In this video, I take on the infamous putting drill that helped Luke Donald become the best putter—and the best player—in the world. It’s simple, brutal, and absolutely exposes your weaknesses on the green.
Luke used this drill during his rise to World No. 1, and now I’m putting it to the test. Can I complete the challenge? (Spoiler: It’s harder than it looks.)
If you’re serious about improving your putting, give this a go—it will reveal a lot about your short game under pressure.
👉 Drop a comment if you’ve tried this drill—or if you dare to attempt it.
welcome back to another Olay Golf YouTube channel video This time we’re going to do a putting drill video Now this video is kind of I suppose inspired by a relatively famous drill that Luke Donald did to turn himself into not only the best putter in the world but the best golfer in the world in the sort of early 2010s He had this ridiculous stat that he managed to go 449 holes without a three putt I mean it’s obscene You know I kind of wish I was watching that sort of now You know back then I sort of didn’t have as much understanding of golf and I wouldn’t quite have appreciated how impressive it was But honestly just wildly impressive And what he’d do is he’d have this drill that he you know he created for himself um to keep himself you know sharp and ready to go where he would do a 20 putt drill where you hit five putts around the hole from four five six seven and eight ft and you do it around four different holes or at least you move the putts each time You don’t want to be hitting the same putt again and again because then you know what it’s going to do I’m going to do it out on the golf course today which is probably the ideal situation because then I’ve got a little bit of time in between the holes A little bit more like being on the golf course You know you got to wait a bit longer to hit each putt Um so yeah he would do that and his benchmark that he was trying to go for was about 15 out of 20 I think he possibly moved it up to 16 when he got so good you know Um but basically that’s a very impressive number for for that range four to eight feet 20 putts Um you know generally I think the average would be about 12 to 13 there on the PGA Tour So we’re trying to go for that And if you didn’t reach the 15 benchmark you go again and you have to keep going So that’s where the sort of consequence comes in that you know you really want to finish the drill otherwise you got to start all over again So it’s a good way to add a little bit pressure and just work on those putts that really help lead to confidence in the rest of your game as well So I’m going to show you how I get on today and hopefully you enjoy All right so I’ve set up my station here I’ve stepped out a few different holes I’ve got a 4footer 5footer 6footer 8 footer 7 footer So it’s a bit random I’m not going to go 4 5 6 7 8 It’s a little bit random um just to kind of try and recreate a little bit more like what it might be like on the golf course Uh I’m going to start here on the sixfooter Now it is really important that you do your normal full routine for these putts because you’re trying to give yourself something that you can fall back on on the golf course So I’m not going to chat too much while I’m hitting the putts but yes let’s let’s see how I get on big left to right here I’ve not picked the flattest area [Music] Good start Um just going to walk over to the 7footer Why not [Music] Happy with that Obviously the percentage for those longer ones goes down quite a bit When you’re looking at a 8 footer I think the average is about 50% Whereas 4 ft is going to be way more closer to sort of 85 90% [Music] [Music] Yes Okay Four footer Going to have my back to the camera a bit here but hopefully we can still see the ball [Music] Nice Good start guys Four out of five Really solid start that So we’ll do the same again I I missed the 5-footer but it was maybe like a 3% slope So that’s good You know like my 8-footer was quite a straight putt so you would feel good about that And then but then it’s good to have sloping putts as well and try and get that variety in there to give yourself a varied test Right we’re on to the second round now Second round of five Same deal you know just do your routine I would say I I’m only reading them from behind the hole Maybe I’d spend a bit longer on it in normal play but I’ll try and do my routine the same when I’m ready to hit the puck you know Oh yes Again I’m not just going to go straight around I’m going to mix and match a little bit turned Okay [Music] Got a relatively flat hole here but that’s good as well cuz you get kind of smaller deceptive reads like that one there I didn’t see that turning Good Good Okay And onto the eight-footer now This has got to be a bit of left and right Oh we love that one Very pleased with that one [Music] Oo it’s gobbled in Okay this is a really promising start What if we missed one on each round Okay third run [Music] speed [Music] [Music] All right [Music] Just a bit of woeful part there Lost my concentration a bit [Music] [Music] Missed the 4-footer That is criminal Okay team this is the last set of five I’ve got a very sloppy hole for this last one actually So this is going to be interesting I need what I need four Yeah I got 11 out of 15 so far Luke Donald’s benchmark is 15 So I need four out of these last five to get it What you might notice here is because we got really sloping ones I do tend to change my routine a little bit here where you may have noticed before that I do two strokes behind the ball to begin with when it’s a really really large breaking part especially a shorter part sometimes I get rid of that and I just sort of go in and I kind of want things to be even more relaxed and instinct instinctive So it kind of helps me to keep that tension out of my body Um so I’m certainly going to do it here and maybe for sort of three or four of these ones [Music] Nice Lipped in a little bit but pretty good Okay we’ll go to the sixfooter These one these four five and six are particularly brutal Um so I I’ll be doing the uh the no practice stroke here as well And all I’m going to do all I do with every putt is I pick a little spot maybe two or three inches in front of that ball And I’m just trying to roll it over there especially on a putt like this and trying to imagine that they’re all straight putts Well that’s all I can do really is put the best stroke I can do on it All the other work is done before you know reading the green deciding how hard you want to hit it And when you get up to here your only job is to start it online with something you know close to the speed you’re looking for [Music] Oh that is a lovely representation of what I just said Stayed relaxed in the arms and just I put a good stroke on it and thankfully got the read right as well Okay 8footer now uphill left to right I’ll go back to my two strokes here [Music] Oh wow it’s gobbled in Okay we’re in a strong position If I hold one of these last two I’ve completed the challenge Where do we go We’ve got a 7 footer uphill right to left strong right to left to be honest And this is an absolute brutal part fivefooter It’s one of them that could be quite straight if you went a bit firmer but I I don’t want to cheat the system and go really firm because you’d never do that on the course would you So it’s probably a cup outside right Soft Is it a cup outside Maybe not that much Let’s you know now because it is a feel part I’m going to get over the ball and kind of feel a little bit like where do I feel comfortable and I’ve got to get to a position where I’m comfortable Then you pull the trigger [Music] I’ve I mean I’ve sort of wellied it but it’s also like a treacherous part Okay I feel like the pots that I’ve missed have been the fours and five four and five footers So yeah Okay Last pot needs to drop for 15 uphill right to left It’s going to move more at the end so I’ve got to get the speed spot on here [Music] Weak See what Luke Donald does now is he has to start again and you have to do it until you finish So that is what I would be doing but I’m out on the golf course so I can’t do it here All right guys thank you for watching Bit of an anticlimactic finish there Need to must work harder Must do better Um but that is what the drill is for And I think that that’s where you get the level of jeopardy and feeling like I really want to finish this because you know missing that last putt there means I’ve got to go and do 20 putts again and I’ve got to do it again and again until I get used to it And then I think you reach a stage where you can go on the course knowing what impact that has And the thing with good putting is how it leads into the rest of your game So if you feel comfortable hauling out from inside 8 ft it makes you more relaxed about chipping cuz you feel less like “Oh I have to hit this stiff otherwise I’m going to miss the pot.” It makes you more relaxed about your approach play cuz you think “Well I’ll get it up and down anyway.” So it really has a follow-through effect into the rest of your game So please do give this kind of drill a go If it’s good enough for Luke Donald it is absolutely good enough for us Anyway I hope you enjoyed the video Again please like and subscribe if you did enjoy
1 Comment
+30. Coming for you!