Perfect Putting…could it be possible?
Page With Your Community & Friends!Earlier in the year (2009) Luke Donald threatened to achieve the extraordinary feat of taking just 18 putts for 18 holes in the 1st round round of The Memorial at Muirfield Village Golf Club. However he just came up short and finished with a credible 20 putts on his way to an opening 64.
Whilst the perfect round of golf, a score of 59, is given many headlines every year, this equivalent putting achievement is rarely heard about. For the average club golfer out there shooting 59 is not something they can relate to. By comparison how ‘possible’ is it for a golfer to get close to taking just 18 putts in a round?
The answer has to be VERY POSSIBLE.
The fact is that putting represents an aspect of golf that any player can excel at regardless of age, strength or flexability. Let me tell you now you CAN train to become an outstanding putter.
POSSIBLE could well be the most powerful word to keep in your mind. By nature it is a very neutral word, by that I mean it’s not overly positive or negative. I have a big problem with both extremes of positive and negative for many reasons, but let me ask you, when you stand over any putt on the course in your next game, is it possible that you could hole it? The answer has to be YES! Keep the word POSSIBLE in the forefront of your mind and the next time you putt you will start to enjoy the benefits it brings. I will expand on this more shortly but for now just make a mental note of it.
For the record as I write this there are 5 recorded 18 putt rounds on the PGA Tour, the most recent by Corey Pavin in 2002.
Please post your personal best putting scores which will help build to our information base here at putting tips and why not add what you believe is your biggest challenge when it comes to putting. I look forward to hearing from you.
October 26th, 2009 at 6:23 am
Actually the perfect round would be a 54 and not a 59 - why limit your ambitions
This is the teaching philosophy of Pia Nielsson the mental coach of Annika Sorenstam.
October 26th, 2009 at 7:12 am
Number of putts taken is a useful stat but could be misleading for amateurs. You could miss every green by a few yards, chip to a foot each time and record 18 putts per round. Equally, you could hit every green in regulation but 30 feet from the hole and two putt every green. Same score but twice as many putts. Maybe total length of putts per round would be more meaningful. Might slow down play even more, however, if we took time out to measure our putts!!
October 26th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Hi Immo,
What if you throw a few eagles into that perfect round of golf……we could get even lower!!
The work by Lynn Marriot and Pia Nilsson with Vision54 is great I agree. Consider this Immo as the launch of vision18 on the greens!
Thanks for the posts!
November 24th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Hi there,
Interesting, did you plan to continue this article?
Thanks
Dolly
November 24th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Hi and thanks for the enquiry.
There is some further information on the power of neutral in my blog, The Mindset for Holing Putts.
Let me know what aspect you were particularly interested in.
November 25th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
I have expanded on the details in other posts; take a look at The Mindset for Holing Putts
November 29th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Hello,
Thank you! I would now go on this blog every day!
DingoDogg
December 12th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Greatings, Super post, Need to mark it on Digg
Kicker
December 16th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Hi, Interesting, I`ll quote it on my site later.
Thank you
Dolly
January 7th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Mike - I like your site - will be reading more - I’ve added your site to my select list of site links at my blog. Keep up the good work.
Dave
January 23rd, 2010 at 8:59 pm
The author of http://www.puttingtips.co.uk has written an excellent article. You have made your point and there is not much to argue about. It is like the following universal truth that you can not argue with: Nothing is ever as simple as it first appears Thanks for the info.
February 18th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
Great post! I’ll be sure to add a link to this article… Check out my site Synthetic Putting Greens.
February 24th, 2010 at 1:48 am
Great work! keep the posts coming… i’ll keep reading them. Thanks
March 11th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Wow, pretty nice idea, thank you! I found your site via Bing
April 22nd, 2010 at 1:07 pm
Fantastic!!! Enjoying your writings. Keep it up!.