Distance Putting

Deco1983

I'm a mid handicapper(12) who is having trouble with distance putts but is pretty ok(make my share) from inside 10-15 ft.

The impact is that I'm 3 putting a number of times during a round so leaving shots out on the course

My routine is the same for both types of putt so I'm guessing that it's judging the speed from distance that is the main problem.

Anyone have any good drills or advice on how to manage such distance putts?

PRAF

How often do you practice your lag putting? A good drill is to practice putts at distances of 40ft, 50ft and 60ft. You try to get 3 in a row inside 3 feet from each distance. Start with trying to get 3 in a row from 40ft, if you can't do it start again. If you get 3 in a row from 40ft, move to 50 ft and so on. At the end of it, you'll have got 9 in a row from typical 3-putt distances.

Check out the Pelz Vault in the Instruction section of Golf.com for a visual of how this works. Worth a try. I need to start doing this again myself because I had two 3-putts on my last few holes on Sunday!

Best of luck

k.p.h

Lag putting has been getting increasingly difficult over the last few months. The greens started getting faster and faster (especially at my home course). Since I could not practice my long putts as much as I wanted I came up with a little plan.

I switched my stroke building practice (which i do on a mat at home) from 3ft to 5ft. I usually try to get 25 in a row a couple of times a weeks.

This has effectively moved my comfort zone away from the hole and really taken the pressure off my lag putting. I find I end up hitting better lag putts when I'm confident about the second, and hit better second putts when I'm just a little more confident. I know its only a couple of feet or whatever but their is a difference between a 2ft and a 4ft.

Their is definitely no substitute for practicing you long putting and being good at it, but i have noticed when watching the pros on TV that they often leave themselves decent sized putts after a lag putt. But they always seem to make the second ...!

In regard to lag putting itself, it's all feel IMO. you just have to let the subconscious take over and bang it up their.

One good tip I heard from Darren Clarke IIRC was "always take the slope or break out on the first putt". Pretty much meaning if the hole was cut on the edge of a level, rather than babying it up their and risking leaving it on the ridge, take it well past the ridge. He concluded saying something like "a long flat putt is always easier than a short putt with break"
:pac:

dubtom

Azinger on the golfplan video's has some good idea's. One of which is to put clubs down at varying distances,the aim being to gently roll the ball to the shaft at each distance, the result being you get a feel for each distance,be it 10 or 40 feet or whatever. Fine I suppose if you have your own green,but difficult where i play.

Kace

k.p.h wrote: »

Lag putting has been getting increasingly difficult over the last few months. The greens started getting faster and faster (especially at my home course). Since I could not practice my long putts as much as I wanted I came up with a little plan.

I switched my stroke building practice (which i do on a mat at home) from 3ft to 5ft. I usually try to get 25 in a row a couple of times a weeks.

This has effectively moved my comfort zone away from the hole and really taken the pressure off my lag putting. I find I end up hitting better lag putts when I'm confident about the second, and hit better second putts when I'm just a little more confident. I know its only a couple of feet or whatever but their is a difference between a 2ft and a 4ft.

Their is definitely no substitute for practicing you long putting and being good at it, but i have noticed when watching the pros on TV that they often leave themselves decent sized putts after a lag putt. But they always seem to make the second ...!

In regard to lag putting itself, it's all feel IMO. you just have to let the subconscious take over and bang it up their.

One good tip I heard from Darren Clarke IIRC was "always take the slope or break out on the first putt". Pretty much meaning if the hole was cut on the edge of a level, rather than babying it up their and risking leaving it on the ridge, take it well past the ridge. He concluded saying something like "a long flat putt is always easier than a short putt with break"
:pac:

Interesting kph. Out of interest, what type of indoor mat do you use and do you find it good ?

For gauging distance try this one - take 3 balls for a particular long putt on the practise green. For your first ball, purposely try and hit the ball past the hole by an appropriate amount (probably 3-5 feet), then with the next one, purposely try and hit the ball a few feet short. Finally, with the last ball, try to hit it the correct distance to the hole. This will give your mind and body the feel for that particular length putt and what it feels like to be long, short and then right (ish) distance.

stockdam

I'm not sure there is any good answer to this other than practice.

If you play on different courses then you need to be able to quickly recalibrate which comes with time.

You've also got to notice if you are leaving them short or long - if you are all over the place then it's hard to compensate.

Maybe go for a lesson and see if you are doing anything wrong - good putting requires a consistent stroke.

Tones69

stockdam wrote: »

I'm not sure there is any good answer to this other than practice.

If you play on different courses then you need to be able to quickly recalibrate which comes with time.

You've also got to notice if you are leaving them short or long - if you are all over the place then it's hard to compensate.

Maybe go for a lesson and see if you are doing anything wrong - good putting requires a consistent stroke.

Same goes for driving, chipping, pitching etc etc, gotta love golf

k.p.h

Kace wrote: »

Interesting kph. Out of interest, what type of indoor mat do you use and do you find it good ?

It a cheap thing one that was got off ebay by a mate of mine. TBH now its nothing special. He never used it so I borrowed it after reading about Dave Pelz and his 10min a day idea. I'v no carpets in the house so it's convenient but I would just use carpets otherwise.

The Dave Pelz thing went on to say something like. 10 min a day is about x amount of putts and then he multiplied it up for 4 months. He said that thats the amount of time it takes to groove a solid putting stroke. He then went on to explain the benefits of having a well grooved stroke, saying that when you miss on the course you know it was your read and not anything to do with your stroke, or if you mess up the stroke you can feel it.

TBH I have not been that dedicated, but have stuck to regiment of trying to make 25 in a row about 3 times a week, Initially from 3ft and now from 5ft. I would really recommend doing something like that, not just for the benefits of building a stroke but really for the simple fact that anything inside 3ft now feels like a tap in so it really negates the pressure.

Deco1983

Thanks for replies lads,some good stuff in there

Short and well short at that is usually the problem. Putter head weight was also mentioned by club pro informally over the last few days which was interesting.

Might look into that also

Thanks again

alxmorgan

Deco1983 wrote: »

Thanks for replies lads,some good stuff in there

Short and well short at that is usually the problem. Putter head weight was also mentioned by club pro informally over the last few days which was interesting.

Might look into that also

Thanks again

One thing I saw mentioned somewhere was to break a long putt into a series of smaller putts. So says its 30 feet. You work out your stroke for 5 feet then 10 then 15 etc etc. Building it up this way means you're not basing it on feel.

Having said that I think feel is the best way. I look at the hole while taking my practice strokes and just try to "feel" if my stroke is too long or short.
Over time your feel should improve

AldilaMan

It's better to practice to different length targets with each ball - say 25, 40 and 60 Ft. It's pointless firing 10 balls at the same 50 Ft targets as you learn something each time about the putt. On the golf course you won't get a second chance so it's better to make each putt to different distance targets. A routine I practice is to putt 5 balls to different distance targets and try to get down in 2 strokes with the added pressure of not allowing myself to leave until I get all 5 down in 2 ( or less !!)

burnerup

I read Bob Rotella book 'Putting out of your mind' recently and it seemed to help me quite a bit with all lengths of putts. Could be just getting into the right frame of mind but it seems to have helped.