Golf is just as much a mental game as it is a physical game. I can remember getting tips from old timers at the golf course I grew up on, they’d say, “Golf is 80% mental and 20% physical.” Boy, were they right. After a round I’m usually more mentally fatigued than physically tired. For me, and I think most golfers, the mental part of the game is really felt with putting. There’s nothing more terrifying for a golfer than a knee-knocker 5 foot putt for birdie (that feels like a 50 footer once you’re over the ball). And unfortunately, I have this exact putt on film:

Yup, that hurt. I still cringe every time I watch that clip. Ah, the joys frustrations of GOLF. You can drive yourself crazy with all the putting tips out there, but I really enjoyed the article on PGATour.com on the Psychology of Putting. They provided 4 great tips for putting (that I’m going to start using ASAP to avoid any more video clips as the one seen above). Let me know what you think of these tips and if you have any of your own that have helped your putting.

via PGATOUR.COM – Week 33: The Psychology of Putting:

Don’t make breaks that are not there — You see it when you watch the pros play. Once the ball is on the green, the player circles the pin and stares for minutes, trying to identify every bump near the hole. Subconsciously, we feel we have to bring the same level of time and attention to our putting. By doing so, we begin to invent breaks that do not exist. Take a casual glance at the surface between your ball and the hole. If you are playing on your local course and it is not a destination for the pros, chances are that your putt will be fairly straight. Trust your instincts instead of trying to prove to your foursome that you can see breaks on the green that they cannot.

Do not obsess over distance — Once you attach an estimated distance to your putt, you become consumed by that number. If it is only three feet, it is a putt too short to miss. If it is 20 feet, it is a putt too long to make. A basketball player does not say to himself, “I need to use my 15-foot shot here.” He simply focuses on the rim and tries to shoot the ball to reach the center of the rim. So focus on the hole and concentrate solely on finding the center of the cup with the ball, regardless of the distance.

Remember the good putts — If you have putted the ball well once, you can do it again, regardless of how many bad putts you have in between. After you make a good putt, reflect immediately on what you have done. Were you looking at the hole instead of the ball? Did you visualize the path the ball would take to the cup? Did you use a smooth, uninterrupted stroke to hit the ball? These are all facets of good putting that you can use every time.

Do not be overwhelmed by the finality of the putt — Bad putts tend to stick with us longer because of their finite nature. If you take a bad swing off the tee, you have a few more shots to make up for it on the scorecard. But once you make a bad putt, you cannot erase it. There is no miracle shot from the rough that will get you back to par. The most important thing you can do when faced with a putt is to give yourself a chance to make it. If it falls a little short or rolls just wide, at least you will be close enough to putt it in a second time. Soon enough, your confidence will build and those two-putts will become one-putts before you know it.