Dr Bob Winter is one of the leading mental coaches in the world. Winter is a mind game coach at DLGA and has helped golfers rise to the international stage. Here he explains that hit and hope putting can cause you to lose your conviction.
‘Hit and hope’ putting
‘Hit and hope’ putting refers to a state of mind that lacks conviction or purposeful intent. The typical ‘Hit and Hoper’ gets over the ball and says to himself something like, ‘Well, fingers crossed this one goes in’, or ‘I hope I don’t three-putt from here!’
In other words a ‘hit and hope’ putter is a reactive putter. One who reacts poorly to the outcome of missing. This creates a negative anxiety spiral where they try to avoid missing, instead of focusing on what they have to do to make the putt!
The ‘hit and hoper’ has lost the ability to stroke the ball with conviction. This player becomes mentally distracted to the point they almost try to will the ball into the hole. Rather than following a series of positive affirmations that will help them roll the putt with anything approaching confidence.
The inevitable result is a feeble attempt at starting the ball on line. Almost invariably with insufficient pace. The putt either falls away on the low side or comes up short.
This type of player is always waiting for something good in their putting to happen. But most of the time they are simply waiting. Nothing good ever shows up. If a putt does happen to fall in, it is mostly a matter of luck.
The achievement is not used as a base of positive reinforcement for future effective putting. But is viewed as a random gift that has been offered by the golfing Gods.
Action Plan
A ‘hit and hope’ putter needs to implement an action plan about what it is that they want to do with the putt. Instead of standing over a putt and wishing/hoping that the ball might fall in, a hit and hoper needs to be proactive. By that, I mean they need to create an action plan detailing what they want to do with the putt and how they want to hit it.
In the first instance this action plan takes the form of a basic routine. A sound, repeatable pre-putt routine provides structure and rhythm to the overall process. And is a great foundation for rolling the ball with positive intent.
One more thing: whether the ball goes in or not, the key for you as a golfer is to take into account how the stroke was performed and to feel good about the process of executing your plan of action for that putt. The more specific you are able to be when it comes to identifying line, pace and execution, the more likely it is you will hit a solid putt.