My Dumb Putting Struggle
So, putting was straight up ruining my game. I’d get near the green feeling good, then shank it sideways like three times every single hole. Pure embarrassment. Knew I had to figure this anchoring thing out – how you stand and hold that dang putter. Heard folks talking about avoiding common mistakes, so I grabbed my putter and headed to the practice green yesterday, ready to film my disaster.
Just Going For It (The Usual Mess)
Started like I always do. Planted my feet kind of wide, felt solid I guess? Gripped the putter pretty hard, like I was scared it’d fly away. Then, just kinda rocked my whole body back and forth thinking that was the right move. Tried to keep my eyes dead on the ball. First putt… zoomed right past the hole, miles long. Next one, barely tapped it, stopped WAY short. Felt super awkward, totally jacked my confidence. Again.
Filming My Facepalm Moments
Pulled out my phone to film myself putting from a few angles. Watched it back immediately. Oh boy. Saw the three main trainwrecks everyone warns about:
- My Feet Were All Over The Place: Seriously, sometimes wider than my shoulders, sometimes closer together. Like I couldn’t make up my mind. Zero consistency. Every putt felt like starting from scratch.
- Death Grip Activated: My knuckles were legit white. Holding that putter so tight my arms felt tense just watching it back. Way too much tension to feel anything smooth.
- Shoulders? What Shoulders? Instead of rocking smoothly using my shoulders, my whole upper body was wobbling like a Weeble about to fall down. Head bobbing, arms swinging wildly. No pendulum. Just chaos.
Seeing it on video was the kick I needed. I looked like a baby deer figuring out how legs worked.
Trying to Fix My Dumb Moves
Time for an experiment. Focused on one thing at a time:
Feet First: Measured shoulder width with my putter shaft. Literally put it down on the ground behind my feet like a ruler each time until that width felt normal. Just aimed for the same spot, every single time. No guesswork.
Loosen Up, Dummy: Made a conscious effort to hold the putter way softer, like it was a bird I didn’t wanna crush. Said “light grip” in my head before every single putt practice. Felt weirdly unstable at first, way too loose.
Shoulders, Not Slinky Body: Stuck an alignment rod under my armpits again. Focused HARD on keeping my head dead still and moving only my shoulders back and through. Felt stiff and unnatural, like a rusty robot. It was painfully slow at first.
Slowly Seeing a Glimmer of Hope?
Didn’t magically become Tiger Woods. But the balls started actually rolling towards the hole more often. Less of those wild, unpredictable skitters. The putts that hit the line I aimed on stayed closer to the hole if they missed, instead of flying off into the next county. Most importantly, it started feeling slightly less awkward. Still a long way to go, gotta practice holding that light grip without tensing back up, but actually seeing some improvement on video and feeling less spastic gives me something to build on. Practice green, see ya tomorrow.
