Putting is one of the most important aspects in the game of golf. It is one of the biggest factors that can influence your golf score almost immediately. However many people do not realize that putting is primarily a mental game. Often players will spend significant amount of time on their mechanics thinking that developing a perfect putting stroke is the answer to sinking more putts.

The reality is that great putting requires confidence and in order to develop this confidence you will need to adjust the way you think and not just the mechanics of your putting stroke. Good mechanics is important but it should not be your primary focus when it comes to improving your putting. If you are a beginner then I suggest you take a few putting lessons from one of your local golf pros. The key thing to remember is to pick a putting approach and stick with it through thick and thin regardless of how many putts you made in your last round.

Remember that even on the PGA tour almost every player has their own unique putting style. Many putting styles are even considered bizarre yet they have been used over and over again to win major tournaments. Thus the key to great putting is your attitude and this is what you will need to work on not just on the course but off the course too. You will need to monitor your thoughts about your putting and ask yourself whether or not thinking that way will boost your confidence or cause you to doubt your putting abilities.

You must think of yourself as a great putter and you need to develop a selective memory. A selective memory is simply choosing to remember certain events and forgetting others. When it comes to your putting you need to remind yourself occasionally of all the great putts you have made and more importantly you must forget your misses. Do not dwell on your mistakes, learn whatever you can from them and move on.

Do not spend excessive amounts of time working on your putting mechanics, just a few minutes a day should be enough to keep your mechanics solid. Also you need to remember that when you are about to hit your putt you should only be thinking about your target and nothing else. Do not think about putting mechanics when you are about to hit your putts. Thinking about mechanics just before the execution of any golf shot has been shown over and over again to hinder performance.

Another important key element to great putting is to always step over a putt believing that you will make the putt. There are many that suggest that for long putts you should aim for a three foot circle. I disagree with this approach because you are only increasing your margin for error. Always putt to make it. You also need to trust your feel when it comes to judging the distance of a putt. Spend a few minutes before the round hitting a few putts to the fringe to get an idea of the speed of the greens. It is a good idea to aim for the fringe instead of a hole because you do not want to see yourself consistently missing putts and with long putts you will not make the vast majority.

Hit a lot of putts inside of ten feet as this will help to boost your confidence since you will make a good number of these. Spend a few minutes before you go to bed and go back in time and remember a few of the greatest putts you have ever made and remind yourself that you are a great putter. This will do wonders for your confidence since you will be essentially programming your subconscious mind for putting success. Most people that develop the putting yips have simply lost their confidence and the only way to cure the yips long term is to regain it back by changing the way you think about yourself as a putter. Think of yourself as a great putter, banish all negative thoughts and watch your golf scores drop as you sink more and more putts every time you play.

Jason Paulsone is a webmaster and manages several websites. Learn how to lower your handicap with great golf swing tips, putting tips, golf fitness ideas and much more at http://www.golfswingtips4u.com/