How do you "practice" putting?

[clubmaker15]

What is the best way to practice putting? Any good drills or alignment aids would be helpful too. How do you work on your swing-path and/or distance control?

[Wisco-Kid]

I have a putting mat that is 8 feet long with a cup at the end. Nothing fancy but it lets me know if I am rolling the ball straight. I put some scotch tape on it the width of my putter to help me visualize my stroke better. Sometimes I will put a mirror behind the cup to show me if my eyes are lined up and if the putter is flat on the ground. I usually putt on this about 20 minutes a night. I have been doing it all winter and hope to see if it helped me at all in the next couple of weeks.

[Shindig]

What is the best way to practice putting? Any good drills or alignment aids would be helpful too. How do you work on your swing-path and/or distance control?

I believe that, like much of golf, putting is as much mental as it is physical. As such, I suggest that as little as possible of your practice include missing the cup.

Now, this looks like I'm saying the obvious - we'd all be better putters if we put the ball in the cup more often! - but bear with me. Set up 3 foot putts (about as far from the cup as your putter length, assuming you have a regular enough putter) and make as many in a row as you can. Have a set number where you can't leave the putting green until you've made that many in a row from 3 feet, without repeating the same putt twice (go around in a circle). Phil Mickelson does this for 100 putts going in. You don't need that many, although being able to do that would be nice! I do two sets of 5 and one set of 10, with a miss starting my current record over, but once I have 5, I can "check off" one of the fives, or the ten if I make it that far. My goal is to have it be three sets of ten by the end of the summer. Be careful where you step to pick up the balls, by the way. No use having tons of fresh spike marks in your way! You should also work on some from 5 and 7 feet. There are several advantages to practicing your putts within this close to the hole. One, you force yourself to focus on putts, no matter how small they seem. The pressure of having to sink your tenth to be able to leave is almost like the par- or bogey-saving putt. Being good at the short putts turns bogeys into pars and double-bogeys into singles. This was the difference in mis-90s and low-90s for me. Two, you get used to the ball falling in the cup - not a bad mental image before any putt. Three, you will find yourself resisting the temptation to guide the ball to the hole on short putts. Fourth, being good at various short to medium putts takes a lot of pressure off your chipping - and then an improvement in your chipping will yield more results, too. Finally, if you're sinking these consistently during a round, you avoid that bad feeling. Because really, on any shot in which you make contact with the ball, what feels worse than missing a 3-foot putt? Maybe a good drive that lands a few inches O.B., but those are far rarer for most, if not all, of us than missing a 3-footer. Then, do some 2-putting from 20 feet. There isn't much sense, I believe, in practicing too far from there: beyond 20 feet, you're probably just trying to leave yourself an easy second putt - although you should be thinking of holing it. But really, look at the PGA Tour average from beyond 20 feet. If they aren't anywhere near regular on doing that, we shouldn't fool ourselves into thinking we can be anytime soon. Don't do too much of this, just get yourself consistently to make 2-putts from there. Again, no more than one ball from the same spot in a row, otherwise you get feedback for your second that wasn't there for the first. You'll see people "practicing" 50 foot putts, across the putting green, hitting ten in a row and seeing one come close or go in. They think they've taught themselves to putt like Tiger. All they've really done is ingrained the "I missed that putt" mentality in their own mind.

[andre112]

For me, there are 3 things to practice.

1. Stroke/Alignment:

Make sure I align my feet/shoulder properly.
Make sure my putter face is square at impact.
I have those 8 ft putting mat as well.
I would place a ball anywhere on the mat and see I can make the putt.
Since there is no break at all, if I miss, it must be my stroke/alignment not because of mis-reading the putt.
I also have a putting mirror placed on the mat. So I can check my shoulder alignment and see if my eyes are directly above the ball.

2. Short putts

Go to a practice green at your local range. Place 4 or 5 balls 3 ft. away from hole and equally spaced. Go thru each ball. If I miss a putt, I start over until I make them all.

3. Lag Putts

Also at a practice green, drop a ball anywhere and pick a random hole. See if I can lag it close. I would go thru all the routine. Putt until hole out. Then pick another hole.

[Avid Golfer]

What is the best way to practice putting? Any good drills or alignment aids would be helpful too. How do you work on your swing-path and/or distance control?

I don't know if there is one method of practice that is better than another when it comes to putting.

As far as aids go I have a Butch Harmon's Putting Insight mirror that I got cheap, and is realtively small and light weight. I use it occasionally to check my shoulder alignment, eye alignment, and putter head alignment. The drills and swing-path will depend on what type of stroke you desire to make. There is the relatively straight back and straight through putting stroke, the arc back and arc through putting stroke, the arc back and straight through putting, and probably many others. Green speeds are constantly changing (unless you're playing in a PGA, or LPGA tournament where they test speeds on every green every day) so distance control will probably be dependent on you to figure out each time you play. Sometimes the practice green(s) will be a close speed to some of the greens on the course (not all greens on the course will always be the same speed). On those days a couple of practice putts from one cup to another cup back and forth a few times will give you a good feel for distance control.

[zmzman]

Great topic, It's always fun to know what others are doing to make practicing their putting more enjoyable and effective.

I completely agree with shindig in saying that putting is as much mental as anything and confidence is the most important thing.

For me, when I'm at home I just make sure I have a straight putt on the carpet and use a poker chip as my "hole" then I move to a quarter, then a nickel then a dime, to make sure my stroke is grooved to a point where I can feel that the ball is coming off the head in the right spot.

