set up, bring the 10 putters to the 10 foot line. I'd suggest putting a chair or table beside you, so you can quickly grab them without bending down to the ground every time.

You shoot all 10 from 10 feet. Since there is no excuse for missing a 10 footer EVER, the only way you score is by getting all 10 in. If you get all 10, then you get 10 points. But if you miss, you LOSE 10 points for every one you miss. Harsh, because there is no excuse for ever missing a 10 footer.

This next part involves what to do when you miss. The same rules apply to putts missed from all distances:

Take all of your misses to whichever miss was farthest from the pin. If you missed more than 1, you're gonna pay by shooting the longest possible putts. When you shoot these back, you have to get them all in. If you get them all in, you don't get any more points. Why would you get rewarded for saving a putt you should have made in the first place? But if you MISS your comeback putts? You get screwed, and screwed hard, because missing a comeback putt is about as bad as it gets. So for every one you miss, you lose DOUBLE what that putt was originally worth. And if you then miss any of those putts, you lose DOUBLE what it just was.

In other words, don't miss those recovery putts, ever!

So all your discs are in. Now take all 10 to the 20' mark. These are all worth 1 point each. If you miss any of these (or any from longer distances) you don't LOSE any points, because you're no longer in the absolute gimme range. However, we still want to reward consistency, so if you hit all 10 of them, you get double points. So you get 9 points for 9, or 20 points for 10. As with the others, take all the misses to the farthest point and shoot them back. If you miss any, you lose 2 points for each miss. You then take those all to the farthest miss, and lose 4 points if you miss any. If you miss a 3rd time, just give up disc golf.

Now shoot 10 from 30 feet. These are woth 2 points each, so you could get 40 if you hit all 10. All the other rules are the same.

Then 10 from 40', worth 5 points each.

10 from 50', all worth 10 points.

[J.R.]

I know you want input from good putters, but I'll add one technique I use anyway. 

I like to do "ladders."   I mark out distances like 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 23 (23' is the longest putt I can do in my apartment. Outside I make it longer).  The idea is that the first level or two are really easy and the last few are challenging.  Obviously most of you would shift this back.  Then I take a certain number of putters (usually 2-3) and start at the shortest distance.  If I make all of the putts, then it's on to the next distance.  Any misses and I immediately start over. 

I think this is a good practive game for several reasons:

1)  Like Jon said, you start with really easy putts that you almost can't miss which i think is good for form practice.
2)  Right after you miss, you start again with the short easy putt, which in theory helps correct whatever form flaw caused you to miss.
3)  I find sometimes in practice it is hard to really care if the putts go in like in a  round.  This gives me incentive to make the putts.  By the last distance I am actually nervous, which recreates tournament conditions a bit.
4)  You get punished for missing a putt because you have to go make the boring putts and climb the ladder again (speaks to 2 and 3).
5)  I never really practice anything under 15 feet because it feels like I can't miss, but this makes you practice them.

Pretty simple.  You can adjust the difficuly both by shifting the distances or by adding more putters at each distance. 

Based on my putting one could argue that this doesn't work, but I still think this is a good game in theory.  I would never use it exclusively, but I think it is a good compliment to other routines.

The only other thing I would add is that when I am practicing putting, I always take the comeback putt if I miss.  This forces me to be aware of how far I am flying by and again, forces me to pracitce the short stuff.  Nothing worse than the 3 putt...and I know that really, really well.

Now, I too would love to hear what Brett or other really good putters do.

[Bruce Brakel]

I play a three disc game like JR but if I make them all I step back one step and if I miss one I step in one step.  I'm a good putter when I have time to practice.

It is also important to have an autistic putting routine.  Like you have to eat the peas before you eat the beef.  When you practice, you need to practice that routine, whatever it is.  For me it is, step up to the mark, look down to check on my stance, breathe twice, look up, inhale, hold it and putt.  Climo likes to exhale when he putts.  You should have a routine specific enough that you know which it is.  And you should practice the routine. 

