Secrets to Better Short Putts

Short putts are a subject that come up frequently in my sessions with clients at the Putting PAD (where I offer putting psychology)over the years.

Many of us fear them, when in fact they should be the putt that we feel most confident about because we have the highest chance of sinking them, but unfortunately our past experiences where we have missed are burned into our memory banks (and frequently revisited as we sometimes choose to add to the personal narrative of why we are not good at short putts).

One of the problems is that a short putt (lets say of 2-3 feet) has the same value on your scorecard as a drive of 250 yards. Even if we hit a bad drive, we can always rescue ourselves and it never seems quite as costly as the missed short putt, which is right there staring us in the face after our failed attempt to hole it.

There is also the humiliation factor of missing a tiddler (or at least one you think you should hole) in front of your buddies. Next time you miss one, remember that they are just glad it’s not them! We can all do it.

So what do we do about these pesky short ones? Here’s a few suggestions…

1. Pick a blade of grass on the back lip of the hole to aim towards…the smaller the target the better as it focuses your attention
2. Keep your eyes steady on a spot immediately behind the ball
3. Listen for the ball falling in the hole

If you follow these tips, you should find more of them go in than usual. However if you miss, which is always a possibility, do not give yourself a hard time. Perhaps you mis read it, or maybe your rhythm was off. The most important thing from a mindset perspective is to assure yourself that you did all you could to prepare and make the putt. How we react and what we choose to tell ourselves is very important in our future success.

I hope you enjoyed this tip. Thank you for reading and if it helped please consider making a donation to our Tip Jar by clicking here, a portion of which will be donated to junior golf programs that need the help ❤️.

Valerie x