Recorded this scorecard. Ball striking felt good, but couldn’t putt to save my life. Bonus points if the drills can be done in a small apartment.
by 2400hoops
Recorded this scorecard. Ball striking felt good, but couldn’t putt to save my life. Bonus points if the drills can be done in a small apartment.
by 2400hoops
47 Comments
Probably not what you want to hear, but for the apartment piece, a putting mat is helpful to get yourself practised keeping the ball on line and a little bit of distance control, but the big gains truly do come from putting on varied greens and the practice is best done outside, especially if there is a hilly practice green That you can use at a local course.
I try to force myself to do an hour of putting practice every week, even though I take very little joy in it. A huge number of strokes come from putts, so you make the most gains in your game, typically speaking, when you focus on improving putting and chipping .
This scorecard is giving me the yips.
I set up a putting mat infront of my restroom door. Whenever I have to use the restroom, I have to make three 3 foot putts first. This has made me way more confident in short putts, which I was always nervous about before
I play with some high handicappers on occasion, and while I’m not keeping count this is likely the record for most putts I’ve ever seen in a round, lol. 10 / 18 greens in reg is honestly what most mid single digit handicaps see. Zero reason you shouldn’t have shot mid 80s.
This is so bad it’s at the point I don’t think you even need drills to get better, you just need to go practice hitting putts the proper distance.
This is going to sound really stupid but: why are you missing putts? Are you mis-reading them or not hitting them consistently along your intended line or do you have bad speed control? 51 putts in a round is crazy work unless you’re putting on either really fast or really bad green.
This is one of the crazier cards I’ve seen. You’re doing the hard part (driver and iron play) relatively well but the (physically) easier part (putting) like someone shooting 150. Very odd.
I’m going to take a guess that you are fairly athletic but new to golf? Well, you must be new to be putting over even 40 strokes in a round.
I like the ruler drill for indoor practice – put a long, 1-1.5 inch wide ruler on the floor, place your ball at one end, and putt down the length. Forces clean square contact – any spin or off angle and the ball will fall right off. Try to do 10 in a row with each hand, then 10 in a row with both.
For distance control and learning to read slopes, it’s gotta be real green
I don’t want to give you advice unless you can say how you are missing… what’s that story?
What app do you use to track your stats?
You need to grip the putter differently than other clubs. What is working so well for you on long shots may be working against you on the greens. Something, anything to create a different kind of muscle memory around the putting stroke. Your goal with each putt generally should be a 2-3 foot radius circle around the hole and TBH anything within 10% of the overall starting distance is pretty good. For grip pressure think of how you would hold a stick of room temp butter without mushing it. For alignment, pick an imperfection on the green a few feet out along your chosen line and just try to get the ball rolling over that point. For consistency, try letting the club head fall like pendulum (gravity does the work) and simply vary how far you take the club head back based on distance of the put. Trying to vary distance by altering clubhead acceleration or getting wrists involved throws off distance control consistency, sabotaging your work to improve. If you are curious about how the putt is going and like to look up after it immediately, this will mess with your contact and line, so just keep your head down over the ball holding your finish until it is well on its way.
Hard to prescribe drills without knowing intent. Is your putting stroke the problem? do you struggle with pressure putts? Distance control a problem?
I just had a round where I shot my best ever score of 91 and had probably 45 putts. I 3 putt 14 or 15 times. I have 0 distance control. Left everything short. Then missed the 4 to 6 ft putt.
I could’ve easily been in the 80s but my putting was horrific.
Fifty one putts…. congrats on 2 putting twice?
Start small. 2 feet. Make 100 passes over a dime. Move to 3 feet. Do it again. Move to 4 feet. Try to hit 50. Then try putting at a hole again. For long putts stop aiming at the hole all together and aim for a 4′ circle around the hole. Now do the putt you know you can make.
One thing I found using a practice mat helped me with is to get a consistent stroke. Just like all the other clubs you need to develop a stroke that is repeatable to reduce mis-hits. Once you have that then you’ll gain confidence that the line is correct and you’re more able to focus on distance control during rounds. Pre-round practice is important there to get a feel for how the greens are rolling. You can’t replicate that with a practice mat it has to be done at the course.
YouTube has an audio version of Bob Rotella’s book Putting Out Of Your Mind which helped me understand how much putting is about visualizing the shot more than anything. It’s only about an hour long and totally worth a listen.
Five most important parts of putting practice:
1) Speed control
2) Speed control
3) Speed control
4) 3-5 footers (start line)
5) Speed control
If you can’t control pace within a 3 foot margin short/long from 20 feet you’re going to 3 jack everything. Pace off 7 good steps, goal is to stop everything inside a 6 foot circle centered on the hole.
Prior to playing, I’ll putt until the speed that day feels “natural” and I can eyeball a 10-15 footer and my instinctive putt will get within a foot either way.
