Golf Putting Tip 5

Make practice as much like actual play as possible.

Putting Tip 5. Golfers are often seen slapping balls around on the putting green, never lining up a putt, leaving the little pins in the holes while they practice, and all the while yucking it up with their friends who are doing the same thing.

When these players get ready to hit their first "real" putts of the day, they receive a real shock. There are no little pins in the holes, they have to read the break without the benefit of multiple practice putts, and there isn't any joking when they're standing over the ball. The problem is that they didn't practice mentally or physically to prepare themselves for the real thing.

The psychological challenge here is to make practice as much like actual play as possible. During practice or warm up, concentrate on the task at hand. Avoid conversations with other players; take the pins out of the hole and line up putts seriously; finish every practice hole, even the one footers that remain after a missed longer putt. If it is real golf for which you are preparing, then the warm up practices has to be real, too.