Stick a tee in the ground for focused putting.

I was on the practice green yesterday, and I was doing my usual routine when the coach of our local High School was showing one of his players how I was putting. Intrigued, I decided to explain to the young chap what I was doing.

This is what I told him.

The way I practice putting is I do not putt to the holes. I take out a tee and stick it in the ground, and use this as my hole. The reason is two-fold: one; I want to mentally focus on the pattern of my putts around the tee and two; I want the feeling that the hole is actually that small.

Practicing is all about generating confidence. If I'm on the practice green, and I'm missing putts there....what do you think I'll do on the course? Conversely, if I'm just focused on getting the ball around a tee, I'm gaining confidence, and will have a much better opportunity to hit the real hole on the course. Using a tee simply gives me something to aim at that is smaller than a hole. It's not as stressful if I miss a tee, but if I miss a hole.....uh oh.

Back in the day, when I played golf for my High School team, there were a couple great putters on the team that always used tees to practice. I picked up the habit, and was glad I did. It's funny though, whenever I'm on the practice green, invariably someone comes over to see what I'm doing.

Thanks for reading. Keep it in the short-grass,

JFB