Are You a Good Putter? & Why/Why Not?

I believe the ability to putt the ball well can take a high HCP to a mid HCP, a mid HCP down to a low HCP. It's that crucial to success.

In the past couple of years or so, I have become down right obsessed w/ putting. Techniques, putters themselves, green reading, how a properly struck ball rolls, the kind of grass the green is, with/against the grain, etc etc etc.

I have put countless hours in just working on putting. At home or practice greens. This has paid off in lowering my scores tremendously.

Many golfers I have seen or played with aren't good putters, at all. I never understood how someone who is serious about golf, rarely takes the time to work on putting. They'll have the nice $200 putter and be a good golfer in every other aspect of the game, but won't have a clue on the greens.

I know putting is boring to some. It's a lot "sexier" to bomb those drives than to drop a 12 footer on the green. I get that. But, what I don't get is why many golfers are content w/ being bad w/ the flat stick. It's like most just accept it. It doesn't bother them or it's not important to them. As long as they're driving it well, they're all smiles.

So, what say you golfers? Are you a good putter? Why or why not? What (if anything) are you doing to improve? Or, what did you do to become a good putter?

I'm a pretty good putter and that's becuase I work at it constantly during golf season and during the off season. No sense in hitting it 275+ yards if you're going to 3 putt every green. Short game is the key.

I wouldn't be anywhere without my chipping and putting. In my opinion most golfers can't read greens properly plus making a consistent stroke is tough along with keeping your head still. I worked with a pro several years ago on reading greens and basically I was almost never playing enough break. I practice my putting and chipping more than anything else so I'm able to keep a consistent stroke. I mean I am human and sometimes things get out of whack but usually I can't right the ship quickly with my putting.

Relative to my overall skill level (Less than a 1-year noob)... I'm a good and horrible putter.

To clarify, I'm fully capable of 2-putting from almost anywhere on the green. That's the good part. The horrible part is that I'm fully capable of 2-putting from almost anywhere on the green.

I guess the specific way to break it down is that I'm decent with lag putts and dreadful with short putts. At the moment, my 'working on it' involves pretty much just grinding it out. I'm in the middle of a job change/relocation transition for the first half of the year, so I might not have the opportunity to really put in a good deal of work with lessons, practice sessions, etc.

The plan, however, is to make all future lessons for the next year or so short game only.

I'm above average at putting I suppose. I hit the practice green at my home course every time I get a chance. I think they're 6 or 7 holes on it with different elevations, dips and doozies, etc.. I hit GIR about 80-85% and drop a birdie 75-80% of the time.

I'll take my mediocre 220yd drive with my irons and mid-game over a 275yd drive and wedges any day of the week. It's not the drive you score on it's the putts. It's not the longest club in the bag, it's the shortest.

Putting is the only part of my game that I can depend on every time I walk on to the course. I have a good stroke, good setup. I have days when my reading is off, but I rarely make a poor stroke. I average around 29 or 30 putts per hole, I average less than one 3 putt per 36 holes. Aside from a few warmup putts before a round, I rarely practice except when I play. Putting just seems easy to me.... wish the rest of my game was that way.

Good to hear fellas. I think most of us understand that that's how the majority of your "scoring" is done, w/ the putter.

As I have progressed in my game and have had the opportunity to play alongside some great golfers, it always seemed to me a lot of them were bad putters compared to the rest of their game.

That's why I am always a bit confused when I get to a good sized tournament and EVERYONE is out hitting balls an hour before their tee times and 5 guys are on the putting green.

Maybe you need to practice to get that down to single digits of putts

per hole For me, I practice a bit, but I'm naturally pretty coordinated so even if I don't practice, I average right around 2 putts per hole (between 1.9 and 2.1, probably almost 2 on the nose overall). I need to work on the mid-range stuff to get more 1-putts, but it's not even on the radar as my limiting factor at the moment.

