Putting has often been called a different or second game. Because it differs so far from pounding a ball as far as we can, to then requiring you to have the touch of a jeweler, as we navigate a 3 footer downhill with a 2 foot break!
Because of this difference I feel it has to be taught and learned a bit differently, to get the best out of you.
Some of the best putters in the game have also been folks who hit it a ton! Braun and Beauty? How can that be, and more importantly how can you acquire a little of that magic?
I think the first thing you have to do, and I am going to begin with the thought you already play and have a bit of understanding already of the game. So with this being said, I am going to give you some real basic, but key items to help you excel once you’ve found the dance floor, I mean putting surface!
If you have trouble controlling the only two components, distance and direction,then you must, without exception work on drills that create references for you to create better feel, or touch or direction. I know as you read this it makes perfect sense, but let me tell you, I have seen folks for so many years work on direction control when their troubles are really distance and vice versa. This one issue is in my opinion the root of people not becoming better at putting.
So a simple drill designed to help you become a master of distance control!
Tee Drill – set this drill up on a flat area of the green
- this is a pretty simple drill, costs no money (cuz they give tees away now) and can be set up on a green, even if it’s busy and no holes are available.
- place your practice balls on the green, and then from that point take three steps(do not exaggerate, just your normal stride) and place a tee in the ground. Make sure it is in far enough that if you strike it with a ball when you putt it stays, and not so deep that you can’t see it, or it’s difficult to remove when you’re done.
- Repeat this process two more times (you should now have 3 tees in the ground, approximately 9 of your steps from your starting point.
- I like using 5-10 balls in this drill and success means you do it 80% correct before moving to the next tee.
- from the starting point, putt to the first tee. The goal is to roll at least 80% of the putts to and sightly past the tee. Ideally if you rolled them approximately 1 foot past, this would be considered a success!
- As you do this begin to notice that the pace of your stroke will begin to become more consistent as the putts roll to the same tee.
- I want you to think of a speed control in your stroke and associate the first tee at 3 steps away being #1 on your speed control.
- so now when you have a putt and you are 3 steps or less away, you now have a reference of how hard or what pace should be given to make the ball travel that distance!
- Repeat this process with the other two tees, until you can get at least an 80% success rate.
- When you do you now have a way to reference and control the distances you hit putts to about 27-30 feet!
- As you begin to expand, put more tees down and every three steps represents a new number on your dial control.
- 1 speed = 3 steps
- 2 speed = 6 steps
- 3 speed = 9 steps
- 4 speed = 12 steps
- 5 speed = 15 steps
So now when you’re on the course, I suggest you simply pace off the distance you have to putt, and divide it by 3 to get the speed you need to apply!
Wasn’t that easy…I love math…I look forward to hearing your feedback after you’ve applied this practice method for a bit and then used it on the course.
Good luck with this, and remember…speed can be fun!
