Practice Putting is Boring

[HyzerUniBomber]

Huge warning: If you're not confident putting from 25-30' - then I would suggest ignoring this post. If you've not spent hundreds of hours practice putting, I suggest ignoring this post.

If you know you're solid putter - read on... it might help.

It is perhaps the most important part of your game and it's hard to get in the habit of practicing. I will own up to it... I don't practice daily, sometimes I don't practice for a week.

I try to warm up my putt adequately before a round - but right or wrong, I feel like I know how to putt. If I'm in the right mind-set, I putt well and confidently. Warming up properly almost always puts me in the right mind-set.

I have off days and on days - but lately it's more on days and I believe it can mostly be attributed to 2 games. The 2 games that I try to play as often as possible, with the best competition possible are Horse and Around the World.

The key to this type of practice is that it puts pressure on you - just like in a round.

Horse is pretty self explanatory, but Around the World - with 10, 15, 20, 25, 30' markers is awesome.

http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Around-the-World

Similar to the basket ball game - you have to make all 5 in a row, with a "chance" throw if needed. Most of the time you get stuck at 30' and it's a battle of who misses 2 in a row. We play all kinds of variations - but the key is that it's a competition and if you're focused on "not missing badly" you won't putt well. This game switches your brain to "this has to go in" - it REALLY makes you want to put the putter in the chains.

And I believe that is the core key to being a good putter. You have to erase any thoughts of 'what if I miss'... and get into the idea that the chains will stop the disc.

Horse is best played with a limit to the distance the players can putt from - when you're trying to warm up pre-round. 30' or closer, that way you're not slipping into the habit of "miss, miss, miss". Call "from a knee", "straddle", etc to keep it like a real round will be.

Anyways... these are the ramblings of a madman.

 

[Pbmercil]

Yeah I think a big key to making sure I put the hours in at the basket is variety. I have a TON of different putting games and practice sequences I like to go thru. You just have to keep it fresh and interesting any way possible. To me the biggest roadblock to effective putting practice is loosing focus. If you are practicing for 30 min plus at a time it's very easy to check out mentally and just start mindlessly lobbing stuff at the basket. I try to stay mindful of how engaged in my practice session I am, and if I start to check out I need to re focus quickly or quit.

Whatever you need to do to stay motivated and engaged, do it. The reps are important, but bad reps are a waste of time

 

[FrontRimBanger]

Thats a great idea. I haven't been playing for a super long time, but I've been practicing almost everyday for the past 3 months and I find its getting kind of repetitive. This should help with the hum, drum of practicing.

 

[Dan Ensor]

Has anyone ever tried playing knockout as a putter game?


BTW, I choose to look at it as "Practice Putting is Soothing"

 

[Pbmercil]

BTW, I choose to look at it as "Practice Putting is Soothing"

I agree. Great way to relax after a work day and clear the mind.

 

[Shamis]

Been playing a lot of horse lately. Definitely helps my game.

 

[brian j]

I play a lot of around the world for practice. I use markers at 5' increments between 10 and 35' and use the four compass points. From 10 and 15' all five need to go in; 20 and 25' three need to go in; and 2 need to go in from 30 and 35'. I've counted putts before and one round usually gets me 100+ putts.

 

[DougCrawford]

I may be the minority, but I enjoy practicing putting. I can repeat it over and over rather quickly without getting tired, making small adjustments and tweaks to my form. It may come from the way I learned to practice when I was a music student or professional musician- they work kind of the same way. I like field work too, but hate retrieving everything, and my arm getting tired after about an hour.

 

[NOStheBOSS]

Has anyone ever tried playing knockout as a putter game?


BTW, I choose to look at it as "Practice Putting is Soothing"

sounds counter productive since a lot of knockout is throwing up a quick shot, knowing you'll likely miss, and then scrambling to get the rebound and score a layup

 

[demon102]

I love to practice putting while I'm playing, I keep 2 putters on me so I can compete against myself. Of course I find myself doing distance drills as well while putting when I can see my putting game is super weak. My putting game is really coming around doing these types of things as I make putts or at least hit the basket without even expecting to way more often now.