Do not listen to anyone who tells you that every putt should get to the hole every time. That is madness and a recipe for 3 putting. From 20 feet, 40+% of your putts should be short of the hole, you are centering the pattern where the ball stops on the hole to maximize putts going in. This is backed by PGA Tour data, the best in the world leave half short from 30 feet, we aren’t that good, adjust accordingly or get really really good at 6 foot comebackers.
Indoors you should be focusing on start line, put a line on the ball or use the logo and roll it so that line stays solid.
Boatloads of putting drills on any SM, pick a few you think look interesting and get after it. Putting is the easiest skill to develop quickly.
The whole point of taking lessons & instruction is not only for analysis and finding out root causes of your issues……but to find out what practice exercises and drills you should be using to improve your issues.
You obviously need to work on your putting either way, but since I use the Grint too and know how it works, do you mark down a putt if you putt from off the green? If so, that’s skewing your putting stats as well as inflating your GIR stats. It might not seem like that big of a deal, but you’re also not getting a true measure of your putting performance if you’re counting strokes as putts where you’re not able to mark, lift, clean, and replace your ball and use an alignment aid on your ball to line up your shot as you would if you were on the green. Plus putting through a fringe or fairway is not the same as putting on a green.
When I got back into playing golf in my late 20s after about 10 years mostly away from the game, my putting was tragically inconsistent, and leaning strongly towards bad. I suffered through 2 seasons, then during the winter off-season I switched to cross hand. One of my big issues had been that I tend to get flippy with my wrists, which was leading to either hitting the ball with the putter open, or closed, not square, and was also causing me to scuff behind the ball too often. Switching to cross hand basically got me to lock the putter shaft to my lead (left) forearm. Instead of hitting more “wrist/arms” it changed to keeping my arms/shoulders locked in a triangle. Change is tough, I spent all winter putting across the carpet in my living room to lock in the feeling.
Part 2 was I found a drill that Dottie Pepper wrote about in I think Golf Magazine. I call it the “one ball” drill. Most of us go to the putting green to practice and we drop 3 balls down and hit medium length putts at a hole. That can have some value, but it’s not that valuable for dialing in distance because if you hit a lousy first putt you still have 2 more balls at your feet to adjust. “One ball”, you just putt 1 ball to a hole, and you keep putting at that hole until you sink the ball. The goal of this drill is to get good at 2 putting to every hole. 2 putting all 18 holes won’t hurt anyone’s game. Optimally you’ll want 6-8 holes to shoot at, at least 15′-20′ between holes, like going around the horn. You hole out at one hole, go to the next. The drill ends when you have completed all the holes 2 putting or less. If you 3 putt, the drill starts over and you have to complete all the holes again. If you complete the drill your first time around, good for you and go home! When I started it might take me half hour to complete the drill. Frustrating! After a few months I could do the drill in both directions in 10 minutes max.
Best compliment I got was mid-season that year, played with a rando. We came off 18 and he said to me, “geez that was fun to see, you’re the best putter I’ve ever played with”. I had hit 4-5 longish putts that day, and everything else from outside 20′ was ending up in tap-in range.
I still do that drill today, 30+ years later.
The secret to putting is distance control. I average around 30 putts per round. I don’t do it because I read greens amazing, I don’t do it cuz I always pick the perfect line, I don’t do it because I always hit a putt exactly where I want, although I typically do putt pretty straight on my line,… But I do it because my distance control is very good. I’m never blowing way past and I’m never leaving it way short.. even your line doesn’t really matter if you don’t hit it the correct speed.
So go to a putting green somewhere and learn how to putt to the picture.. look at the hole look at your ball, look at the hole, look at your ball and then putt to the hole in your mind.. just takes time and repetition to get the feel for how hard or soft to hit it..
I also heard one good piece of advice from a good player who said for every inch you take your club back the ball will go one yard. So in theory, if you have a 15-ft putt, bring your putter back about 5 in and accelerate through.
Pace leapfrog is a drill that will help everybody. Start by hitting a putt any distance you like, this is the first benchmark. Next ball has to go past the first ball, but by as small a margin as possible. Repeat as many times as you can in as short a distance possible.
The second drill is a Pelz game. I’ll start with moderate difficulty putts and get increasingly crazy, simulating hitting a green in reg or scrambling for par. Ill start with a 25 footer for example, the idea being making the putt or at minimum making the next for par (par 2, simulating a birdie chance). Next “hole” will be a tricky 5 foot putt for par (par 1, simulating a par save). Next one will be lag putting from 60 ft (par 2, simulating 2 putt par), and on and on until Ive played 18 holes with as low a score as possible. I’ve been -2 or -3 a few times but it’s not easy and if it is, you need to simulate more difficult putts.
