Last month I finally achieved my goal of breaking through a 3.0 index after getting stuck here several times before. I'm now down to 2.5! This progress continues a trend of cutting my index by about one half in each of my three years playing. I got down under 9 my first year, 4 my second year, and am now approaching 2. The key has been getting up and down more frequently and making more 4-8 foot putts. I'm now averaging slightly more than 2 birdies per round. But what continues to plague me are 2-3 footers!


Career Handicap Index, March 2005 to June 2008

In the last 5 weeks I've played 15 rounds, breaking 75 in nearly half of those rounds and failing to break 80 only twice. Amazingly, I missed 4 putts within 2-3 feet in 4 of these rounds - and still shot 74 each time! Perhaps I need to copy Phil and sink 100 3-footers on the practice green before each round. I probably won't do that, but I do need to find a way to overcome this ongoing challenge.

On longer putts, I've gotten much better at reading the break and committing to the line I've chosen, then trusting my ability to stroke the ball down that line. There is very little tension in my grip or in my putting stroke. In fact, I feel like I'm barely holding on to the putter. But on short putts, I can't seem to commit. Sometimes I can't decide whether to be bold and ram the ball into the back of the hole or finesse it in with a gentle stroke. Other times I just can't decide where to aim. When I stand over those short putts, I can't seem to see the line like I can on longer putts. Perhaps I miss most of my short putts simply due to peeking early to see if it went in. Whatever the reason, I could use some help.

As I was writing this post, I made my way over to The Wedge Guy blog, and as I expected, I found some great advice on Avoiding Three Putts. Terry suggests the following 3 steps to avoid missing short second putts. I'll certainly give these a try later this week!

1. Lighten your grip - We tend to squeeze the putter too tightly when faced with a short putt. Particularly lighten the pressure in your thumbs and forefingers, as that is where tension sets in first. Feel the putter in the last three fingers of each hand.

2. Slow down - Make your practice strokes very s-l-o-w-l-y. This sets up a good tempo – it’s a stroke, not a hit ! I see golfers make these quick back and forth practice strokes – what kind of tempo is that setting up ?

3. Stare down the hole - Your eyes are the key to putting, so pick a small target at the back of the hole (for a straight putt) or on either side (if a little break is to be allowed) and focus intently on that spot.


Rainbow by adrians_art at flickr

If anyone has some additional advice on how to sink those short ones - which for me would be a little like finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow - please leave me a comment and enlighten me! I'm pretty confident that I can get down to 2 and finally break through that elusive score of 70 when I start making the 'gimmes'.

Labels: About, Progress, Putting