Putt with a Purpose, People

It is in the DNA of the average golfer to show up to the range ten minutes before the tee time, fire off two chunked wedges, four hozzled irons, and twelve sliced drivers before scrambling to the tee box, just to three-putt 7 times during the round. Notice you didn’t get any putts in, and now you have no idea the speed of the greens. You’re basically begging for a three-putt on the first hole. What the average golfer may not realize is, there are plenty of strokes that can be saved on the greens with just a short amount of putting practice before the round. Imagine if you cut the 7 three-putts down to 3 three-putts – you could save four strokes right there. And, when I say putting practice, I don’t mean just hit a few eight-foot putts and call it good, but rather, I mean putting with a purpose. I’ll explain what that means.

Since we are obviously not PGA Tour pros, our proximity to the hole on our approach shots are going to leave us much further away from the hole. It is safe to say the amateur player proximity to the hole is going be much lengthier than ten feet. This is important because, we need to realize most of the putts during the round for us will be either, a long lag putt, or, will be a three to six-foot-putt that is left as a result from the lag putt. With that knowledge, practicing longer lag putts (20-30 feet) to help understand the speed of the greens will be more beneficial than practicing the 8-10-foot putts that the average golfer rarely will have throughout the round. Focusing on the 4-6-foot putts, and the long lag putts are where your attention should be for next round. Knowing the speed of greens will be far more helpful than reading the breaks at this stage, so dial in that speed prior to your round, and watch the strokes drop.