It Gets Worse Before it Gets Better
This post is a summation of what I learned during my 30 day putting challenge in September as well as my tournament performance during that time. If you can’t already tell from the title of the post, September was a series of ups and downs and I learned a lot from my experiences.
What I learned
The first thing I learned going through this 30 day putting challenge is that doing anything 30 days in a row is hard! It takes a lot of dedication and sacrifice, and to be honest I didn’t meet my goal of putting every single day in September. I’d say I was in the 18-20 day range.
The second thing I learned is the title of this post. It gets worse before it gets better. Whenever you’re trying something new, and this could be in any aspect of life, it may appear that you’re getting worse at it as you continue trying to execute your new technique. This was the case for me. As far as putting goes, I went from a putting stance/stroke that had my body turned sideways from the basket to a stance that had my shoulders lined up with my target. The first few weeks I practiced this in my yard quite a bit. Here’s a link to my Instagram highlights from some of my putting sessions.
I had 2 tournaments in September, one sanctioned and one unsanctioned. These tournaments are the most obvious metric I can use to see if I improved in my putting game. This is where the “It gets worse” part comes in. I had the worst tournament performances I’ve had in 2 years! I used Udisc in my unsanctioned event to get an idea of my putting percentages which you can see below.
Over 40 holes I had 9 of which I had at least 2 putts from within the circle. 2 holes I 3 putted after having a look for a birdie 2 which is just unacceptable. This adds up to 11 strokes over the course of the tournament.
Why did it get worse?
There are a number of reasons in my mind that it got worse. Muscle memory is a big part of it. Since I’m trying to learn a new putting stroke it requires rewiring my muscle memory. In a way it’s a sort of reset, back to square one. The only way to fix this is numerous hours of practice and 2 weeks leading into a tournament isn’t quite enough time to master a new stroke.
The other possible reason is the mental side behind it. Now that I’m trying something new I have a slightly different mindset when approaching my lie. When I had a confident stroke earlier in the season that seemed to work for me, the only thing I ever thought about was my breath. Inhale when reaching the putter back, exhale as I extend towards the basket. Now that I’m using a new stroke, little details of it cloud my mind such as where to reach back, how much curl am I using in my wrist, how high to release it, etc. etc. Every little thought going though my mind is a distraction from my ultimate goal of just letting my body do what I’ve been training it to do.
Why bother changing my putting stroke?
This is a question I ask myself every season. I’m trying to find the most comfortable and consistent putt. The more I watch YouTube videos of professionals putting clinics, the more I want to try to incorporate their techniques in my own putt. This is important, but also an impedance at the same time. If you ever watch the pros, you’ll notice there is no two players that have the exact same putting stroke. In reality, they are all very very different in their own ways. This is why it is important to understand yourself and what works for you. We are all built different, and therefore require different putting strokes. Find what works for you and master it!
Off-season Practice
This off-season I will be working solely on my putting game. I will be spending a lot of time indoors (for anyone that doesn’t know, Buffalo is cold in the winter!) practicing my putting stroke. If you do the same, make sure you find what’s comfortable for you and try to repeat it as much as possible! The more comfortable you are physically, the less mental pressure there will be when it comes to tournament time!