I don't think any of the pump-pump-pump-pump-pump-pump-pump-putt routines are any good.  I don't know of any 1000+ pro who putts that way.  There must be one but I don't know him. 

[Chainmeister]

It is also important to have an autistic putting routine.  Like you have to eat the peas before you eat the beef.  When you practice, you need to practice that routine, whatever it is.  For me it is, step up to the mark, look down to check on my stance, breathe twice, look up, inhale, hold it and putt.  Climo likes to exhale when he putts.  You should have a routine specific enough that you know which it is.  And you should practice the routine. 

I like this advice.  I find that when I keep a routine during practice and during a round and take every putt the same way, I do better.  I putted pretty well (for the flaming hacker that I am) last week and made a point of setting up my chair, putting my bag on the chair, marking and picking up my disc, putting the disc on top of my bag, stepping up and looking at the basket, then going through my routine  of shadow throws before a release.  I did this for 50 footers and did this for 1 footers.  No doinks.  I don't think practicing the whole routine with the bag will do me much good, but the idea of stepping up to each practitce putt as if it were in a round and delivering helps.  Rapid fire will not help you when you get back on the course.  I will practice with 5 or 6 discs at the ready but will not lauch them bang bang.  I will let each one go after the same routine.  I think the pre launch routine has changed depending on how I feel that day.  I am going to take Bruce's advice and try to develop a simple routine that I use every time. 

[CEValkyrie]

Last year my putting sucked pretty bad so I decided to change a few things. I switched back to a straddle putt after taking the entire winter off from putting.

In late March I started to putt every day for approximately 30 minutes during my off period. I started fresh with all new putters (175g Aviar P&A). I crank up the radio which helps the motivation factor. I also have no excuses for missing putts. Conditions in the gym are perfect. During these sessions I have figured out that I miss right often and that my thumb placement is key to making putts. I've switched to more of a slight hyzer putt and started throwing the disc a little harder. I hate comebackers so I don't fire it.

On the floor I marked spots 15, 17.5, 20, 22.5, & 25 feet. I try to complete 2 rounds making 10 putts in a row from each spot. I use 3 putters so I don't get in too much of a rhythm. At first I was not completing all 100 putts in a 30 minute session. After a week I started making it. After a few weeks I skipped the 15 foot putt the 2nd round and added a  27.5 foot putt. I'm just now getting to the point where i'm making all of those in a 30 minute session. Hopefully i'll be skipping the 15 & 17.5 foot putts the 2nd time thru and adding the 30 footer in the next week or 2. This has really helped my putting lately. I have been making 650+ putts a week.

If I finish early I try jump putting. If I get pissed off during the session I throw some turbo putts and jump putt.

[J.R.]

So, Brett, you keep shooting at each distance until you make 10 in a row, then go on to the next distance?

[CEValkyrie]

So, Brett, you keep shooting at each distance until you make 10 in a row, then go on to the next distance?

Yes.

[pickax]

Ok, I need more practice, I did Brett's routine for around 25 minutes. I didn't pass 17.5 ft.

[damonshort]

I've been in a real putting slump for quite awhile, and Bruce's comments reinforced my suspicion that I've been thinking too much and 'waving' at the basket way too much before putting. So this week I started practicing just stepping up, 'waving' once, and making 3 and only 3 little pumps before throwing, regardless of the distance or conditions. It really paid off today - I only missed three makable putts all day; one was my first hole, one was a fairly vicious crosswind and one was just fatigue. That and changing to a different putter after I blew the first one. 

A couple of times when I found myself over-analyzing I just stepped back and started the sequence over. Worked every time, today at least.

[discmonkey]

I've gone to seeing the line I want, stepping up and getting stable, line the disc up, fire.  It was a leap of faith at first and a little awkward to eliminate all of the pageantry, but once I started just doing it,  my putting has improved a lot.  You convince yourself that all that aiming and preshot dance routine  is helping.  Once you've ingrained the stroke in your muscle memory, the excessive aiming is really unneccesary.  I find myself getting more and more confident just stepping up and firing.