Putting very well 30’ indoors - how to replicate on-course?

[seedlings]

Raise your chin while putting if you're missing low.

Will do!

Another thought.
Do you wear the same shoes? You might even be barefoot indoors, and wearing boots outdoors. I'm not sure the angle change on your spine is enough, but it might be.

I saw an article about a pitcher who practices with different weight balls to add that CI variability. If he can still throw a strike with whatever ball he picks up he has control.

Interesting. In the last two weeks, I've played in leather boots, snow boots, Vibram 5fingers… and will admit that I am a comfort player. Sloppy footing put me on edge right from the onset. At home I'm never in boots. Usually socks or barefoot shoes.

 

[ChrisWoj]

To some extent you've gotta consider the lack of air flow in a basement.

I participated during the spring/early summer of 2020 in a putting league called the Inside The Circle International Putting League. People performed their sessions via Facebook Messenger video conferencing with 4-somes. All putts were performed from stations at 15', 20' and 25'. I started out the first few weeks putting outdoor and noticed that throughout the weeks the people outperforming me were all indoor. Once I set up my basket indoor I flew toward the top of the standings, and my scores were noticeably better every week.

Hell, I didn't even go totally indoor so it wasn't that I was making my footing more consistent. I didn't have a long enough space so I set the basket in my garage, and was putting through the garage door with my 20' putt at the door and my 25' putt from completely outside the door in the grass.

The lack of airflow made all the difference by just totally eliminating the need to make any adjustment in my aim at all. When there was any breeze, even a mild bit of air flow, I knew I needed to make tiny adjustments to make sure I was on center chains. Cut that out and the confidence skyrockets.

 

[seedlings]

I played 9 high wind holes at lunch and putted pretty well. A few c2 makes, and zero three putts. Keeping my literal nose up DOES help keep the disc nose up. Nobody on the 9hole course, I threw 4 shots off each tee and putted all 4, unless they were tap ins. I only pulled one embarassing metal miss, but made the comebacker.

 

[discerdoo]

I played 9 high wind holes at lunch and putted pretty well. A few c2 makes, and zero three putts. Keeping my literal nose up DOES help keep the disc nose up. Nobody on the 9hole course, I threw 4 shots off each tee and putted all 4, unless they were tap ins. I only pulled one embarassing metal miss, but made the comebacker.

Excellent! Your putting woes have been conquered, never to return again.

 

[BillFleming]

I played 9 high wind holes at lunch and putted pretty well. A few c2 makes, and zero three putts. Keeping my literal nose up DOES help keep the disc nose up. Nobody on the 9hole course, I threw 4 shots off each tee and putted all 4, unless they were tap ins. I only pulled one embarassing metal miss, but made the comebacker.

Way to go! I too had the issue with keeping my chin up, but I didn't realize I was dropping it until I had an instructor help me with my putting. That one change made a huge difference. I try to keep aim with the chin as my "putt thought". But every so often, I forget and my putts go low.

 

[ray1970]

I played 9 high wind holes at lunch and putted pretty well. A few c2 makes, and zero three putts. Keeping my literal nose up DOES help keep the disc nose up. Nobody on the 9hole course, I threw 4 shots off each tee and putted all 4, unless they were tap ins. I only pulled one embarassing metal miss, but made the comebacker.

Lucky you. My wife putts nose up and the wind is definitely not her friend.

 

[txmxer]

Something else I do is square up to the basket. Stand kind of like I'm at attention and put my arms out (cross like). to feel the wind.

The reasons are to know what the wind is doing and second to square the shoulders to the basket AKA shooting basketball technique.

The wind influences my target choice. Head wind= lift, etc.

Inside 30 I try to putt flat, but you still have to consider the wind some.

 

[seedlings]

Excellent! Your putting woes have been conquered, never to return again.

Played the same track again after work. It's funny. After making a putt or two it's remarkably easy to miss low on 3 holes in a row before remembering to remember the trick again. Muscle memory is a very large gorilla. If he wants to do something; he does. If he doesn't, then he doesn't.

 

[medicinalfunk]

I didn't start getting good at translating practice putting onto the course until I put my basket in my front yard where all the neighbors, everyone walking their dogs, and everyone driving by all day could see me. Improved by leaps and bounds after that.

 

[discerdoo]

Played the same track again after work. It's funny. After making a putt or two it's remarkably easy to miss low on 3 holes in a row before remembering to remember the trick again. Muscle memory is a very large gorilla. If he wants to do something; he does. If he doesn't, then he doesn't.

Putting is f'n weird. I straddle spush - try to square up, have decided I like a tiny offset on my stance and feet angled slightly outward. Knees slightly bent, back straight, paint the pole a couple times, pick a link and let it fly. Sometimes I skip one or more of those steps and sometimes it doesn't matter, sometimes it does.

I'm streaky and it's mostly in my head when I'm off. I feel better for getting that off my chest. Thanks!

 

[Kennets]

For me it's like night and day. One round i can be 100% in C1 and actually draining a few from outside the circle - the next day i struggle with 16 footers.

I guess that it's more about the mental state (most of the time), if you're like me.

 

[Brychanus]

I was asking the same question in a different space and was sent this (https://open.lib.umn.edu/psychomotorskills/chapter/random-vs-blocked-practice/):

I think this is consistent w/ what TF is sharing:

Seed, I'm hot and cold on learning in a basement around life stuff, but I guess we all work with what we've got. I've found all this helpful as a fellow "basement warrior" & it seems to be paying off outside in the long run:

1. Mechanics are sweet. I found this post that sums a lot of it up super helpful. Improving putting has improved my BH and vice versa. If you have a clean swing and more power your options improve just like throwing.

