Decelerating putting

Jersey golfer · January 18

I know that I decelerate my putting stroke. What drills if any can I use to break this horrible habit?

Elkhair · January 18

17 minutes ago, Jersey golfer said:

I know that I decelerate my putting stroke. What drills if any can I use to break this horrible habit?

Can you elaborate a little more. Most good putters develop or have zero acceleration at impact.

acceleration leads to inconsistency.

you want to accelerate from the end of the backswing and the let the putter slow down in the through stroke.

you might need to take a bigger backswing more than likely

iacas · January 19

3 hours ago, Jersey golfer said:

I know that I decelerate my putting stroke. What drills if any can I use to break this horrible habit?

It's not a horrible habit. It's how the best putters tend to putt.

Jersey golfer · January 19

4 hours ago, Elkhair said:

Can you elaborate a little more. Most good putters develop or have zero acceleration at impact.

acceleration leads to inconsistency.

you want to accelerate from the end of the backswing and the let the putter slow down in the through stroke.

you might need to take a bigger backswing more than likely

I have a tendency to take too much of a backswing and die coming into the ball.

Santiago Golf · January 19

13 minutes ago, Jersey golfer said:

I have a tendency to take too much of a backswing and die coming into the ball.

watch Cam Smith or Luke Donald ... they do the same

iacas · January 19

13 minutes ago, Jersey golfer said:

I have a tendency to take too much of a backswing and die coming into the ball.

Big deceleration is as bad as big acceleration, albeit far more rare.

Still… have you been on a SAM PuttLab or anything with some graphs or anything?

Jersey golfer · January 19

18 hours ago, iacas said:

Big deceleration is as bad as big acceleration, albeit far more rare.

Still… have you been on a SAM PuttLab or anything with some graphs or anything?

Not in a few years. Something I should and will do again.

Jersey golfer · January 20

I found a Stan Utley video that shows decelerating on impact. It's possible that my backswing just wasn't long enough and the deceleration was ok. Once the snow melts, I will give it a try.

Nickb333 · January 20

Putt to the back of the cup.

Santiago Golf · January 20

physics shows that any change in direction, is an acceleration ... so backswing to forward swing transition will cause some acceleration automatically, if you let it happen, then just coast into impact

my guess is your backswing might be too slow, then you transition, you are coming forward slow.

iacas · January 20

2 minutes ago, Santiago Golf said:

physics shows that any change in direction, is an acceleration

We all know what the person means when they say "acceleration" and "deceleration" in this context.

joemcsorleypreswickGC · January 20

Faster and longer backswing

Santiago Golf · January 20

4 hours ago, iacas said:

We all know what the person means when they say "acceleration" and "deceleration" in this context.

100%

from what ive seen

"over acceleration" is caused by backswing being too short or by swing too much up on their putts

"over deceleration" is caused by an early trail hand release or by swinging too much fown on their putts

i find if players just focus on making a length of backswing to match the intended distance they are trying to hit and then swing the putter forward with the only intention to be to hit the sweet spot, everything else just falls into place

if people just tried to copy how cam smith, luke donald, or annika putted ... it would be some much easier haha

Peter_b · June 4

Is this acceleration? The acceleration is at 3 before impact and -3 in the upswing? Something to work on or not?

James the Hogan Fan · June 4

On 1/18/2025 at 10:39 PM, Jersey golfer said:

I know that I decelerate my putting stroke. What drills if any can I use to break this horrible habit?

I had a recent putting lesson where we were introduced to 2 companion drills I quite enjoyed to develop feel.

Drill 1:

With 3 balls and some kind of visual aid (alignment stick with stripes, tees in the ground) to compare your backswing length to, find a relatively flat/straight 15-20' putt, and from the backswing you would intuitively use to get the ball to the hole, try to hit the ball 5' past. For ball 2, same backswing, leave it 5' short. For ball 3, die the ball at the hole.

Drill 1a:

With 3 balls and the same putt as above, take a short, normal, and long backswing while trying to die the ball at the hole.

The objective of the drills is to feel the differences in trying to overhit the putt, trying to underhit the putt, and trying to hit it right. (How can goldilocks know the porridge is just right if she's never tasted hotter or colder). You can't decelerate if you're trying to hit a 20' putt with a 4" backswing. It would be hard to accelerate hitting a 20' putt with a 36" backswing, and slowly you start to iron out what "correct" feel is. You can expand the logic and drills to cover different distances as well.