Putting is an incredibly polarising area of the game, often the most appreciated part and equally the least appreciated.
There are several reasons for this.
Firstly, you can't make up for a missed putt.
The outcome of the hole, of the round, potentially of a tournament is sealed by your last putt.
Secondly, there is a significant amount of variance involved in putting results : The surface is not perfect, the balls you are playing are not perfectly balanced and Grain, Dimples, Wind can make the ball veer off line even on theoretically perfect putt.
Lastly, it's also a part of the game where accurate feedback is not easy to collect.
You can be left doubting your read, aim, stroke or the speed - ultimately all you really know is you missed and the stroke you just made, you can't get it back.
When you combine the high pressure and the challenges with feedback, putting can quickly become a troublesome area potentially leading down a rabbit hole of equipment changes, technical adjustments and questioning whether you have what it takes, or maybe you're just a choker...
It doesn't have to be this way.
Putting is all about precision, but you probably also heard a few times that golf is a game of mistakes.
It would be nice to know how to make ends meet.
If you want to optimize your relationship with putting and ensure growth during your golfing career, a healty conversation between the work you put in and your expectations needs to be nurtured.
It's hard to solve a problem if you can't describe it.
To excell at anything, you need to be able to define what success is and sustain its core principles.
Ultimately the goal is to start enough balls with a good enough speed on a good enough line, so your ball finds the bottom of the cup often enough.
In order to do that, here's what you can control :
The quality of your green reading.
The technical fundamentals you put in place to improve your aim and your stroke, and more importantly the balance between them.
The consistency of your speed control.
How you train those skills and the performance regimen you create to have them come out when it matters.
How well you react to the variance that will sometimes delay gratification a great deal.
The faith you have in this process.
The question now is : what are the boundaries of "acceptable” and how do we live within them?
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Disclaimer:
I am not a PGA-certified professional, and I’ve never claimed to be. In accordance with regulations in France, I do not teach technique to amateur players unless under supervision. My primary focus is coaching tour professionals, specializing in performance development at the highest level.
However, when needed, I do “open the hood” and offer technical advice, drawing from my 15 years of experience and the incredible resources I’ve had the privilege to discover along the way. After all, we all stand on the shoulders of giants.
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