Hi Nathanial,

I have been practicing the following for the past 5 months and it has improved my putting to an average of 31 putts from 36 putts last season:

1. 3 ft putting drill circle around the hole. Lay 5 balls down at every 45 degrees around a hole and putt in as many consecutively as possible with a Maximum of 10. Do this 10 times and add up your total consecutive holed putts. 

2. 6 ft putting drill as above. 

3. Do the above 2 drills with 1 hand only. Try both left and right hands. 

This has really made me trust my line and stroke. I just listen for the ball to drop too. 

I hope this helps you too.

Things to try..........trust your line.  You can try slowing your stroke down a bit and concentrate on the putter head following the ball to the hole, maybe also with slowing down, bring is back a speck more so you don't jab at it.  Some folks will choke down a little bit on the grip to "feel" like they have some more control, shortening up the putter.  Some concentrate on a pendulum stroke more, and finally a very slight forward press to start your stroke helps some concentrate on getting started.  Work it on the putting green before you go out, and see which may work best for you.  It might just be the 6inches between your ears, and if you have a solid stroke, all you need to to try something that feels good to you and get some confidence in the short stroke. 

Part of my routine on shorter putts is to get a bigger picture of the line rather than the last 5 feet or so.

Try reading your 5 footers as if you are reading the line from 10 feet out or so...this helps me get the line right more consistently.

You will pick up more of the subtleties in the green that impact your shorter putts.

Practice your pace as well!!!!

Putt four balls in sequence keeping equal distance from each other:

Example:

1st ball 24 feet

2nd ball  20 feet

3rd ball 16 feet

4th ball 12 feet

DR. K

The fun part of putting is changing "something" works.  Finding "something" can be like finding a needle in a haystack.  Not sure going from a semi-mallet to a blade is the best starting point.  Top 10 reasons -

1. Too tense - the pressure to make the short ones is on.

2. Using wrists too much from not controlling tempo on a short swing.

3. Following the short putt to the hole - not keeping your head down until you hear the ball drop.

Oh, heck, plenty of places to get help on putting.

I switched to right hand on bottom (LH'd) to make it easier to control wrist action. Need enough dope-slaps when I follow the ball to get me to keep my head down.  I do ask my partners to allow me to dole out the punishment.  I have better distance control on lag putts with the convential hand arrangement, and can now go back to the conventional grip for shorter putts.  Some folks say using a belly putter allows them to go back to a conventional putter and maintain control - same concept.  You might prefer a claw to reverse hand, but whatever works.

I had this exact same problem all year until August - what I figured out was I was looking up thus pushing and pulling short putts. Wishing it in the hole!  I seemed to stay down on 10+ ft - but the short ones my head was moving up to soon.  I recorded myself with my iPad and played it back in slow motion and it was easy to see.