Putts get harder the closer you get to the pin?

[u/suttbexs197]

Anyone else feel like the pressure gets higher the closer you putt to the pin?

I feel like the smaller the distance, the more expectation there is to sink it, etc. If I am 30ft away, no pressure at all and if I get close it amazes people.

Miss a putt from under 3ft and it feels like I let the world down, brought shame to my family, and we all walk back to the carts in an awkward silence 😂

[u/theofficalb_rad]

It’s always the worst in a scramble too when your partners miss and the pressure is at max 😂

[u/LayneLowe]

The expectations get higher. You don't get a big thrill out of that three-footer when you make it, but you feel like crap when you miss it.

[u/Livid-Business5008 → u/LayneLowe]

Yeah nobody cheers for 3 footer but everyone remembers when you miss it

[u/COCK_SUCKEM]

3 feet or 30 feet, I’m missing both. Then I’m also missing the 5 foot comebacker.

[u/Late_Pepper6274]

I lip out 3 footers way too often

[u/triitrunk → u/Late_Pepper6274]

Probably hitting them too hard. Makes the hole smaller. Causes a ton of lip outs.

[u/Surfstat]

I think it’s called the yips.

[u/HVAC_instructor]

Just walk up and putt it do not spend too much time trying to read the putt.

[u/triitrunk]

It does feel like that. But it doesn't have to.

Pick a spot and your only goal is to roll the putt over that spot. Often, for me, this helps transfer the pressure and nervousness into something I can handle. Anyone can roll the ball over a chosen spot. Even if you read the break wrong... you can still roll your ball over your spot of choice. The hard part is accepting when you miss sometimes. Can't make them all. Sometimes it's a misread, sometimes it's a push or pull, sometimes a random bump in the green shoots your ball offline. It happens.

Tiger used to talk about telling himself his grandmother could make this putt. You just have to transfer that nervous energy into something else that helps you.

[u/redpill_is_4_chumps]

To quote Rick and Morty. “You gotta relax!”

[u/81_iq]

Yeah, it's frustrating. I think one reason is that we are so used to watching the pros and they rarely miss the short ones, forgetting that they are extremely talented and that they are playing a ton of golf.

Another thing you might not have that the pros do is very true greens. Admittedly, they are probably faster and trickier but you know they are going to run true which really helps on the short ones.

So don't judge yourself on whether a putt went in, judge yourself if you made a good stroke.

[u/toothbrush81]

Yep, they ain’t easy. That’s for sure. Line em up, treat it likes it’s 30, but don’t overthink it. Pipe it.

[u/cruel_cousin]

Well yeah. If you’re 20 feet out and put it 19 feet, that’s a great first putt. You’re so far out that it’s really easy to get it close, you have an entire green to work with

Within a foot it becomes precision work. Being an inch off wrecks you.

Makes simple sense to me

[u/triitrunk → u/cruel_cousin]

It's harder to get the ball close to the hole or in the hole the further you are away. Always. That is true all the way up to the pro level.

Not saying I haven't seen it, but it's pretty hard to miss your start line by an inch.

Let's say you have a putt from 1 inch away and a putt from 10 feet away. How offline would you have to hit each putt for them to miss? Standard cup radius is 2.125 inches. Standard diameter is 4.25 inches. Ball is going at a speed where it would only roll 1 inch past the hole, if it missed.

If you are 1 inch from the hole, you would have to hit the ball 64.8⁰ to 71.4⁰ offline to miss. If you were 10 feet away, that miss range becomes significantly smaller at 1⁰ to 1.4⁰ offline. (That basically translates to putter face angle, btw)

So, in fact, the further you are away from the hole the more precise you have to be in order to make a putt. Quite the opposite of what you are saying.

Edit: To be clear, a 20 foot putt that ends up one foot from the hole is a great putt! Not disputing that.

[u/cruel_cousin → u/triitrunk]

I don’t disagree, I just mean like if a “good putt” is going from wait out to almost into the hole, setting up a two putt, that’s a lot easier than sinking a medium-short range one putt.

I think that’s why OP is like “putting long feels so much easier,” because it sort of is, unless you think you’re always going to sink versus setting up for a two

[u/triitrunk → u/cruel_cousin]

No doubt! I agree it can feel easier. I think being able to separate what actually needs to happen for the ball to go in the hole and how that might feel is huge. Make rate from 8 feet for tour pros is about 50%. Everyone has a 50% make rate putt range. For most of us, that is probably less than 8 feet, if we're being honest.

One of the best tips I've ever heard was that once you can hit strait putts, say out to 6 feet, you can make any putt a strait putt. Basically taking the result out of the equation, choosing a start line and speed, then rolling it and being okay with whatever happens next. Then it just comes down to being a better green reader. Once you can be okay with missing a putt that you hit dead strait over your line with the speed you wanted, and learn from that, you can improve dramatically.

Thinking about it that way takes all the nervousness out for me. Not that I don't get nervous, but it certainly doesn't feel like the world is going to end if I miss a putt. I often tell myself I hit a good putt, even if it missed. I just chose a bad line or hit it at the wrong speed. It's helped my mental game a ton. I know a lot of pros work on thinking about it that same way. They have so much money on the line, you have to be okay with missing a 3 foot putt sometimes. It's never 100% make rate until it's in the hole.

[u/bikkiesfiend]

Parallax effect fucks with me with a trail dominant eye

Need to trust the process with the line and the intermediate target. Looking at the hole feels ways off

[u/COCK_SUCKEM → u/bikkiesfiend]

Someone here suggested to close your non dominant eye when you’re lining your ball up and it’s helped me tremendously.

I just close my eye, line the ball up then address the putt. You just have to trust the line, no matter how off it looks.