Putting: Don't think, just do it!
Scientific tips on how to free your mind
Posted: 12 February 2009
by Bob Warters
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The best putters - like Freddie Jacobson - don't think, they just do it
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WHEN YOU'RE standing over a putt, how much do you think about your technique? You know the kind of thing...hands in the right place, gripping lightly, shoulders square to the target, ball position correct, sole flat to the putting surface, eyes over the ball...
Need I say more?
And that's after you've already considered the line on which you need to start the ball, the slope in the green, the weight of the strike, the feel off the sweet spot on the clubface. Is it any wonder putting can appear the easiest and yet the most difficult in golf to master?
But help is at hand, a new survey reveals that we think too much about putting, instead of just DOING IT!
The researchers at the University of St Andrews claim that thinking too much about your putting technique, even between shots, can make you play worse, not better. The scientists who have studied dozens of golfers say it can undo natural talent and disrupt future performance.
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Prof Michael Anderson - 'thinking too much hurts performance'
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Psychologist Professor Michael Anderson, in collaboration with Kristin Flegal at the University of Michigan, set out to test the view that 'overthinking' during performance can have negative results and found that it undermined the bility of skilled golfers after they had consciously reflected upon their putting.
Researchers asked 80 low handicap and novice golfers to practice a particular putting skill until they holed three successive - and then demanded they spend five minutes describing in detail what they did. They found that golfers ability to perform was seriously impaired when they tried the same putt again and took twice as many attempts to sink the same-length putt, compared to golfers who spent the same five minutes doing something completely different.
Professor Anderson said, "This effect was especially dramatic in skilled golfers who were reduced to the level of novices after just five minutes of describing their technique. High handicappers, by contrast, were largely unaffected, and perhaps even helped a little, by verbally describing their movements.
"It's a fairly common wisdom in sport that `thinking too much' hurts performance; it can be an obvious distraction and describing how you holed a putt can be incredibly disruptive. In skilled golfers, we found that describing their skill simply impaired its retention."
The researchers say the effect is called verbal overshadowing, which encourages the brain to focus more on language rather than on brain systems that support skills.
Professor Anderson, a cognitive neuroscientist, with an interest in memory and attention in humans, believes that overthinking does not affect novice golfers since they probably haven't developed enough skills to forget in the first place.
"In a nutshell, our study suggests that whatever you do, don't think too hard about your technique in between holes. Simply talking about a recent action may sow the seeds of poor execution later."
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Nick Watney - 'free your mind of putting technique'
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He also agrees that the scientists discoveries may account for the observation often aimed at coaches in many sports, who never quite made it as top professionals - those who can't...teach.
Nick Watney, the young American who won the Bucik Invitational at the weekend is a great believer in not over-analysing the mechanics of his putting stroke.
"Golfers become too absorbed in what the putter is doing during the backswing, impact and follow-through. It makes us believe that 'if I take it back just like this, impact it just like this and follow-through just like this,' then the end result will be a made putt, " he says .
"But this pulls the mind away from the target and doesn't allow us to use our instincts. You can become very mechanical and start trying to steer putts into the hole."
He claims great putters do just the opposite, as the St Andrews scientists discovered. The stroke is not calculated, it's free and uninterrupted and you could argue that good putters don't really sense what the putter head is doing during the backswing, impact or follow-through. They are more focused on the target.
He says: "Don't worry about the putter head path. Instead, focus on the overall tempo. Count in your mind "one, two". Make "one" the backswing and "two" the forward swing. Keep the tempo consistent so the putter is moving the same pace back and through. The length of stroke will match up on both sides and allow for even acceleration as the putts get longer.
"Look at the hole. Practice from five feet and focus your eyes on the hole during the stroke. This drill frees your mind from the putter head to focus on the target and putting the ball into the hole rather than what the putter head is doing. You may find out just how good of a putter you can be, if you just allow it to happen."
*As well as the Pro V1x ball and Scotty Cameron Newport Tour putter, Nick Watney used the 909D2 driver, 909F2 3-wood, 909H hybrid, AP2 irons, Vokey Design pitching wedge and Vokey Spin Milled sand and lob wedges.
Tell us on the forum about your putting technique - the putter you use, the grip you take on the handle, your swing thoughts. And tell us about the pitfalls you have overcome and how you rate yourself in terms of handicap purely in putting.
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Discuss this story
Bob I use a beautiful Fisher Touch blade, I take a reasonable time judging length and line then, with a reverse overlap grip I follow the Aaron Baddeley route by standing tall and with a rocking of my shoulders STROKING the ball firmly towards -and often into-the hole! Being utterly immodest, about my golf anyway(PLEASE no gratuitous remarks posters, including AA) I have been judged by my golf partners and opponents alike as a fine putter. Perhaps the GM members I have played with might have an opinion? My h/c with a flatstick. Bob, do you want or expect me to be lynched,verbally, on here?? Anyone who remembers any of my posts on putting before knows that I believe that good and,particularly, great putters are born not made and a Pro may improve a poor putter but not make him a good one. Avoid Pelz like the plague IMO- Well, you did ask!
