Dear IDkipper,
Great question!
The difference between sometimes fantastic putters who are nevertheless streaky and great putters who are always "on song" or consistently nearly so is simply "know-how." Know-how is knowledge of what works and why that the golfer can actually verbalize to himself and others. Without the ability to verbalize, there may be "talent" but not "skill". A golfer with real "skill" at putting is never at a loss when faced with a challenging situation, whether it is a fast or slow green or an uphill or downhill putt, or a long lag, or a must-make short putt. That's because the basic plan is always the same: "do what the golfer believes works because he has knowledge of why it works and why it is better than some other plan."
Plenty of golfers believe they have "skill," but all they really have is a "talent" that seems to be better than others but is somewhat streaky and a problem whenever the going turns tough.
"Spending time on the practice green", as you write, is commonly regarded as a mindless investment in "practice" that will by dint of mere repetition "groove the move" so the golfer can then be "more trusting" on the course without having to "think about" technique or being "mechanical". Unfortunately, this is exactly the wrong approach, and has retarded golfers across the world from gaining real "skill" ever since the late 1970s. Instead of this ill-conceived and mistaken approach to motor skills learning (in the real science of which experts warn against the idea of "grooving the move" with mindless repetition, but golf instructors apparently don't read much or attempt to stay current with the science and instead just repeat worn-out junk from the 1970s and early 1980s), the correct approach is to practice so that the golfer learns the cause-and-effect relationships between "what he does with the body" and "what results with the putt".
If the golfer is not mindfully extracting body-performance "know-how" (KP or "knowledge of performance") during practice by filtering the feedback of what happens with the putt ("KR or "knowledge of results"), or at least "honing" what "know-how" he has managed to extract, then he is largely wasting his time. Without the KP or conscious "know-how", there is NO feedback. The conscious understanding of "what caused the result" to be the way it was is in fact the "know-how", and without that, no golfer can watch what happens in a putt and get any meaningful "feedback" at all. Golfers are not trained like seals, given a little fish every time they clap their fins while balancing a ball on their nose!
A few things one learns, eventually, is that the instincts have an unusual trait: the brain for instincts "connects" the permanent (re)occurrences in the physics of the planet in a "fact for fact" directness that has none of the "computing" people always speak about with respect to the brain. A ball dropped from height X" takes 0.Y seconds to hit the ground, and this happens repeatedly without change, so eventually the brain connects "height X" with "time 0.Y" for a golf ball. Later, a set of car keys falls from "height X" also in "time 0.Y" and the brain connects those two facts as well. Sooner or later, the instincts "know" that "all objects fall from height X in the same 0.Y seconds". The "body itself" KNOWS this factual connection, not the conscious "mind". The body upon seeing a ball start to drop from "height X" KNOWS when to snap the fingers to coincide with the ball hitting the ground -- exactly and always 0.Y seconds later. But the mind cannot state the number of seconds. This absence of "conscious knowledge" does not imply a lack of real-physics perfect accuracy in the body-knowledge. The 100 billion cells of the brain have tons and tons of real-physics planet-earth facts connected in the instincts that the conscious mind is not aware of, including "backstroke size X with putterhead Y swung according to tempo Z and rhythm W will impact the ball in 0.Q seconds and send the ball across green speed S surface slightly uphill grade F% exactly K.P feet." Know-how respects the content of this body-knowledge.
The other thing about the instincts is that the OBJECTIVE requirements of reality for a putt (distance, surface speed, uphill/downhill to be executed with ball A and putter B and swing timing C by golfer X) corresponds to ONE OBJECTIVE impact velocity and force that has nothing whatever to do with the specific golfer's notions of "how hard to hit" the ball to get it there. It's not at all about the golfer, and it's ALL about the world externally and what is required for everyone who wants to do the job well. The really interesting thing is this: the instincts will correlate objective requirement with objective force WHENEVER the golfer uses a rhythm that is OBJECTIVELY a "swing", which is "same timing in backstroke matched with timing in thru-stroke". If the rhythm OBJECTIVELY is a "swing", when the golfer pays attention to the world and intends to do a very good job, the instincts WILL DELIVER THE RIGHT FORCE at impact.
Because of this, there is no "wondering" with skill for putting about what needs to be done to get things back on track: just make a rhythm as here defined objectively while also paying attention to the distance, green speed, uphill/downhill, putter, ball, etc., in the "here and now" and intending to do a very good job in the stroke distance not short and not long. The instincts do not in the least care what you think or feel about what is required by the situation, and that is a wonderful thing.
Getting and keeping this rhythm is "Job 1" for putting. Any time a golfer seems to be missing something in the putting, this is the first place to check for indifference and lack of OBJECTIVE precision. A stroke either has "rhythm" in this sense or it does not. Any old timing pattern really won't do, since "things that swing" are what have been planted into the brain for instinctive knowledge by the world, from watching tree boughs swing gently in the breeze to experiencing one's arms "swinging" freely every day. Other timing patterns are just not as deeply entrenched in the instinctive brain of connected facts.
From this rhythm foundation, one builds up to the other "skills" of putting. One cannot read putts without consistent delivery speed of all putts to all holes, which requires a good, instinctive rhythm. One also cannot become a great reader of break while allowing the rhythm to fluctuate from one putt to another; this is the equivalent of accepting poor, indistinct "reads" and trying to "fix the vagueness" by adding "power" to the specific putt, which only happens when the usual rhythm gets chucked out the window. Never change the rhythm, and it helps to also have a single tempo too, although tempo is not absolutely fundamental to instinctive distance control in the same way that rhythm is. No good reads without one usual speed.
Similarly, rhythm is what helps more than anything in making putts go where the putter face aims at address, which is the clear definition of a "straight stroke" (and not simply "a stroke that gets the ball to go where hoped by some sort of body motion that may differ from putt to putt and at least is not consciously appreciated for its dynamic pattern"). Rhythm INSISTS on the putter face being square at a very specific time and place (i.e., bottom of the stroke arc BEFORE impacting the ball). And since there is no "feedback" about whether the AIM was good or bad and how much it might be off without a stroke that is made in a known way and that either does or does not send the ball in a known direction, a "straight stroke" is essential for learning how to aim and for honing skilled performance in aiming. No usual rhythm, no great aiming skill and no straight stroking skill either.
Rhythm is the foundation of "a gun that shoots straight the right distance" in putting. All putts are the same setup and movement pattern except some strokes get a larger backstroke than others purely as a result of non-conscious instincts. So putting with mindful intentionality is "mindless" for technique. Just pay attention and then make the usual rhythm and that's it.
To a certain extent, there will always be some fluctuations in putting skills from day to day due to body state for alertness, sleep / rest, energy level, and the like, including focus and mindfulness. The more the golfer IGNORES extraneous factors such as "what the golfer thinks or feels" about the round, the course, the opponent, his personal talent, and the like, and the more the golfer simply relaxes, pays attention, and commits to doing an excellent job in a fun game, the better the results and the closer to the possible ideal the days' performance will approach.
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Coach and Theorist
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