Pelz games are also a great way to “gamify” practice and work on your entire putting routine.
Practice your shorter putts that are in the 3-5 feet range with a putting green you can put in your apartment, Secondly find a putting green at a range nearby or a course nearby and focus on lagging 10-30 foot putts by getting them within 3 feet in front, bonus if you get it in
Putting mat at home
Tour Tempo app with 18/9 tempo
A yardstick to work on backstroke to follow through length
Putting mirror for posture and eye position (I used mine like 4 times and haven’t touched since, but those 4 times showed me that my alignment was off)
Putt on local course putting green or at a range. Put a tee marker about 3′, 6′, and 9′ from the cup. Put a club, alignment stick, or some object no more than 3′ past the cup (this is your pace control, you can miss the cup but never short, and you can’t miss more than 3′ long). Use 5 balls and putt all 5 in from 3, then 6, then 9. Repeat, repeat, repeat. After you get decent at this then start dropping balls in random areas to work on lag putting and reading greens.
A couple of putting lessons and you can go from a 101 to an 85… is it worth it to you?
Not sure I’ve ever seen a scorecard where over 50% of the stokes are putts. You’re obviously striking the ball well, just need repetition to gain confidence on pace.
Personally, when I’m 20+ feet away, I’m trying to get the ball into a hula hoop sized area around the hole. Makes me concentrate on speed more than line and if I make it it’s just a bonus.
Speed is way way way way way more important than line. Just hit the ball at the cup with the right speed and you should be giving yourself reasonable chances to 2-putt. Obviously there are going to be some huge breakers that this won’t apply to. But for the most part you need to work on distance control if you are 3+ putting this regularly.
When you go to a putting green, pick a relatively straight putt and practice from 3ft, 5ft, 10ft and 15ft. Stay on a distance until you hit 5 putts in a row. Do that every time you practice once you hit the 15ft putts start over at another hole or direction that isn’t straight. Once you get a feel for distance then start practicing putts that aren’t straight to get a handle on reading greens.
Hitting near tour level GIR and still not breaking 100. That’s tough man
I have been tracking my stats for over two years now. My putter was always the problem. Two things that you need
1. Ghost holes (lookup shortgamegains)
These help you to see the ball roll over the cup. When you have 5min to test the greens before a round, they show you speed feedback better than letting it hit a hole. Great for practice too – they help me to better visualize the speed needed for the break i choose
2. A tee
Most of the puts you are missing are likely 3-4feet
Put a tee in the ground and putt at it 1-2 paces away. Try to hit the tee. It has been a total game changer! I have learned to love these scary putts and I actually visualize the tee if I need to on the course
So you are basically 3-putting everything. Which means the low hanging fruit for you is almost *definitely* working on speed control.
A lot of players run into this where they think they are halfway decent at putting – but then they start hitting a lot of greens and suddenly they realize lag putts are a huge weakness. When you hit greens in reg, you tend to have a lot more long ones so the number of putts can really rocket up.
This year I’ve gone from being, what I’d consider a “bad” putter, to where now I feel like putting is no longer a weakness. There were 2 big things I started doing.
The first is that I started pacing off every single putt outside of ~5 feet. I have found that a normal stride for me is just about 1 yard aka 3 feet, so if I pace off a putt and it’s 10 steps, I know I’ve got a ~30 footer.
And the second thing is that, when I warm up on the practice green before a round, I am entirely focused on speed. I bring only 1 ball to the green; not 3 like most people tend to do. The reason is, when you bring 3 balls you aren’t practicing speed as it would occur on the course. With 3 balls, you are adjusting on each putt, as opposed to reading and playing it like you actually will during the round.
So instead, I bring the one ball and I drop it a random spot, at least ~15 feet from a pin. I pace it out, and I read it just as if i were on the course. When I get the speed wrong, I don’t hit the same putt again right away; I go to another random spot, pace it off and do my process again. The idea is to get super used to the speeds so that you can hit a putt from any random spot around the right pace.
If i have time, I’ll play what I call the “2-putt game.” I do the exact same thing i just described – random spot, pace it off, go through routine; except this time I finish it out if I miss it. And then I do it again from the next random spot, but with the goal of getting four 2-putts (or makes) in a row.
It’s extremely simple, of course, but the whole point is that I’m not starting my round until I’m confident I can 2-putt most of the time. And to do that, my speed has to be fairly dialed.
The good news is a little work on the putting green is going to make you break 90, with no other change. Go practice a few hours a month. It will get so much better.
Lag putting drills
You’re averaging nearly a 3 putt on every hole. That’s almost impossible because typically you’re going to have at least a couple of holes where you have an easier chip and an opportunity to chip it close (or at least within 10-15 feet) which should leave you with 1-2 putts.
