I was a great putter in my teens and early twenties. Then I struggled with yips from my mid twenties to the mid thirties. Then I became a great putter again and have been for several years now. Not a sign of the yips and I always have soaring confidence on the greens.
Having been through the gates of putting hell, I can tell you it all starts with a loss of confidence. First you miss one putt that matters. Then another. Then another.
The golfer seems to forget the putts made in between the misses. As the missed putt database fills up, each missed putts dings your confidence until you end up with a putter hanging off your chin that you are stroking with a claw putting grip.
To compound matters, when the golfer is on the practice green they miss most of their putts. These seemingly meaningless misses act to confirm in your mind that when you putt the ball it is not going to go in.
And if that is not bad enough, when you get out on the course your ball is likely to get kicked back to you if it gets within2 feet of the hole. As a result, you are cheated out of watching the ball fall in the hole after coming off the face of your putter.
How can you have confidence in doing something that you don't really do that often, which is actually make a putt.
Phil Mickelson likes to hit three footers until he makes 100 in a row. Of course, Phil is rich and plays golf for a living. What else does he have to do.
But you can use his philosophy to improve your confidence. You may not be able to make three footers. Start out with two footers instead. You should never miss if you take proper time and line yourself up right.
The confidence you gain from seeing the ball going in repeatedly will benefit you on every other putt you hit.
One of the best ways to improve your confidence on the greens is to watch putts go in the hole. Next time you get a chance to practice putting, don't hit anything over two or three feet.
Watching the ball go in on the practice green will make it seem a lot more natural on the course. The best way to see a lot of putt go in is to hit ones you can't miss.
