I'm striking the ball so well at the moment

I've moved up a level as far as ball-striking is concerned. The slow backswing and quick throughswing now feels natural.

Unfortunately, my putting has regressed.

I've scored 37, 39 and 39 points in the last three rounds but my putting has been 39, 39 and 39.

Today's 39 points included a two-stroke penalty for hitting my partner's ball and a 5-putt

How many greens are you hitting to have that many putts Merc?

I've never heard of a 5 putt before.

I had 9 GIRs today, SR.

I've had a 6-putt before.

Merc

Hang in there mate, sounds like it's starting to come together for you. Good ball striking will spread confidence through the rest of your game and putting is something that is relatively easy to work on so sets you up nicely for a strong finish to the season

Putting is one of the few things that a complete beginner can be as good as a top pro within a short period.
In the 1960's there was a golf writer called Paul Trevillion who laid out big money putting challenges to the pros and very few took him up.
He had a short putter with a stooped stance and if I remember correctly played off middle handicap.

Good putting is all about loads of practice, unless you are afflicted by some of the problems mentioned on another thread!
Well done on the rest of your game, but remember the golden rule. You seldom three putt from the middle of the green.

I also have been striking the ball nicely in the last few weeks, and my chipping was great as was either chipping in or leaving it stone dead, that was up until today.

I started of well parred the first 2 holes, on the 3rd hole hit a good tee shot and left myself a wedge shot to the green, and then out of the blue hit an almighty shank put the ball straight out of bounds, a round that started off so well end up a pure nightmare with about 12 shanks, from my 3 iron to sand iron I think at some stage during the round I shanked all of them.

I am now contemplating changing my swing, to see if I can get rid of it, as I know standing over the ball with my old swing, I think I am going to shank it and most likely will

drive4show wrote:Merc

Hang in there mate, sounds like it's starting to come together for you. Good ball striking will spread confidence through the rest of your game and putting is something that is relatively easy to work on so sets you up nicely for a strong finish to the season

Here's hoping, D4S. I had a strong finish to last season after our Club Championship. I went from 19 to 15. After a poor last 6 months I'm back up to 16.5, but if I eat my greens and go to bed early, I could be in a good place by the end of November.

Mercurio wrote:

drive4show wrote:Merc

Hang in there mate, sounds like it's starting to come together for you. Good ball striking will spread confidence through the rest of your game and putting is something that is relatively easy to work on so sets you up nicely for a strong finish to the season

Here's hoping, D4S. I had a strong finish to last season after our Club Championship. I went from 19 to 15. After a poor last 6 months I'm back up to 16.5, but if I eat my greens and go to bed early, I could be in a good place by the end of November.

Don't forget your weetabix! Congrats on finding your groove - I'm sure the rest will fall into place in good time for another strong finish to the season...

Mercurio wrote:

drive4show wrote:Merc

Hang in there mate, sounds like it's starting to come together for you. Good ball striking will spread confidence through the rest of your game and putting is something that is relatively easy to work on so sets you up nicely for a strong finish to the season

Here's hoping, D4S. I had a strong finish to last season after our Club Championship. I went from 19 to 15. After a poor last 6 months I'm back up to 16.5, but if I eat my greens and go to bed early, I could be in a good place by the end of November.

Well done Merc! I'm about where you are. Need a couple of good results over next 3 months to get myself further up the order of merit and get down to 15 which was my pre-season goal