by James Ruhnke

Created on: April 01, 2009   Last Updated: April 04, 2009

In a physical sense, putting is the easiest of golf problems. Mentally, it is the most difficult. Everyone is a regular Ben Crenshaw when they practice putting on the living room carpet, sinking 20 or 30 putts in a row. Give this same person the same putt on a golf course in a competitive round and he or she will miss it 20 times in a row. Why is that?

Obviously, the poor results are mental and have nothing to do with mechanics, equipment or style. If these things worked well at home, they should work just as well on Augusta's 16th green. Now that we have located the source of the problem we are nearer to a solution. Luckily, there are only a few reasons why our brains get in the way of our performance in putting. Let's take a walk through those reasons and suggest some simple solutions.

1. Fear of failure. Someone once said that success breeds confidence. Or is it the other way around? If you take a 4 year old kid and place him on a green, give him a shaved down putter and told him to try and get the ball into the hole, he will do quite well after a few minutes of trying. Yet someone who has putted for 30 years has trouble with a 3 footer. The reason for this is that the child does not know how difficult putting is. Therefore, his confidence aids his ability. But wasn't the guy who has putted for 30 years once a 4 year old? So it is not success that breeds confidence. Otherwise, how could the elder putter be such a klutz after 30 years of success?

However, if you go through the mental sequence for confidence breeding success you will come to the opposite conclusion! Certainly, confidence is a nice thing to have but there is only one way to get it and overcome the fear of failing. Think like a child. A putt is no more important than what color socks you have on. Everything will be the same whether you hit or miss. The only difference is a number on a scorecard which will be discarded and degrade into dirt. If the putt is unimportant in your mind you will immediately begin to putt with a smoothness and grace which can be obtained in no other way. As Bobby Jones said, " Make your best effort and if the ball misses the cup, let it go hang."

2. Mechanical thoughts. You see it on The Golf Channel and read it in every article. Keep your eyes over the ball, rock your shoulders, don't let your left hand break down, don't let the putter face open, etc. etc. etc. Gawd! How can anyone do anything with so much nonsense crowding the mind? Looking at your average golfer, the

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