It seems like if I was just practicing putting tho it would be too easy, walking around semi rough-rough terrain and getting tired then practicing seems like it would help your putting game more then just being fresh and putting a lot as far as in game results. I wanna be used to putting after walking 4+ miles in rough terrain instead of just being used to putting drills while fresh. IT seems training while not being fresh helps to bring about stronger results in any challenge.

 

[Keller]

A course near me has two baskets that are 180ft apart, one surrounded by trees, from one it's down hill and the other up (obviously). When the course isn't busy I take 14 or so discs and throw upshots and then putt from were each landed with my putter. May not sound like much, but I also throw all my upshots with a forehand one round, the next spike hyzers and then I may try to run/chain the basket. Some of these can leave some long putts!

Great way to practice a lot of different shots and putt in a more realistic manner without getting bored.

 

[Hyzenberg]

My back yard is about 300ft long and at about 270-280ft there are two smaller cherry trees (Approx. 10 feet high and wide with no room to go between). 20-30ft beyond the trees is a fence for my neighbors animals (goats and an alpaca). If you loose a disc back there you're waiting a week for the neighbor to cut the back field before you get you're beloved disc's back.

NOTE: The alpaca is not meek like most alpaca's, he loves people as much as he loves to bite and jump on you. So needless to say over the fence is ULTRA OB!

Anyways, for field work at home I like to put a basket between the fence and the cherry trees, I start from the top of my property and throw all my mids (typcially 6-7 mids) at the basket. I'll putt about 6 putters from each lay, once I've done about 36+ putts I gather up my mids and hike back to the top of the property and repeat. Sometimes I'll even move the basket to about 200ft and throw putter and mids at the basket, I'll putt once from every putter lay and putt the stack from each mid.

For me the mental game in any sport has always been about comfort and familiarity with the action and less about who is watching or what happens if I fail to execute said action. Now to practice those rough shots from the woods [Throws 6 mids into heavily wood brush] sigh...

 

[KoolaidOverdose]

Yeah I think a big key to making sure I put the hours in at the basket is variety. I have a TON of different putting games and practice sequences I like to go thru. You just have to keep it fresh and interesting any way possible. To me the biggest roadblock to effective putting practice is loosing focus. If you are practicing for 30 min plus at a time it's very easy to check out mentally and just start mindlessly lobbing stuff at the basket. I try to stay mindful of how engaged in my practice session I am, and if I start to check out I need to re focus quickly or quit.

Whatever you need to do to stay motivated and engaged, do it. The reps are important, but bad reps are a waste of time

^^^^This.

When I feel like I'm not focused during a putting session, I play a little game, that I'll refer to as "rollers out, then up and down." Starting at the basket, I'll throw forehand rollers with my putters. I'll collect all the putters except the farthest one out, which becomes my lie. I'll then throw all the putters as upshots, then putt out from where each putter landed ( although sometimes I will collect the closest putters and make all my putts from the farthest upshot). This game helps me to regain focus, work on rollers and upshots, and to put pressure on to complete the "up and down" for the hole. I'm unaware of any "real" name for the game, but if there is, please enlighten me.

 

[Pymm]

I play this 1025 game that I found here at DGCR, though it's actually from another site, apparently. Here's the link http://www.discgolfbasketstore.com/1025-discgolfgame/


I don't have a smart phone so I just printed out a bunch of score sheets. I bought 50 feet of line at Lowe's and made duct tape footage markers for the distances needed. Works great.

Trying to improve my score gives me some impetus to keep practicing.

 

[ilmcgee]

Great ideas. I find practicing putting boring and it shows in my game. Definitely have to add more games to practice to keep interest up.

 

[Bamm]

I've touched on it in another thread here but this is a game that's great, especially when you have a couple/few really good putters playing. If you are a player that gets to league night a half hour early to practice putting, this is something that you and the guys there can put a $$ or three on and have fun while warming up.
If anybody wants a few I have them done on re-writable scorecards. Give me a shout.......jerry

 

[ryanwilli7]

I enjoy putting practice. I compare it to practicing free throws. I like to see how many I can make from distance x. I especially like it after a frustrating round of bad drives and/or upshots. It helps me relax.