The 2 Putting Questions
from "The Lost Art of Putting" by Gary Nicol & Karl Morris
This is day 3 in our 7-part series on The Lost Art of Putting by Gary Nicol and Karl Morris.
At the 1970 British Open, Doug Sanders stood on the 18th green facing a 3-foot putt.
As he walked around the green, you could almost hear his mind popping with questions. Questions about winning his first major. Questions about missing the most important putt of his life.
He set up over the ball but was distracted by something on the line of his putt. He bent down, picked it up, flicked it away. Without resetting or restarting his routine, he settled in and stroked the putt.
The ball drifted painfully past the hole. Announcer Henry Longerhurst uttered the immortal words, “And there but for the Grace of God...”
Doug lost the playoff to Jack Nicklaus.
“Is it possible that I could hole this putt?”
Many putts are missed before we get anywhere near the ball because we’re asking the wrong questions. Why are the greens so slow? How am I always misreading the break? What if I miss another one?
Poor questions lead to poor attention, and poor attention leads to missed putts.
The authors suggest we ask only two questions.
First, “Is it possible that I could hole this putt?” The answer is always yes. Any putt—short, long, breaking, or clutch—any putt is possible.
By answering “yes,” your mind opens to that possibility. You may have missed every putt on the first 17 holes. But when you step on the 18th green and ask, “Is it possible?”—the answer is still and always yes.
“What does this ball need to do to go in the hole?”
The possibility of “yes” prepares you to ask the second question: “What does this ball need to do to go in the hole?”
Ask the question—and wait for the answer.
Your mind will go to work gathering data from your senses and past experiences, then create a line and evaluate the speed.
Will the answer always be right? No. But the more you ask the question, the better your supercomputer gets at finding the answers.
Remember, your next putt has no past and no future. So no matter what has happened before or what may happen next, you can choose to ask these two questions on every hole—and give yourself the best opportunity to make each putt.
“One of the bravest things a golfer can stay open to is the possible.” Fred Shoemaker
Positive statements like, “I am going to hole this putt” may not work for everyone. It can sound like you’re trying to convince yourself of something you don’t believe. It may even create an internal tug-of-war: you’re telling yourself you can while simultaneously doubting that you will.
That’s why these two questions are so different and powerful. They’re open-ended. There’s no win/lose judgment. It’s about accepting what’s possible and allowing your mind, your instincts, and your experiences to help get you there.
You may find that asking these two questions can simplify your putting routine and provide all the answers you need to feel more at peace and make more putts.
That’s all for today. Tomorrow, we’ll look at the fascinating relationship between the speed of the golf ball and the size of the hole.