2. Confidence & blocked practice are related. I used to feel a lot more helpless outside until I did the following.:
-Vary lines and heights for a portion of them (I know, it's a basement).
-Make some of the putts unusual. I started to develop a scramble anny putt navigating around the pole in the middle of my basement that has been ****ing money on the course for contested putts. Somehow that turned into the ability to throw pretty accurate flex putts without even practicing them.
-Run some puts hard at it (I have a backstop that's ok to hit). Try to get some to settle in softer.

These bits of variability make me much more confident outside, and with that comes the gumption to run it at the basket from all angles more often, and there are more sinks. I think that also is helping me get better at "planning misses" which further improves confidence. I seem to get more metal draws with less rollaways over time. The putter tends to splat and settle more often and I'm less intimidated by comebackers.

3. I move and reset my stance often. I put the putters just far enough away that it takes a step or two to get to them then avoid putting my feet in exactly the same place twice. Make 20'-ish putts, 25'-ish putts, whatever. That's more like what happens when you're in a round. Sometimes I'll practice throwing two from each stance like you see pros do when they are correcting misses from a particular putt. I also do that routinely in rounds when it's only me or maybe one other person.

4. Then gotta go outside! The 15 minutes I spend getting to the round early for some putts or tossing a disc with a friend always make me throw and putt better during the round. I wish I could do it full time. Disc golf rules.

Shake it up a bit and have fun with it. Fun matters.

 

[ChrisWoj]

Some books I recommend reading to better understand how to practice for both the physical and mental aspects of anything you do:

"make it stick: The Science of Successful Learning" by Roediger, McDaniel, & Brown
makeitstick.net also has their endnotes: https://makeitstick.net//wp-content...tes-from-Make-it-Stick-delete-p285-to-end.pdf

"The Inner Game of Golf" by Gallwey

Also, if you're more academically minded - "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Kahneman hits a ton of the same stuff as Gallwey, but with a lot more depth and less focused on sports specifically.

 

[ChrisinFL]

The basket will be outside again soon. It's just easy at the end of the day, dark outside, chores done, family is settled, to go downstairs and throw.

I understand, but from the other side. I practice in the back yard, but between FL heat and rain, even with my flexible schedule, it can be hard to get a comfortable time to practice. Sweat my butt off - can't wait for cooler weather. I often wish I had an indoor space so I could practice after dark. That said, I am a big fan of mixing up practice. I like throwing a bunch of discs rapid fire to 'find my form', and grow muscle memory to cement it in. I love throwing every 5', from 10' to 50', mixing up throwing 10 or 20 for percentages, or throwing to make and move back (can be 1 make, or 2, 3, 5, 10)…. I tend to work more at the distances I really want to solidify - 20', 25', and 30'. For me, if I know I make 90-99% in practice, and I have the form cemented, my confidence soars on the course, too. Oh, about 15' - no problem, I make over 90%! 20' - I make 80% - I can knock this down. I now know two average strides for me is about 5', which helps at times on the course. At 50', I only average 1 in 10, but often finish the misses to make sure I can safely go for makes at 50', miss, and still almost always make the following putt. But, I also mix in random single putts, and treat them like an in game putt. With my son, we play Horse, Around The World, a 21 type game, etc. I have, this is embarrassing, over 20 putters now - I do practice to see which ones work best/worst for me. I practice from around both corners of the house - have to go around objects. Variety keeps it fun, which keeps me practicing, which keeps me improving! If I only practice one way, I get bored, don't practice, and the skill declines. Plus, at the end of the day, I am 54, never going pro, so it is all about having fun. I took it up as something my 16 year old son and I can do together, have fun, and to reduce his screen time! It's working!

 

[jupiterboy]

I stopped practicing in the basement much because of the ceiling. Wasn't transferring for me either. When I can put it outside, I set it on the corner of the deck and put from the drive, the grass, the deck, and the benches on the deck so the basket is often higher or lower.

 

[Countchunkula]

I feel I got a lot of benefit from indoor putting practice over a couple of winters at my old house. We did have a pretty deep basement with like a 9' ceiling though. Even with that, there was a range where I would have to adjust my putt for the low ceiling, which isn't what you want to do for practice.

To me, wearing the right shoes was so much more important than where the basket was setup. I think I would naturally stand and shift weight differently when I was practicing barefoot or in sandals vs in the trail runners I usually use for dg. Adjusting for those differences was counterproductive and it was always better to just go put on a pair of dg shoes.

 

[ChrisWoj]

Never be embarrassed that you own a lot of putters. No matter how many putters you own, be proud of your putterness. Embrace it. Be the person with the putters.

 

[txmxer]

The big challenge is practice/repetition versus the one off putt on the course after tee shots, up shots, walking etc.

Even if you bounce around and switch things up, it is still very difficult to recreate the putt experience.

Throwing practice seems a bit more linear with regard to effort in versus reward on the course.

Putting practice seems like 10x more effort in vs percent improvement on the course. And that's where it can really fall apart. You need to do so much, you can develop bad habits.

 

[seedlings]

Putting outside is crucial, as well as with poor footing. I hate that, so have been practicing more… leaving a stick under one foot, hillside, keeping my feet closer together than is comfortable… anything to make me putt while uncomfortable.

 

[ChrisinFL]

"Putting practice seems like 10x more effort in vs percent improvement on the course." I agree, except… That's why, to me, practice is heavily about making it fun. Try every different putting game you read about, and stick with all that you find fun. It isn't a chore for me - I look forward to putting practice. I play a ton of different putting games - keep variety, and keep it fun. If a game starts to bore me, I play it less and do others more. Cycle through them - do whatever practice you enjoy. Practice putting games with family/friends.