Putting downhill vs uphill (2x distance of downhill length) poll

[Ernest Jones]

1 hour ago, vangator said:

Do you mean share pictures?  If so, I've never successfully captured pics from the web and posted.  I'd love to because I have a couple of other topics that would be fun with pics (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).  Actually pics of golf holes.

If you know how, I'm all ears...I mean eyes.

No, I meant share what you're smoking! Lol.

By the by, you may still be smoking it as you quoted the wrong person.

[vangator]

2 hours ago, Ernest Jones said:

No, I meant share what you're smoking! Lol.

By the by, you may still be smoking it as you quoted the wrong person.

I guess I needed to clear up the haze before posting.  cough... cough.

I meant to do a multi quote, but your post is the only one that showed.  But I see when it got posted, the other post showed.  Gotta love it!

[dchoye]

On ‎09‎/‎02‎/‎2016 at 2:44 PM, Fourputt said:

All I can do is hope that you do all this wandering around while others are following their routine.  If you wait til it's your turn to start this process, then I pray that I never have to play with you.

This makes no sense at all.  The difference in rolling time is typically a matter of 2-3 seconds.  I can't imagine changing the pace of my routine to try and match the speed of the putt.  The entire idea is unfathomable to me.  My routine is just that, a routine, and it's the same for every shot from driver to putting green  The rhythm doesn't vary.  The only time I don't follow it is with a tap-in.

It might sound like a long time. I take little time with my routine. I just go behind the hole, pick my spot  and then walk back to my ball .I have played with fellows who have circle the putt 2-3 times around look at every possible angle . That is every time consuming .It's usually the ones who are gambling and take the extra time on the green .

If I am the further one out and am away I will already be behind the hole while everyone else is marking their ball.

If I am waiting while someone else is away. I will be looking how their putt is moving if its along my line of putt. So I don't really need to read sometimes.

Edited February 11, 2016 by dchoye

[Golfingdad]

On February 5, 2016 at 11:26 AM, Golfingdad said:

If the slopes are severe enough that you can't stop it near the hole no matter how lightly you hit it, then the length is going to determine which I choose.  If it's a length I expect to MAKE, say <5 or 6 feet, then I'd probably go with the shorter downhill putt.  But if it's a longer one, then the chance of a one-putt is much slimmer than the chance of a 3-putt after it races past, so I'll go with the longer uphill one where the chance of a two-putt is much more likely.

Edit to apologize for repeating @Ernest Jones ... I swear I started typing before I saw his post. :P

Right on the lower limit of what I was talking about above - because this is pretty makable - but it's close to a really good example:

 

4-5 feet down a severe enough slope that he's left with 4-5 feet coming back.  Without actually trying to do the math, it seems to me like it's at least worth considering that the 9 footer coming up the hill would be a preferable option.

[Golfingdad]

OK, I'm sitting at home twiddling my thumbs today, so why not do the math.  A PGA Tour player in the middle of the pack makes something close enough to 75% of his 5' putts that I'll use that as my sample.  If he has 100 five foot putts that he's going to one putt 75 of them.  Considering my video example above, he's leaving himself another of equal length so for those 25 he misses, he'll also miss 25% of those, which is between 6 and 7.  (Since it's the easier uphill putt, let's call it 6.)  That would be 131 total putts for an average PGA Tour player in Levin's situation above. (For the record, he made his second putt today.)

The same PGA Tour player makes 25% of his 10 foot putts.  I would make the argument that a straight uphill 10 footer is almost impossible to three putt, but I'd probably make that argument by saying "he'll make that 99 times out of 100."  So, for that reason, let's say 1 three putt.  Regardless, it's not even really close ... 25 one-putts plus 74 two-putts and 1 three-putt puts our hypothetical pro at 176 putts total in those 100 attempts.

I'm no Brain Scientist but, I am pretty sure that 131 is significantly less than 176. Soooooo, I guess I'll go with the shorter putt.

---

Just to humor myself though, I did suggest that I was thinking about longer putts originally, so what happens if I use the same situation but go with 8 and 16 instead of 5 and 10?

I don't know the answer because PGAtour.com doesn't have stats for individual distances outside of 10', but I suspect that the results might be similar.

[saevel25]

36 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

Right on the lower limit of what I was talking about above - because this is pretty makable - but it's close to a really good example:

The guy shouldn't have hit it so hard ;)

[vangator]

I had a 15 foot downhill putt last year at my home course that I had to putt uphill initially to get it near the hole.  Kind of like that chip Tiger made at the Masters on #16.  Almost made it.

I practice quite a bit at this one course that has their practice green like glass.  Flat putts roll forever.  Downhill putts would be brutal.  I can't imagine the course being like that.  The people playing would be screaming.