I'm a good putter when i am playing a good iron game. the last two times i played my grip was all screwed up and i was spraying the ball out right. the last thing i was worried about was putting. now that i've got my grip sorted, i'm sure i'll worry about it more. the point of my story is, with high handicappers, putting should be their second to last concern, right after the driver. cause if it takes you 5 shots to get to a par 4 green, is there really any point to putting practice? so no, i completely disagree that a high handicap can be a mid handicap through putting. a high handicap's main concern should be his irons. a mid handicap should concern himself with his driver and putting tee shots into the fairway, and can get to the green in a decent number of shots. once he is confident with his lofted clubs he can concentrate on putting. just my $.02

no offense, but how the hell are you a 14 handicap?

I agree w/ what you said about high HCP. Depending on HOW high, they shouldn't worry too much about putting. I agree with that.

However, I believe w/ good putting, a 25 HCP can become an 18 HCP. I would call that high to mid. No?

I'm a ok putter.

I very rarely 2 putt when I'm on the green (But I normally have a greenside chip and get it close) My problem is the putts just aren't dropping on the first putt.
I'd get on average 2-3 one putts a round.
I don't miss the putts by much normally by a couple of inches past the hole.

i see where you're going. but taking 7 strokes off is quite a big jump. and putting 7 fewer strokes per round would take quite a bit of putting practice. but, if this person would aim at taking a half a stroke off per hole with their iron game, this would result in a 9 stroke swing, and i think a better use of time. hitting good iron shots gives you confidence on the green. putting well may give you a bit of confidence, but if you suck at hitting irons then all the confidence in the world won't help you. so theoretically yes, one could bring their handicap from a high to mid by putting alone, but i'd urge him to get his swing down first.

As would I.

This is kind of what I thought as well. 80% GIR? That's PGA Tour level numbers.

I just put in the scorecards into an online calculator and that's what it gave me I kept from my past 10 or so rounds of golf I had stashed in the dashboard of my truck. I don't have an "official" USGA HC just that one. I obviously was suffering from worse insomnia than I thought, those 80-85 and 75-80 were not supposed to be on there. I just got up from about a 45 minute sleep and jumped back on here and noticed this thread. Had actually forgotten I posted it. Insomnia and 3 good glasses of crown royal don't mix so well for the memory. I apologize for that post. And, no offense taken. That was an honest mistake. Again, I apologize.

Short game and putting is the best part of my game. If I managed to get my long game together, I would drop fast. I do make the occasional 3-putt or chunk a chip, but compared to the long game, it's pretty good. When playing, chipping and putting is usually where I save my game from a round of bogeys and double-bogeys. I common hole would be pulling the drive into the rough or woods, not getting the ball on the green in regulation, maybe getting it on in the next shot and if I'm lucky, making the putt for par. Statistics show it too.

I don't practice it as much for that very reason. Doesn't mean I don't practice it, just not as much as the full swing.

I've always been good at putting, but never a good putter. I attribute some of it to never having a putter that fits me, so i am forced to hold my hands higher than normal, which is just uncomfortable. I am a goof green reader, and my set up seems fine, but i have A LOT of near-misses. Just short, burns the edge, lips out. I average about 33 putts per round, or 1.85 putts per hole. I am a good chipper, but my scrambling stats are skewed because i don't always make the putts.

I'd have to say one of the most consistent parts of my game...
Avg 18: 83.44 DIF: 58.1%
Avg 9: 40 Drive Dist: --
Par 3 Avg: 3.61 GIR: 32.46%
Par 4 Avg: 4.75 Scramble: 33.07%
Par 5 Avg: 5.32 Putts/18: 31.85
Scoring Avg: 83.22 Pen/18: 0.21

Edit: I work all year round both at the course and in my basement on putting. I'm a member on base at work so i go over everyday at lunch to chip/putt for an hour and scarf down a sandwich on the way back to the office...I'm very mechanical of sorts, do the same thing in repitition, even on the practice green as i would in a regular round, never putting from the same place twice. That and my chipping has helped me hole more short ones from the sides of the green and short iron drops (rare) from inside 100 will make those "0"s on the score card lower the putts lol.

I am a good putter. 30 putts per round average. I also put that down to good short game. When I miss the green I can get it to tap in range very often. I don't make enough longer putts though. Lag putting is good. Gotta make more 6-15 footers to be a great putter.

I wish my long game was the equivalent