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Do or die putting

Deadly sins of putting: Eliminate the ‘do or die’ attitude

One of the biggest downfalls when putting is pretending it is do or die. Learn how to relax over the ball as Bob Winter talks us through the mind games
 

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.

He says not to get desperate on the greens and don’t start to demand yourself to hole putts…

Do or die putting

“Do or Die” putting is a form of psychological desperation on the greens. Golfers who suffer this affliction are typically frustrated, fed up with mediocre results and increasingly agitated in their thought process. A mindset that says, “I need to make this or else!” is an example of taking putting to the emotional extreme.

Instead of allowing their putting talents to flourish, they place so much pressure on them- selves to make putts that they only succeed in self-sabotaging their putting stroke.

Another issue here stems from the growing frustration of leaving putts short. After leaving yet another attempt in the jaws the ‘do or die’ putter has had enough. “Hit it to the hole you wimp – I can’t believe you left it short!” Nothing is as heart-breaking knowing that you have to count one more stroke for a putt that was just a quarter-roll from being successful.

Bubba Watson

Another example is the player who has been burning the edges of the hole all day to the point he becomes so frustrated that he takes out the break altogether and hits the putt so hard that either it slams into the hole or runs wildly by. Frustration has taken over and all sense of “feel” is lost.

In each of these cases the golfer resolves to putt with an overly aggressive attitude – “either this putt goes in…or I don’t care what happens after that!” It’s a fatalistic mindset that eventually leads to desperation putting – the player has lost the ability to stay task-focused.

It’s not life or death

The first thing you need to remind yourself here is that putting is not basketball – you don’t have the luxury of a back-board to rebound the ball down and into the hole. The simple laws of physics apply: if the ball is travelling at a rota- tional speed that is too fast for it to drop, then it has little, if any, chance of falling in.

Rather than trying to force the ball into the hole with this overlay aggressive play, you have to develop the mindset that accepts the best policy is always rolling the ball into the hole at the appropriate speed.

A putt can only ever do one of two things. It can go in or it can stay out. As golfers, we need to realise that missing is a vital piece of the golfing puzzle. And to stay patient when the putts don’t drop. Staying committed to your overall green reading evaluation, making a determined stroke and accepting whatever happens is the only sure-fire solution to beating the ‘do or due’ mindset.

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