Putt 'sic' me out of my putting misery

And the beat goes on … or should that be the putting misery goes on. Again, I found problems with the short putts. The reverse overlap, club linked to lead arm, started to feel awkward for the touchy, breaking 5 footers. It felt so mechanical and difficult to judge the pace, combined with the difficulty of reading the greens at the moment, that I felt I would be happier risking the wrist flips, pulls, etc. rather than continue with the odd grip. I'd already decided to go with a conventional reverse overlap for the longer putts and my pace was better with those. The conclusion is clear …

I'm going to have to learn to live with missing some short putts using a conventional grip. If I miss one or two per round that should be acceptable, provided I give myself enough chances through decent pitching and chipping to do so. The pros miss the odd short putt, maybe only one every second round for the top pros, but they are shooting sub 70 average scores per round.

My strategy will therefore be to a) change putters to a centre blade putter rather than a blade (less club face rotation, hopefully), b) shorten my short-putt stroke so that it encourages me to accelerate into the stroke and at the same time minimise the club face rotation and c) keep the putter low to the ground and keep a good rhythm - which should be good thoughts to help keep my mind away from 'oh, I hope I don't miss!'.

I might even consider getting one of those flying saucer/spaceship putters, the giant ones with wings and goodness knows what hanging off them. Jason uses one, and there is no doubt he is one of the best putters in the world.

I once had confidence in my putting; I had years of backyard putting when I expected to hole putts from everywhere. I think that although I like fast greens and the challenges of breakers and downhillers, I've lost some of that free-flowing confidence. I don't want to succumb to the yips; it's not an option for someone who is going to be losing distance over the coming years. My short game needs to step up. I need to putt myself out of my putting misery.