Pulling putts to the right. Every.Single.Time.

[sharkthrower]

Somewhere, somehow, I developed a flaw in my putting style that pulls every single putt - no matter the distance - to the right. I no longer have a comfort zone because I do not possess the ability to put a putt straight at the chains from any distance. I've lost many rounds recently because I miss a stupid amount of putts from inside 15ft. I'd imagine it is now more of a mental thing than anything, but the form issue persists.

What the hell can I do to fix this?

[Mixed Bag Madness]

Feldberg teaches about right and left eye dominance to his students. I think he mentions it in his putting clinic video that was up here at one point. Basically every person is either right or left eye dominant. Depending on which one you are, you adjust your putting accordingly. When I putt I look at the low left side of the chains and hit dead center. Try looking left and right of center and see what works for you.

[zj1002]

I think knowing your style would help. I'll give my advice on push/pitch putting

If you push/pitch, do you use a straight arm or bent elbow? I prefer to slightly bend my elbow similar to Camm Todd. This requires me to use a shoulder pop. If you focus on popping the shoulder forward and in(towards the center) and let the disc literraly "pop" out of your hand u can get a good idea for how much power can be generated solely by the shoulder. This forces hy hand and the disc in the direction you focus the shoulder pop.

If you can find the cam Todd and Dave felberg putting clinic, it has a good demonstration of this. I'll try to find a link for you. If you are a spin putter, ignore everything I said

[Monocacy]

Sounds really frustrating – I hope you can find and fix the cause quickly. I will throw out a couple of thoughts, perhaps one will be helpful.

Check the line that the disc travels while in your hand. I was missing more frequently to the right, and noticed that I was starting my stroke with the putter at the left side of my waist. This forced putts to the right (RHBH). Starting with the putter at the right side of my waist kept the putter moving straight towards the basket and increased accuracy.

Another possibility – you may be actively opening your wrist. This also has the potential to send putts to the right. Keeping your wrist loose and letting it open passively might help.

Where on the imaginary clock is your hand at the start and end of your putting stroke?

[Thatdirtykid]

Its just a hunch (I had similar issues) try a deep breath (to relax) and a looser grip. Or aim left and change nothing

[JR]

If you straighten the elbow before the disc has left the fingers you're dead bang. That will transfer all the created momentum to flapping the wrist to the right. Remedy: looser muscles and a resulting quicker acceleration and an earlier acceleration point help in getting the fingers off the disc before the elbow is straight. So if your wrist breaks from neutral at the release to the right this is a definite possibility.

[sharkthrower]

I'm open to any pieces of advice, so I'm going to try each bit that has been offered. If I'm lucky one of these things will work and I'll stop wanting to fling every disc in my bag out of frustration.

[JR]

The farther back you start the arm motion the more time you have to pop the disc off the fingers with a good acceleration before the elbow straightens out which forces the wrist to the right. Also aligning your spine to the pole and having the center of the disc intersect the line from the pole to the spine helps. You can check the arm motion direction with a practice pump of the arm from back to front _in a straight line to the aiming point_ and if it's ok you can putt without stopping that motion. It generates more power so you don't have to work so hard with the arm and that reduces chances of errors. Good luck. Putting is much in the head so relax and have no fear. It's hard to be confident after a bad period but finding out the cause in the mechanics and never doing it again will cure the problem guaranteed. If it's your head messing the throw (rarer)then relaxing and flinging the disc out in disgust like you do after a missed sure shot often helps. Then you have no inhibitions just spite and then automation takes over and if your putting mechanics are sound it should go in. You have putted many times already.

I also suggest following the Discraft putting confidence clinic video advice on practicing once you find the reason(s) why you missed until now and correct them. You need to regain your confidence that removes mind induced fear, pressure and anxiety based disturbing factors from hampering your throws. Those can creep back if you don't incorporate mental toughness helping and mind clearing routines to your pre putt routine. NO FEAR ALLOWED!!! Go bang 'em in. It's easier than driving. Hone your mental toughness and you'll never be in a slump again from mind issues. Memorize successful putting pre putt checklist and automate it and your mechanics shouldn't suffer in the future. Then you're set. Congratulations beforehand because that is a major obstacle to win and you have the reasons and after these probably the tools to overcome your problems for good. I was there and did the above with success. You and anyone else can do it too.

[JHern]

I had a few putts that missed way right this past weekend. Missed from 10 feet once! It was like my body just spazzed out and my wrist opened and the disc went right. Of course, it didn't help that I woke with little sleep with a blistering headache hangover, jumped in the car and drove quickly to the course, and began the round immediately without a warm-up (made it just in time for the monthly!).

But yeah, this missing right thing happens to me a lot, and seems to account for one of the many species of my putting slumps (e.g., I also get chronic low putts hitting the basket rim as another kind of species). In any case, I notice that I miss right when I feel my index finger pull the disc forward from the inside of the rim and/or if I push off my palm (the two can easily go together). What I think I should try to do is get my fingers onto the flight plate with a firm and springy finger grip and release without using any force or influence on the inside of the rim from my index finger or from the back of the rim from my palm. This works, sometimes. But then other demons come to haunt me.

