I can't putt to save my life. I get to most GIR yet I rarely 1 putt, and 2 putt like 50% of the time. The rest are usually always 3 putts. I have no real idea how I should go about practicing my putting? Can I go to a local course and just stay on their putting green? Do I have to pay for that, or is that free?

Btw, the probably isn't usually reads, it's usually speed.

Jesh, don't worry, practice will help. Yes, you can go to public golf courses and just walk up to their putting green and practice. I've done that many times. The thing to do is go with a plan. If speed is an issue, a drill I recommend is placing 3 tees in the ground 10 feet apart. Then putt from the first to second until you can consistently get the ball to stop at the tee. Then go from the second to the third. Then go from the first to the third. Doing this will help you groove 10 ft putts and 20 ft putts distance wise. Once you have a "feel" for a 10 or 20 ft putt, you can lengthen or shorten the stroke for longer or shorter putts.

Speed is important and you'll also want to practice reading putts, trying to better gauge what line to take. but getting the speed is a fast way to lower your putts per round.

First step is to identify HOW you are missing:
1) speed/distance - are you on line but always short or long?
2) direction - are you always missing left or right?
Once you figure out what's "broken" you can focus on "fixing" it.
If it is reading breaks, that is practice and also some people are just better at that. Go behind the hole to read the line, not just behind the ball. You'll see more.

I'm online but always short, unless the putt is like 5 foot.

For me I had to find the right putter. I was putting with one of those mallet putters and I didn't have any feel. So, I went to GG and GS then started to try the different putters.

The one that felt right was an Odyssey white hot blade putter.

That's what I'm getting soon actually. I'm getting a White Hot Tour #1 I think.

I picked mine up at GG for 35 bucks used. It was in great shape just needed a bath.

Jesh, if you always come up short (but are on the right line) that's just practice time needed. It takes time to get the feel for distance for every stroke. Plus if you are putting uphill or downhill that's got to be factored in.

Jesh,
Most likely your putts are coming up short for one or both of two reasons.

1. you're "popping" the ball instead of stroking through the ball. By this I mean, hitting it with no follow through, which causes the ball to skid in the beginning and lose speed before it starts to roll. It seems like you hit the ball very firm and it shouldn't come up short, but it does.

2. You might have the ball too far back in your stance, which causes you to hit the ball into the ground so it doesn't start out rolling. You want a slight lift to start the ball out with a roll.

Or, you might be doing both.

SOLUTION: Play the ball just a little left of center in your stance and stroke through the ball instead of stopping your stoke as you hit the ball.

Bill

Jesh, since your putts keep coming up short, try looking at a spot 2 feet PAST the cup, and putt to that spot. This should help you get the ball to the hole more often. And YES, you can go to any public golf course and practice putting for as long as you like. I've been known to practice at my local par 3 course's putting green for as long as 2 hours after 2 hours working on my chips and bunker shots on the other practice green.
Another thing to try would be a slightly heavier putter. This can make a big difference in distance.

Hi All,
Before going into the tips, practice and equipment aspect of putting, a player should get the right ball position, stance and stroke down. It's important to learn how to roll the ball and that will set it up for distance control, with a little practice.
Bill

I have the position down, and stance. The problem is my stroke. I always hit the ball off the toe. Like 75% of the time, I hit it off the right of the center, which I consider to be the toe. Whenever I hit it off the center, it has a great chance of going in.

Jesh,
If you feel you have your address, ball position and stroke down, and are hitting it on the toe (which will cause you to come up short), the chances are about 90% you have your shoulders open.
Bill

Huh. I'll have my coach check out my putting stance. She's watched me putt before, didn't say too much to me.

Is it possible I just don't have enough confidence? And that's messing with me? I never walk up to a putt thinking "I will hole this," I'm always thinking "I hope I hole this"

Jesh, do you decel through your stroke when you putt or do you accelerate through the ball when you putt? If you have no confidence, you could be decel'ing which could lead to toe hits.

Another reason for hitting it on the toe.

I wish I had written this.

I definitely decel. I guess my stroke isn't as good as I thought.

Bill, I learned most of these tidbits from you, so you get honorary credit!

Jesh, That's what I'd work on then. Focus on trust. Once you get a feel for a distance you will have more confidence in your putts. If you have doubts as you putt, you're more likely to decel. So practice putting at a green (possibly the drill I mentioned earlier) and gain some confidence that you can gauge the distance pretty well. Then stand over your putt, take it back to where you think you need to, and accelerate through the ball.

Trust it. You will do far better trusting your putting stroke (even with getting it wrong sometimes during the round) than you will always doubting and decel'ing.

I went out for 9 today, and made the longest putt I ever have made. It was a 30 footer or so, and I walked up to it thinking, I'm gonna drop this, I've had a bad hole(it was for bogey on a par 5 due to a lost ball), but I'll drop this. I putted it, it comes off the putter with the little Gamer writing going straight at the hole, just like I was hoping, once it got to the hole, there was a moment where I wasn't sure if it was gonna fall or if was gonna defy gravity and stay on the edge, I exhaled and it feel. I just fist pumped the hole way to putt my putter away.

Nice one Jesh! Keep the confidence. And next time you step up to a putt, remember the one's you've made. Not the others.

I sunk a long putt today by trusting my line and hitting with a full confident stroke. I literally did not look at my ball until it was 2" from the hole, head down.

Yeah, I didn't really look up until my dad said, "Get in the hole!"

Sounds like you need to PRACTICE MORE. I used to practice for at least an hour at a time at the practice putting green. The green is hugh, about 50 yards long, so I like to practice long putts to work on distance control. One day I hit 3 putts from 100 feet out. Sunk the first one, sunk the second one, and left the third one about 15 inches right of the cup. My practice partner about fell down after the second putt went in. We had to play for about a 8 foot brake left to right, so it wan't just a straight putt. Not saying I could every repeat this, but it does show that long range putting practice can really help with both yout distance control and your aim, not to mention your conferdence level.

I have been practicing a lot of the tips you guys and Aimee gave me about a month ago and I took a series of three lessons. I have been able to drop 2 strokes off my game consistently. So thanks everyone. One to the things I have been practicing for confidence is picking a spot 3 feet from the cup on a straight putt, and putting till I make 10 in a row then moving to 6' and doing it again. Knowing I can make these putts has changed my attitude during play.

I've experienced the same problems until I worked with a teacher that had me holding the putter grip in my left hand where the grip ran up my hand and between the split in my palm (at the wrist). Stabilized everything. He also introduced me to a great book which was easy to follow and provided great swing results.
Roll 'em smooth...

Link deleted for being nothing more than an ad for some book.