At the practice green, I use the Dave Stockton practice game. I place 4 or 5 balls on one side of the hole, starting at 2 ft, then 5,8,12,15 etc in a straight line...I start by hitting the closest one first and moving back. If I miss one I have to set them up again and try all over again. Once I make them all I move to another side of the hole and repeat the process. I know there is a theory that repetition on the practice green is not really applicable to the actual on course situation but I know for a fact that I gain confidence in hitting these "must makes" because I have practiced them over and over, especially the short ones.

[Guest]

To practice distance control I don't even use a hole. Making putts is not always the result of a good swing with the putter. What we can do though, is practice making good swings giving ourselves better percentage chances of making putts. Since greens are not perfect, and even perfect strokes of the putter don't result in a dropped putt, all we can do is help our chances right?
So, to practice, I make putts in increments. I putt the first ball to 3 feet, or as close as I can to three feet. Then I make the following putts in one foot increments from that first ball. (1st ball = 3 ft, 2nd ball = 4 ft, 3rd ball = 5 ft, etc) I think this drill has significantly helped my feel for distance control. Don't worry about making or missing putts, worry about making good strokes.

[Brooklyn]

a glass on the floor in your office...

well thats how they do it in the movies.

[SwinginCaveman]

Just remember to make a pendulum motion. There should not be much wrist or arm action in your putting motion, nor should there be much body movement; it's really a shoulder-dependent swing.


As for lag putts, which I end up with a lot , I use this rule of thumb:

60 ft putts should stop within 3 feet
40 ft putts should stop within 2 feet
20 ft putts should stop within 1 foot

Obviously the closer the better but if you can do at least that you will have a much better chance of getting up and down.

[larlev]

LOL....I practice 50 footers all the time....

[DavidFehertysBike]

I do a mix of what alot of people have written already. From time to time. The putting to the edge of the practice green is a great one that ingrains good tempo and feel. But something specific I do is that i wedge a ball bewtween the putter shaft and my right wrist (im a righty) put my left behind my back and make 10 5 foot putts with the ball still wedged between the shaf and right arm. Then i put on my left with the ball still wedged and I make 10 5 foot putts with both hands. It promoted a good one-piece stroke in me where you are making your stroke with the big muscles in your shoulders and back and not your arms. Then I go to a far end of the green and putt the ball from one end of the green to the fringe of the other side with my left eye closed. This helps with my bad habit of following the ball. That is basically my pre-round routine, though I do it every day if I can. Takes about 15 mintues.

Oh and there is always the good ole dropping ball from your nose drill..lol

[x-forged]

i like to set up 10 or so balls surrounding the hole at the same distance, and not stop till i make them all. and then i repeat, and repeat. also i will set up a ball 3, 7, 10, 15, and 20 feet respectively in a straight line. ill start with the shortest one and work my way back. ill start over if i miss one.

[Tin Pot]

In honesty, I don't. I try to hit 3 18ft, 3 6ft and 6 3ft putts before I go out to get the green speed.

No, I don't putt particularly well, but getting a practice green worth having at home is expensive.

[lordnazgul]

I have a couple of things that i work on.

Firstly for distance control i get in my lounge (its about 30ft long) and pick random spots on the carpet, darker patches, crumbs etc and put to them. The goal is to not land it on top, but to put it at most 12 inches past. I also make sure i do for example a longer one, then a short one, then a medium length, this way your body does not get used to putting to a specific length, so it is actually you who is judging the speed correctly.

To make sure my stroke is good i simply put a line on my ball and make sure when i hit the put it rolls along this line. You have to remember that carpets have grains and are not perfectly flat, so the ball will rarely run true. As long as for the first 5 feet or so the line is straight, i know i have made a good stroke.

Finally, focussing on the contact i make strokes with my eyes closed, and feel where on the clubface the ball is coming off. This way i know if there is a problem with my setup/swing that needs altering.

[MrKadash]

Mine is simple. I pick three distances, usually 10, 20, then 30ft., and practice my putting stroke without looking to see where it ends up until after the ball stops rolling. I pick my line, then strictly concentrate on tempo and distance control. My goal is to keep five putts or so from each distance within tap in range (of course if my line is decent). Nothing earth shattering, I suppose multitudes practice this way.

[Doctorfro]

There's so much you can do to practice putting. There's no substitute for experience. One of the best things I do is putt in the living room working on making the ball roll end over end (line up the words and make them form the illusion of a line going straight around the ball once struck). I try to make my stroke as smooth as possible. That way when I go to the course I just have to learn to vary my swing length for the appropriate distance. All the other stuff like playing break, etc. has to be practiced on the putting green and learned in the course of play.

[irspow]

My favorite putting drill is simply to place balls starting at six inches from the cup and then spaced about every foot until at the edge of the green. Make one, step sideways, make the next, step, etc. until I reach the edge of the green.

You get really good from inside about fifteen feet this way and get to know the very slight increase in stroke from one foot to the next. You also wind up practicing a lot more than most people inside of three foot. It breeds tremendous confidence making all the short ones while working your way out.

This drill is even more beneficial on a severe slope giving you much more experience in judging how much more important speed is than direction. Most amateurs don't seem to realize that they almost never miss a putt by more than a foot or two in direction, but that almost all of their three putts are a result of poor speed control. Just food for thought.

Tom