Putting Practice that Works

[RandyHjr]

First off and the most important part is form.
When you line up your putt, every movement you make should consist of a north/south movement. By focusing on the north/south method you have already improved your chances of sinking that putt by 50%.
How? Well by taking out the chances of missing the putt on the left or right side of the basket.
My lower, upper, head, and my arm only move north and south. If I miss a putt it is usually to low or high. If I ever miss a putt to the left or right, its usually mental error. But most importantly very rare.
Don't get frustrated at first if you miss low or high, those are good misses because you are on target.

Focus, Focus, Focus
The biggest mistake I see when I am teaching someone how to putt, is focus.
Watch one of your friends putt, watch his/her eyes. I bet you notice thier eyes come off the target before the putt is fully release. I make it a point to not watch my disc in flight at all, but to continue to stare at the pole or chain link.
It is very hard because you want to watch it fly to see if it will go in or not.

Release High!
Don't release the disc at belt height. You want to release just at chest to just under eye level. Take out he possibility of coming up short and hitting cage.

Follow through
Finish the putt with a slight snap at the very end.

Walk through
I step up and hold the disc at eye level to line up my putt.
Bring down the disc and back up all north/south
Focus on your target untill everything else is out of focus
I SLOWLY bring down the disc
Then I start off towards the basket slow gradually picking up speed as I get to the end of my putt then "snap" in the chains. Smooth is hard.

Practice
Find what % putts you are missing.
I do 15, 20, 25, and 30 foot putts.
I practice random shots for about 10 mintues never over 30 feet.
Then I do 10 putts from each distance.
Figure out what your % is on each distance.
Now you can build a plan with goals. Just don't forget to work on all of the distances, not just the ones you miss.

[kingjames1014]

^ this is great advise.
i just bought a skillshot for christmas and i'm gonna do this all winter.

[Dookville]

Good stuff Randy. I too a have limited my east to west motion. Through focusing I will make a choice of which chain link I'm shooting for and that may be left or right, but my body and its motion stays on the north to south line. Thanks Randy, keep knocking em dead.

[811rv]

Good points about up and down. I do practice putting on daily basis using Driven 1025 setup (iPhone app). I also like to throw 2 putts and make it both then move up further, if make 1 and miss 1, stay where you are and try again and if miss both then move down. I should do like 10 putts and figure the % like you suggested above.

Most important is focus and I have pretty good focus but always room for improvement.

[davmer2303]

Nice tips....Focusing on only moving North South makes sense, and focusing on the desired end point means less head and body movement. God knows I need to improve my putting, and just those two things should help...

[StoneWallKid]

I use the same technique for push putting and its very successful. But from about 25 feet and further I cant seem to get enough power. Any suggestions?

[goosefraba1]

I know that these exact ideas have helped me. The north south idea is what I started doing about 6 months ago. I would now say that putting is by far the best part of my game. Also, jump putting inside of 80 feet or so has also helped my game. I have gotten to where I can make these jump putts at pretty high rates If, and when, I do miss these jump putts, I normally land within my putting range where I knock mst putts down. I have also gotten less roll-aways this way.

What I have been doing lately is practicing with my minis when putting. If you can get that late snap to get a very light mini to the basket from 25 feet, then you can get a regular sized putter there too. I get the minis there with a smooth form... and then a late snap to get the spin. When I first started this, I notice that my mini would look like a shot duck flying through the air.... like a ton of OAT. Now with practice, they come out clean. Anywho, that is my two cents.

[RandyHjr]

Originally Posted by StoneWallKid

I use the same technique for push putting and its very successful. But from about 25 feet and further I cant seem to get enough power. Any suggestions?

i also push putt and had issues with my range. I was losing form trying to muscle my putts to the basket. My issue may be different than yours, I was losing power from my legs. What i did to fix the problem was slow my draw back down to let everything get set for the forward push. I also bend my elbow slightly now instead of keeping it locked. Just for that little bit of extra snap.

the thing that helped me the most was my release. I let my disc go very flat which will almost give off an "s" flight look to it but it stays on line. I also raised my release point to right under my line of sight.

Don't change it all at one time, just make little adjustments here and there so you don't have to start back at square one.

[DarrellR]

I understand everything you guys are talking about. Great tips for practice and great for helping out longer distances...the only 2 things I would add is that for distance some times I put a little anhyzer to help compensate for the fade at the end...I push putt with a super flip floppy magic and omega super soft and have a soft approach so the it hits chains and falls in, almost never spits out. The other thing I would add is EXPERIENCE. Putt, putt, putt....and put some more. I putt almost everyday and my wife hates it because I have my basket set up in the living room and putt from the stairs, from the kitchen, around corners, and everything in between. Just keep at it, play the 1025 game, write %'s down, but just have fun with it.

[oceancountydg]

Putting practice got sorta boring so my cousin and I made up a game like horse shoes. You throw 3 discs each alternating throws. Distance is about 20ft. Basket or chain rack gets 1 point, chains but no sink is 2 points, and a made putt is 3 points. With two baskets we were able to play back and forth to the two baskets and got a lot of practice without getting bored, constant competition. Eventually it turned into a drinking game at bbqs too and we got our dads to play with us even know they dont play disc golf. They made us put a beer can on top and if you could knock it off it was 5 points lol.