How to Become a Confident Putter

Copyright (c) 2008 Stephen Lau

A good putter has to be confident. A good putter has to feel that he or she is up to par. Yes, if you start telling yourself that you can't putt, you may indeed have a problem in getting your ball in the hole even from a distance of just two or three feet.

Missing a short putt on the last hole may become an unforgettable mistake that you start dwelling on until it may haunt you for the rest of your life. People often say you learn from your mistakes. However, the inability to forget could be more devastating to golfing success than your inability to remember what to do.

As a good putter, you must acquire the ability to consciously block from your mind all your missed putts. You must learn to focus on the present putt. Always think of yourself as a good, if not a great, putter.

Of course, your inner self might tell you to get "real." However, you must also learn not to use "realism" as your excuse for your persistent negative attitude towards your own evaluation of your caliber as a putter. Remember, Jack Nicklaus misses his putts too. But he chooses not to remember the putts he has missed; instead, he remembers the perfect putts he has made. And don't tell yourself that you are not Jack Nicklaus.

Learn to discipline your mind that will separate you from the rest of your competitors, just as Jack Nicklaus has separated himself from the rest of the professional golfers.

If you can change your thinking about remembering the putts you have missed, you are in fact changing your own self-perception about your caliber as a putter. Remember, a great putter is not born, but is made - made through conscious effort to improve not only the techniques but also the self-image, and a positive self-perception immunizes you from doubts and fears about your techniques as a putter - doubts and fears are stumbling blocks in golfing success.

Changing the way you perceive yourself as a putter requires practice and perseverance.

First, practice mental visualization of the good putts you have made.

Garry Player once said: "On every putt, see the ball going into the hole with your mind's eye." Mental visualization is important to golfing success. In your mind's eye, you already see your success, and seeing is believing.

Practice to relive the perfect putts you have made. Visualize the puts in your next round of golf, and see them going in the hole.

In addition, stop complaining in the way your converse about your own putting. Stop moaning about the mistakes you made. Complaining only reinforces the negative image, and may become self-fulfilling prophecy.

Bobby Jones once said: "Putting - a game within a game - might just be said to be the most important part of golf."

If putting is an integral part of golf, make sure you excel in it, and make sure you are thinking like Jack Nicklaus. The mind is all that matters on the green, and you become what you think you are.