Putting is a lot harder for me than driving. I could easily take 4 strokes per 9 holes off my tally if I could learn to simply be a decent putter. This would make a huge difference. But nothing works, thus far. I need to buckle down and work on having a form that works, and where I feel like I have more aiming control. Right now, I'm not sure how I aim, I just throw and hope to launch it in the correct direction.

[Mark Ellis]

Being a simple, practical guy I would suggest a 2 step fix.

1) Figure out the cause of the problem.

2) Fix it. From your message I got the impression that you used to putt well and have just developed a putting problem. So we are probably not changing to a new form for the shot but rather removing some flaw.

You may have heard of playing an air guitar. Let's play air putting. No disc or basket needed. Take a putting stance and line up for your imaginary 15 foot putt. Bend you knees and start with a straddle putt stance. (it doesn't matter if you are normally a straddle putter or not. We just want to find out what is causing your off line shots and it is easier to force yourself to be squared and balanced with your feet in a straddle stance). Square your feet to the basket and keep them squared throughout the shot. Square your shoulders to the basket and keep them squared throughout the shot. You arm motion is pull back to your navel (or lower, depending on preference) , then straight forward toward the basket. Your body rocks back and pushes forward in sequence with your arm motion. Practice this form a few times. Make sure are squared to the basket and your balance is good. Pay attention to the key parts of the shot. Monitor your feet (squared), your knees (bent) your shoulders (squared) your arm motion (straight) your body (balanced as you pull back and push forward) your hand (clean release) and your timing (rock back, push forward).

If you remain squared and balanced and your arm motion is straight and your release is clean then your putt has to go straight. Practice this until your air putts go straight and true. Then switch to a staggered stance and go through the same process.

By air putting you will probably figure out why you are pulling your putts right. If not then pick up a putter and putt at a basket. Something is breaking down when you shank right. Once you figure it out then you can fix it (off line shots are often a balance problem).

When I pull putts right I am usually either off balance or I am not finishing off my arm motion straight. Then I concentrate on hitting the line, hitting the pole. Adjusting height is the easy part. Hitting the line is the key.

Once you can putt straight again you need to regain your confidence. Nothing builds confidence like hitting short putts. So start close and only move back once you are consistently hitting a clean line at the center of the pole. It may take a few sessions (or more) to retrain your head and body.

[masterbeato]

it sounds like your mechanics are at a flaw, so the easiest thing to do is watch your shoulder because chances are your chasing your shoulder forward, which can cause a loss of power and a tendency to pull stuff to the right.

practice not moving your shoulder at all, stop your hand at the release before maximum arm extension.

[Jerrod]

I have/had a similar problem. I am a left handed putter and used to miss to the left a lot. The only thing I found that removes the problem consistently was changing my grip. I used to curl my fingers quite a bit when I gripped. Not quite fingertips on the rim but close. After watching the Cam Todd putting clinic vid on youtube,



I switched to having my fingers fanned out and the missing to the left disappeared. My assumption is that by curling the fingers I was causing the disc to hang and pull to the side unless my release was perfect. Hope that might help.

[JR]

That may have been caused by not having a fast enough acceleration too. The faster you accelerate the less likely it is that the disc will hang on any finger because it also makes the finger spring faster. That opens the fingers fasters reducing the chance of hanging. I think it also reduces the grip power in the end which is a major cause to hanging on to the disc for too long.

[Monocacy]

If you straighten the elbow before the disc has left the fingers you're dead bang. That will transfer all the created momentum to flapping the wrist to the right.

practice not moving your shoulder at all, stop your hand at the release before maximum arm extension.

I put these two bits of advice together when practicing tonight, concentrating on keeping the shoulders still and releasing the putt before maximum arm extension. Results were promising - putts had more spin, and it seemed easier to hit the correct line. I will need more practice before deciding, but it would be great to (finally) standardize my putting stroke.

Um, and I hope this advice helps the OP, too.

[sharkthrower]

If you straighten the elbow before the disc has left the fingers you're dead bang. That will transfer all the created momentum to flapping the wrist to the right.

practice not moving your shoulder at all, stop your hand at the release before maximum arm extension.

I put these two bits of advice together when practicing tonight, concentrating on keeping the shoulders still and releasing the putt before maximum arm extension. Results were promising - putts had more spin, and it seemed easier to hit the correct line. I will need more practice before deciding, but it would be great to (finally) standardize my putting stroke.

Um, and I hope this advice helps the OP, too.

In practice, I've tried a lot of the strategies and each one has been successful in its own right. The merging of a few strategies has also helped to increase my ability to hit my putting lines and build confidence. I'm also not pulling right on every putt anymore (still some, though).

I can't wait for the weekend when I can go out and practice during a round to see if the mental aspect has also been partially fixed.