Don't Forget Your Putting Practice

By: Paul Wilson..

Putting is one of the most over-looked parts of the game of golf yet, it adds up to almost half of your shots. Given this stat, you'd think that the average golfer would want to practice their putting more often. This just isn't the case. People tend to ignore this part of their game all too frequently. Here are a few reasons why:

1. Not Enough Hours In the Day - These days people have very little time. Between work, kids, meals etc. they're usually rushing out to the course. Once there, they hit a few warm up shots ... then it's out to play a quick 9 holes. If you are one of these people, you should be looking for other times to practice your putting. What I used to do was to save the daylight hours for practicing long shots and I would practice putting indoors at home. Waiting for dinner or after dinner is a great time to get some good putting practice in. If you can get into this routine it won't really matter if you are rushing to the course because you are consistently working on your putting at home.

2. It Hurts Your Back - When practicing your putting for longer than a few minutes, it sure can hurt your back. Until you practice putting continually for long periods of time, your back muscles will not be used to it because the mass of your body is overhanging your toe line. What I recommend is to start off practicing your putting for 10 minutes, once you're used to it go up to 15 minutes and so on until you have conditioned your back muscles to handle longer practice times.

3. Boredom Sets In - Let's be honest, putting isn't as exciting as crushing a huge drive. Because people would rather be crushing drives, they avoid practicing their putting. If this sounds like you, ask your friends or members that are hanging around to take you on in a putting competition. By putting a bet on the outcome, you'll not only be practicing your putting under pressure, but you will also add some excitement compared to just putting by yourself.

4. You Are Not Very Good At Putting - If you are not a good putter, it's very easy to ignore it. As you know, if you never practice something you can't expect to get any better. The thing about putting is that as you start to improve it does become fun. Unfortunately, you have to get over that hump of putting poorly first. You'll never find out if this statement is true unless you make time to practice your putting.

5. No Instant Gratification - I've seen some people on the putting green who get disappointed or frustrated when they aren't sinking a great percentage of the 15-20 footers they practice. These people quickly disappear and are never found regularly practicing their putting. If you need instant gratification when you putt, try setting some easy goals at first. If you have easy goals instead of trying to hole every 15 - 20 footer you'll get that gratification right away. Then, that'll keep you motivated to set even harder goals.

6. You Need Touch - Putting is much different that hitting a 300 yard drive. Brute force is not required. Because of this, some people don't find it all that fun. Although at first glance, the feeling of smashing a big drive out there should outweigh a 6 foot putt, making that 6 foot putt is for birdie or eagle, is a lot more exciting. Make sure you're spending some of your time putting, people are much more impressed with scores rather than 300 yard drives into the trees.

7. People Are Lazy - I realize it takes a lot of effort to wander over the putting green and hit some practice putts but things could be worse. You could be doing some strenuous or tedious work around the house. The next time you are debating whether to practice your putting or to go home, you may want to stick around. You never know what is waiting for you at home.

Here are a few reasons that you may be avoiding your putting. Just remember that it's a huge part of the game. In order to lower your scores, you have to do some putting practice. I know you may not want to do it but trust me, playing better golf sure makes it worthwhile.

Article Source: http://www.bettergolfarticles.com

Author: Paul Wilson is the creator of Swing Machine Golf which teaches people how to copy the perfect swing mechanics of Iron Byron. He has also the created of the Puttacup indoor putting practice cup which enables you to putt in your home.

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