How to Practice
Putting is one of the biggest parts of the game- sometimes half of the score is directly related to putting- yet most platers are oblivious to their strengths and weaknesses on the greens.
Start with a Putting Assessment:
What you need:
a putting green with 50 ft of somewhat flat surface (30' would be the next best option)
Putter, Tees and balls
Paper and something to write with
Calculator (or cell phone)
tape measure (25 ft minimum)
OR
a simulator (preferably a ExPutt)
Setting up for a putting green:
Start by measuring out distance from the hole- placing a tee at 10', 20', 30', 40' and 50' (5 tees)
Set your tape measure near the hole
Start the Assessment:
Drop a ball somewhere between any of tees and line up the putt (be sure you will not hit any of the tees trying to make it).
Write down the starting distance (approximate distance is ok- don't need to be exact just be random- 22, 34, 47 ect.)
Go through your pre-shot routine and try to make the putt
Using the tape measure- measure the distance the ball is from the hole (if you make it- write down zero- if it is 2'3" from the hole- write down 2.3
Move to a different distance and repeat
Hit 10 putts in the 10-15' range, 10 from 16-30' and 10 from 31-50' (random is KEY)
Using a calculator- divide the remaining distance of each putt by the total distance to get a percentage of error
Sort the 10 putts into groups- 10-15', 16-30' and 30-50'
total all the remaining distances and divide by 10 (this will give you a percentage of error from that distance range)
-example 10'-15' bucket
2'3" = 2.3
1'6"= 1.6
4"= 0.04
make = 0
1'4"= 1.4
3'4"= 3.4
make = 0
make =0
7" = 0.07
10" = 0.1
Total for putts 10'-15'= 8.91 (or 8.91% error percentage)
One putt that was 3'4" caused this percentage to be high- so the goal is to try and make all 10 as one putt from this length is critical to lowering your overall %.
Just for reference, I keep track once a week and this is part of my practice- over time you should continue to add every session together and after each session your results will be more accurate. If I have a player with results like this:
10-15' = 6.45%
16-30' = 5.15%
31-50' = 4.88%
This clearly gives us incite as to where the players strengths and weaknesses are in their putting. I also look at # of putts holed from each range- so their make percentage maybe as follows:
10-15' = 30%
16-30' = 23%
31-50' = 6.25%
Knowing the players strengths and weaknesses is the foundation to building a plan for improvement- once we know the areas we are weak, we can make better decisions on course to score better and know when we can be aggressive.
Taking this a step further, I would then take a player who scores well on the flat surfaces into the TPI LORDS test and add breaks to fine tune the assessment another level.
Start with a Putting Assessment:
What you need:
a putting green with 50 ft of somewhat flat surface (30' would be the next best option)
Putter, Tees and balls
Paper and something to write with
Calculator (or cell phone)
tape measure (25 ft minimum)
OR
a simulator (preferably a ExPutt)
Setting up for a putting green:
Start by measuring out distance from the hole- placing a tee at 10', 20', 30', 40' and 50' (5 tees)
Set your tape measure near the hole
Start the Assessment:
Drop a ball somewhere between any of tees and line up the putt (be sure you will not hit any of the tees trying to make it).
Write down the starting distance (approximate distance is ok- don't need to be exact just be random- 22, 34, 47 ect.)
Go through your pre-shot routine and try to make the putt
Using the tape measure- measure the distance the ball is from the hole (if you make it- write down zero- if it is 2'3" from the hole- write down 2.3
Move to a different distance and repeat
Hit 10 putts in the 10-15' range, 10 from 16-30' and 10 from 31-50' (random is KEY)
Using a calculator- divide the remaining distance of each putt by the total distance to get a percentage of error
Sort the 10 putts into groups- 10-15', 16-30' and 30-50'
total all the remaining distances and divide by 10 (this will give you a percentage of error from that distance range)
-example 10'-15' bucket
2'3" = 2.3
1'6"= 1.6
4"= 0.04
make = 0
1'4"= 1.4
3'4"= 3.4
make = 0
make =0
7" = 0.07
10" = 0.1
Total for putts 10'-15'= 8.91 (or 8.91% error percentage)
One putt that was 3'4" caused this percentage to be high- so the goal is to try and make all 10 as one putt from this length is critical to lowering your overall %.
Just for reference, I keep track once a week and this is part of my practice- over time you should continue to add every session together and after each session your results will be more accurate. If I have a player with results like this:
10-15' = 6.45%
16-30' = 5.15%
31-50' = 4.88%
This clearly gives us incite as to where the players strengths and weaknesses are in their putting. I also look at # of putts holed from each range- so their make percentage maybe as follows:
10-15' = 30%
16-30' = 23%
31-50' = 6.25%
Knowing the players strengths and weaknesses is the foundation to building a plan for improvement- once we know the areas we are weak, we can make better decisions on course to score better and know when we can be aggressive.
Taking this a step further, I would then take a player who scores well on the flat surfaces into the TPI LORDS test and add breaks to fine tune the assessment another level.