Working on your putting is too generic a focus for you to see any lasting improvement in your scores.
If you struggle with putting in general, it is imperative you determine where the specific root of your breakdowns begin. Much like the golf swing, putting contains a progression curve.
In order to see true progress, you must insert yourself into this progression curve at the right place. If you jump too far ahead on the curve, you are essentially an elementary student trying to learn high school algebra.
Properly identifying the curve — and establishing where you belong on it — is the first step toward benefiting from your practice efforts. Knowing exactly what to work on and when should be priority number one.
Your first step is to address what happens below your ankles.
You must get your ball position, aiming and alignment correct in order to have any chance of success. All too often players are not aiming where they think they are. If your aiming and alignment are incorrect, working on anything else is beyond this, is completely pointless.
Your second step is to look at your overall body posture.
You must set up your body in a posture which allows the correct movement patterns to happen as required. Poor posture promotes poor movements, plain and simple.
Your next order of business is to assess your movement patterns.
Once your body is set up for success, you then need to get intimately involved with the movements required to be a good putter. Get in touch with what is or is not moving correctly so you know precisely where your practice efforts can be focused.
From here, you must progress to the most overlooked step in the process, which is rhythm and feel.
You must understand that good mechanical movements do not improve your rhythm and feel. Equally as important to acknowledge is that good rhythm and feel do not improve your mechanics.
The two components are both required to be a great putter; however, they are not related in any way and must be worked on separately. It is important to identify if your struggles are mechanical in nature or feel related so you can work appropriately toward your goals when investing time on the putting green.
Once you are aimed correctly, standing correctly, moving correctly and moving with good rhythm, you may then address the final cog in the equation.
Green reading is a skill all its own and it gets better with trial and error. Remember, if you still have unpredictable variables in the pre-requisite components on the learning curve, this is a variable you will struggle to grasp with any consistency.
Bottom line, don’t work on putting in general, work on a specific component of your putting. Establish where you are on the learning curve and get to work with some specific focus.
Trevor Moore is a PGA of Canada professional and a TPI Certified Golf Fitness Instructor with the Titleist Performance Institute. Based in Medicine Hat, he runs his Advantage Golf Academy out of Cottonwood Coulee Golf Course and coaches the Medicine Hat College Rattlers golf teams. For comments or questions, you can contact him via his website trevormoore.ca or follow him on Twitter @trevormooreinc.