Unless you’re literally just miss every 3 foot putt and in, I’m assuming your issue is lag putting. Best thing you can do for that is practicing lag putting before every round to get a sense of the green speed. One trick that I learned as a kid and still use today is to look at the hole and do like 5 repeated practice strokes with your club hovering in the air. Only takes a few seconds because you’re just bring the club straight back and forth without setting up properly. This should give a sense of the speed for the putt.
Me and my buddy/buddies hit a practice green at our HC a couple times a week and play par 3, 9 hole matches of pitch and putt. Alternating who picks the spot and what hole we’re playing to. Helps you to practice without “practicing”. Sometimes we put a little money on the line to enhance the concentration.
Just switch to claw grip and start over 😀. It really makes you re think the putting stroke ( for me at least) .
Just commit to it . If you’re hitting 56% of greens, then you can shoot mid 70’s
Chipping and putting
Watch golf sidekick’s putting videos, listen to or read Bob Rotella’s Putting out of your Mind and Zen Golf books, and most importantly, just practice putting as much as you can.
For the practice itself:
Do the circle drill for an hour. Drop 4 balls around a hole. Putt from 1’, for a while. Then 2’, then 3’.
Do it again. And again. And again. And agajn. It will be a long hour. You will be a better putter at the end of just that first hour.
Then practice lags from all over the practice green and pay close attention to speed. Strive to get the ball into a 3’ circle every time. Speed is most important by far on every putt besides those within the 3-5’ range that you expect to make 90+% of because you’ve done the circle drill a bunch.
Dave Pelz putting bible is really good. He recommends a lot of indoor practice. He will blow your mind with the stats and the reality of how poorly we all read greens.
Need to make your putting stroke very repeatable and then get yourself some set distance. Usually this is in reference to your backstroke being your trail leg and then make your follow thru stroke to your lead leg always. Mine is 7-9’ with that stroke. It helps a lot with distance and pace control.
Another tidbit that would go hand in hand with that is lag putting. When the putt is over 10’ I just say fuck making it altogether and just try to get it within a 3’ circle of the hole so I can leave with a 2-putt max from anywhere on the green. Secret to good lag putting is to not overanalyze the everliving shit out of the green for that kind of putt. Big breaks and only look at it for a second and then hit your shot. Save the deep green reading for the putts under 10’ that you’re actually trying to make.
I can’t tell you how many dumbasses I see 4-putting greens and taking a minute or two reading each putt and then I go up there with a putt easily 4x the distance as them and drain it in 2 in under 20 seconds because I’m not all in my freaking head over it.
How on earth did you have over a 50% GIR and shoot over 100?
I have only one game over 100 this year and my GIR was 11%. I only one was I over 50% GIR and shot 74 that day.
Switch to left hand low or the claw grip. It’ll help take your wrists out of it and quite frankly, you need to do something very different. With those ball striking stats you should be shooting low 80s and maybe even into the 70s if you make a couple birdie putts.
turn putting into math. how far does it go from toe to toe? 5 steps? ok try 7, try 11 try 15. add and subtract for the slope. leave your ball under hole for way easier putts…
Practice making every 3’ and 5’ put. Practice lag putting the ball to within 2’ of the hole from 10’, 15’ and 20’. Practice before every round to gauge distance. Step off to measure distance of every put in a real round, don’t guess the distance(this helped me the most)
Practice 5 footers and 30 footers, if your 5 footers mostly go down and your 30 footers mostly go to 5 your score is gonna go down fast.
You should never be over 36 putts in a round. Just crazy
Use your back foot as a gauge for your backswing. 1/2 way to back foot is a quick 5-10 footer. Back front toe is 10-20 back of the foot is 30-40.
Line up balls around a cup and sink them all. You can order them around the cup like a clock but you have to make them all. Start at 2-5 feet
Or put 4-5 balls every 3 feet from the hole starting about 5 feet away. Make them all. You can use what you learned about the previous shots break so it’s not impossible but very difficult to drain them all.
Just putt around your place all the time. Find any thinner carpet or mat you have and putt on that.
Damn 15 three putts is crazy. There is no secret, just gotta practice putting like a ton. Like 1-2 hours a day for a few weeks. Home putting mats can only get you so far. You need to practice green reading as well.
Practice 15-20 foot putts, and get it out of your head that they’re going to go in. Anything outside of 10 feet you should only be thinking about getting the ball as close to the hole as possible. Meaning stopping the ball at or close to the hole.
Something I always do before a round to practice my pace is go to the practice green and pick a hole to aim at. Pick a spot either downhill or uphill ideally with minimal or no break and put a tee in the ground about 10-12 feet away. Then I putt to the hole with 3 balls and then back to the tee a couple times. Aiming solely just to see how the greens are likely rolling and to make sure I can stop the ball close to the hole (or tee).