Posted: 12/02/2009 12:08
I have always been in the "don't think about it" "just do it" school... I used to watch Peltz on the Golf Channel and laugh.....I also think that if I stand over something expecting to hole it, more often as not, I do!
Posted: 12/02/2009 12:31
I'm very much the 'walk up to it, have a look at the terrain and hit it' putter. If I think about it too much I miss it! (this applies to most things in my life really!). I am not a terrible putter, but not one of the greats. I'd say UI'd probably be around an 18 handicap if it was only based on putting? That is a guess by the way! With regards my grip, I go with the standard overlapping grip but with the right pointing finger (index?!) pointing down the shaft. BB
Posted: 12/02/2009 13:04
I'm a great putter and have never missed one from inside 3 feet. 
I am as well, well thats what i tell my self. Untill yesterdar where i missed a 2' to stay in the game, over read it, but next time i play i will still be a great putter in my head
I like to work the putt out, couple of practice strokes for distance (looking at hole on long ones) visualising the ball rolling on its line into the hole. I hover the head, then make a stroke, trying to keep it smooth. I do love watching Baddeley putt, tried it once and did not work for me, sticking to my routine.
Posted: 12/02/2009 15:44
same grip as you ther bunker boy but i found having both tumbs onb the shaft really stablise the putter. im a type of elbows out stroke with the shoulders rocking motion. I use a Yes! CAllie putter fine putter it is too. i have had a few lesson from a pro on putting one was where he said about this new research, where all you need to do is stand over the putt trace the ball to the cup and back again and your brain knows how hard you need to hit it for it to get there, only you can mess it up from there. For instance you have a waste paper basket and a screweed up bit of paper in your hands, you just aim and throw it , you never end up miles short or past do you. i also had my putting stroke videoed from the floor behind and it waas amazing how outisde the line i took it. a couple of mins with me up against the skirting board soon sorted that out 
Posted: 12/02/2009 15:47
For instance you have a waste paper basket and a screweed up bit of paper in your hands, you just aim and throw it , you never end up miles short or past do you.
 Yep i missed a few at work, to the delight of my mates
Posted: 12/02/2009 16:00
standard grip - if there is such a thing - right hand below left (I'm right handed) - try to ensure my eyes are over the ball - so I'm looking along the line of the putt . try to make sure the triangle is the only moving parts -ie rigid triangle of arms and shoulders - in a rocking motion.Try to keep head down until well after I've hit the putt and also try not to decelerate on short putts. As for putting handicap - well I know i average 33.31 per round over 2007 and 32.33 in 2008 - so am definitely improving - this puts me at about 12 handicap (golf handicap is 14.6). I used a SC Futura up until end of last year and am currently using a Yes Victoria II. Never had a lesson - and don't see need for one. As with the rest of my golf game i just need to concentrate and get rid of the silly shots
Posted: 12/02/2009 16:18
Im in the same camp as Boa  , When it comes to the Reverse Overlap Grip!  I only Ever look at a putt once, From the front and then Line up with something on my chosen line, Short of the hole ~ A Blade of Different Coloured Grass or a patch of Moss, Then a practice stroke, Step in, Settle, one line-up look, Eyes down, Head still and try to stroke through the ball as smoothly as I can. As Alexander the Meercat says "Simples" Also making sure that the Putter head Follows though towards the hole, Then Hold the Finish for as long as the ball stays in my Eyeline. (Remember Eyes Down) so about a second or two! If the rest of my game was as consistant as my Chipping and Putting? I would say my Handicap would be low double figures! maybe as low as 10 or 12? I play off 16 so Just shows how bad the rest of my game is, Doesn't it? 
Posted: 12/02/2009 16:20
Since this forum has already given me so much - here's my quick tips! One technique tip - though everyone is different and what works well for one, may not etc. - Keep arms tight to the body and swing the putter with your shoulders. Nothing else should move. The real tip now! - Drills, drills, drills and then more drills. 10 in a row from 2 feet, then from 3 feet , 4 feet, 5..... do not stop or quit until you've made them ALL. If you miss even one you have to go back and start over. Another drill I like is the ladder. Something like 5 or 6 balls spaced out on a line out to as far as you like - 6 feet, 8, 10, whatever. Make them all - start over if you don't. Spend hours doing these, not just once, but regularly. Add extra "must make" balls, or distances to toughen up the drills once you've gotten better. The next time you're standing over a 3 footer to win or lose your club chamionship - it will be a no brainer. The putter itself - doesn't matter as much as the player.
Posted: 12/02/2009 16:20
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