Many golfers don’t take the time to warm up on the putting green or
get a feel for the speed of the greens. You might see them go to the
practice green, take three balls, drop them down, and start putting to
a hole 20 feet away. They putt the first ball, and it slides by on the low
side about 15 inches to the left of the hole. The second and third balls
aren’t much better, and the result is that this player has just hit three
putts and experienced three misses. This is not a good way to develop
feel and touch for the upcoming round, and it certainly doesn’t provide
a foundation for building putting confidence.
The following system was developed by Dr. Winters to help get the
“mental oil” flowing for a round:
1. Start by rolling some long putts approximately 30 to 40 feet toward
the far part of the green (no target focus, no putting cup). Just hit the ball
solidly, and watch it roll over the green. Warming up with a few long
putts to no specific target allows you to work the “kinks” out of your
system and concentrate on making solid contact with the ball without
judgment or critical thinking. This procedure is similar to the one carried out by race car drivers who drive around the track at speeds of 50
to 70 miles an hour prior to a race. They are simply getting their car’s oil
warmed up for the big performance, when they will be racing around
the track at 250 miles per hour or more.
2. After hitting five or six long putts back and forth without judgment
or target focus, hit a few 20- to 30-foot putts to the edge of the putting
green for distance and speed control. If you can successfully place six balls
within one foot of each other in a tight dispersion pattern, you can feel
confident that you have fine-tuned your distance control.
3. Move to a putting cup or hole, place 3 balls 12 inches away from
the hole, and stroke the 3 balls into the hole. This is an important step,
because your first mental pictures for the day are of making a putt. You
can see, hear, and feel the golf balls going into the cup, and you are
starting the day off on a positive note.
4. Next putt with just one ball, and use your preputting routine to
try and hole some 10- to 15-foot putts. Putting one ball from different distances will help you get into “playing mode” and improve your
focus, green reading, and decision-making capabilities for the round.
Complete 8 to 10 trials at this 10- to 15-foot range As PGA Tour
player Bob Estes once said, “You are going to get more out of your
190 practice and warm-up if you make it more like what it is going to be
on the course.”
5. Once you have completed your 10- to 15-foot range trials, hit some
longer putts at different lengths (20, 30, or 40 feet) to evaluate your distance control. Remember that the warm-up is the place to fine-tune
your mind for making putts, but it is not the competition. Tune your
touch and feel, and do not allow yourself to become distracted with
mechanical thoughts. Focus on the ball rolling into the putting cup.
6. After you are satisfied with your distance control, make three 3-foot
putts in a row before you proceed to the first tee. Holing three short putts
and seeing the ball go into the hole helps give you a positive image in
your mind of your putting competence when you walk to the first tee.
When walking onto the first green, remind yourself that you have
prepared yourself mentally, emotionally, and physically to putt well and
that you are ready to do some great putting. Don’t place huge expectations on yourself and think that today is the day that you start to putt
great or else. Rather, on each and every putt, know that your mind is
giving your body the proper thoughts and signals to respond appropriately and that this is giving you the greatest chance to be successful on
the green.
One of the key elements of a great putter is the feeling that he or
she has earned the right to be confident. Preparing yourself mentally,
emotionally, and physically helps instill feelings of competence and
thoughts of success. Give yourself a chance to see how great a putter
you can be by looking inside yourself and understanding that great putting is more a matter of personal choice of attitude than just mechanical stroke aptitude. Throughout the history of the game, the greatest
putters have known the importance of practicing their mechanics and
fine-tuning their touch and feel, but they also never forgot to warm up
their mental oil and attitude for a great day of putting
