Customer Reviews

Putting Out of Your Mind

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So simple....gives good practice drills and backs up recommendations with real data...a must read!! Doesnt try to change anything about your technique just improves what you have.

This book was great. Rotella guides you right off that path you've been walking that's called the mental approach to putting. One of the biggest things you should learn from this book is that you won't make every putt you look at. What's more, is that Rotella tells you why you won't make every putt and then goes on to show you how you can think that you're a great putter even though you're not sinking every putt. Read this book carefully, once your putting improves your whole game will because you won't put pressure on yourself to hit everything close.

Buy this book now!!!!

Dr. Bob aides putters with not expecting to hole every putt, but to make each and every putt have the great chance of dropping.

From routine to feel to rhythm to confidence, Rotella provides in this good read the mental expertise he has demonstrated in his work with golfing greats. Now, it's here for all golfers.

I find to listen to the tape on the way to the course helps prepare me for a great day of putting.

This book is a very enjoyable read and has many "Dr. Bob" insights that will help golfers of all levels. Unfortunately on the heels of his classic "Golf Is Not A Game Of Perfect" this exposition on putting is less fulfilling, but very good nonetheless. Ultimately the book recommends the following: 1) focus on the process of putting (developing a standard mental and physical pre-shot routine to clear your mind), not the mechanics or outcome of each putt; 2) don't worry about mechanics during practice or course putting, just focus on the target and aim to put each putt in the hole; and 3) the more relaxed and positive you are about your putting and the experience of putting the better the results will be. The messages in the book are simple. While they seem redundant at times the lessons are valuable and the book is an enjoyable and beneficial 4-5 hour read. As the author points out, 40% of strokes are putts so it's worth putting time into improving this part of your game.

If you are looking for a book that is a once informative and entertaining, you have to get this one. What I found interesting in this book are the insights that the author gives us as to how pros and ordinary players think, or should think when preparing to putt. He discusses the importance of the pre-shot routine . As 40% of the shots made in the course of a game are putts, it's simple logic that such a book should interest all golfers whatever the state of their game. If you wish elevate your game another notch, this book is for you.

"Take your satisfaction not from whether the putt drops but from whether you got yourself in the right frame of mind to hit it." That quote summarizes the key point of this book.

Think of Dr. Bob Rotella as someone who sees putting as being totally about controlling your mental processes, to eliminate the effect of your conscious mind. He is at the opposite end of the spectrum from Dave Pelz's engineering-based evaluations. I find much value in both approaches. Having taken lessons at Dave Pelz's Short Game School, one of the most useful parts was getting an automatic routine and rhythm for putting that clears my mind of tension-creating thoughts.

The advice in the book is easy to understand, but you will probably find it hard to apply. I suggest that you find a pro to help you create a mind-clearing routine that you feel comfortable with. Then commit to using that routine always.

Here are a few quotes that will give you a further sense of the book's advice:

"No matter how skilled you are . . . you're going to have to make roughly 40 percent of your shots with your putter."

When you arrive at the green, you're going to think: "Oh good! Now we get to putt!"

You will "just focus on the target." You will have "selective amnesia" about putts you've missed in the past.

You will spend 15 minutes a night "visualizing making putts."

Before putting, you will be "always relaxed and confident."

During the putt, you will "putt as though the putt [is] conceded."

When you putt, you will "simply let the putt go and trust."

I especially liked the metaphors from other sports like shooting baskets and making passes in football. Those actions are done in the flow of play, rather than in some rigid, controlled way with the conscious mind.

The book has interesting sections on how to practice putting, and what top putters say about how they go about putting. Many of the pros quoted in the book use Dr. Rotella's methods, so they will help you to understand the message here. You will also find an exercise to encourage you to practice your chipping so you will have shorter putts to make.

One of the most difficult aspects of any activity is explaining how champions think about the activity while they are doing it. I think that Dr. Rotella has done an outstanding job of sharing that information here.

After you have finished enjoying and starting to apply this book to your putting, I suggest that you think about other places where you are trying to use your conscious mind when subconscious processes might work better. Imagine if you always tried to ride a bike by thinking about each thing that you do. That wouldn't be much fun or very successful, would it? Where do you find yourself tied up in tense knots now? That's where you need to let go.

Trust yourself to accomplish more!