Drills for Putting

[PuttPutt]

Anybody here has a drill or practice routine for putting? Please share. I wish to improve this aspect of my game.

Thanks!

[zeg]

I'm sure there are threads on this topic if you search.

Nonetheless, I am a fan of the ladder-style drill that works as follows. Putt from 1 foot. If you sink it, putt from 2 feet. After each made putt, move back 1 foot. See how far out you can get before you miss. On a miss, you can either start over from 1 foot, or move in a foot or two as a penalty, depending on whether you want to focus on the shorter or longer putts.

For longer putts, I like to take three balls, mark a spot on the green, and putt at a particular hole until all three are 2-putts or better (or until they're all lagged to within some distance of the hole if you want to separate your lag putting from your ability to clean up).

Finally, I like putting to a ball marker on the green instead of a hole. It's a smaller target and is helpful for learning to aim at a target other than the hole.

[Rexx]

[ ] OP is +1.9
[ ] OP is leveling
[ ] All of the above
[ ] None of the above

Hmmm....

[ks8829]

I like to focus on distance control and making straight putts of distances of 2 - 5 feet.

Distance is judged by using me feet as a distance guage.
1) ball postion is constant and my feet are always set the same
2) one distance is 1/2 to my rear foot
3) 2nd distance is to the inside of my rear foot
4) 3rd distance is just outside my rear foot

The tempo is the same for every putt and you can judge the distance without putting to a hole and watch the distance the ball rolls out at each backstroke distances above. Make sures that your forward putt finishes the same distance as your backstroke distance. This drill will help you feel confidence with distance control and help you eliminate three putting.

Straight putts
all putts are straight putt.
1) practice making putts from 2 - 5 feet
2) this drill will exposure any problems in your set up while putting
3) you are working on the proper posture, grip, grip pressure, shoulder movement, one piece putting stroke.


The two drills working together will help you become a better putter. Distance control will help you lag putts within the 2 - 3 foot circle of the hole and you have already practice making putts from 2 - 5 feet. While off the green if you chip within a 10 foot circle around the hole you have a good chance of getting up and down, since you practice making putts from 5 feet out.

The ultimate goal in putting is to have 30 or less putts for 18 holes, so if you two putt every hole that is 36 putts, that means you need to get up and down at least 6 times during your round.

[Leftygolfer]

I do two. I do the three foot phil drill. It is not that much fun but helps with confidence. Then I do a Dave Pelz 20 foot drill for speed. Take three balls, 2 tees, and mark a twenty foot putt on each site of a hole. The goal is to roll 10 the optimum speed (get past the hole no more than 3 feet) in a row. Highly challenging.

[PuttPutt]

I'm sure there are threads on this topic if you search.

zeg, thank you for sharing. I will try this on Sunday. Sounds fun.

I like to focus on distance control and making straight putts of distances of 2 - 5 feet.

I have printed this out to help me remember. Thank you for sharing these drills. I appreciate it.

[James_Black]

My old pro was a brilliant putter.
To keep up his game he'd pick 2 holes on either side of the putting green (at least a 40 foot putt) and would proceed to hit putts until he sunk one.
He wouldn't spend that long either on the putting green.

As a +2 handicapper your putting must be pretty good.
I think 6-10 footers would be one of the main things for you to focus on.

Do you know anybody as good at putting as you?
If so you could have a few competitions, I find that's the best way to practice.

[quackhead]

I do the ladder, from north south east and west. Kinda like "around the world" on basketball.

[a.youden]

1 that helps me is that what you put on your ball! if you get a ball marker and put a + on the ball you can align the putter up with that. i.e. ball --> +l <-- Putter face. the vertical is to make sure the putter face is square, the horizontal is for your line. if you trust your putter stroke and line, It should help, like it did me!

[PuttPutt]

I do the ladder, from north south east and west. Kinda like "around the world" on basketball.

Tried this yesterday. It was fun! For a while there I felt that there was improvement in my putt or maybe I was just imagining things hehe

Thanks for the tip zeg and quackhead.

[DarkPrince]

One of my coworkers said one of her assistant coaches (I guess he was basically an assistant coach, but he used to do mini-tour play) made them do a drill of like 50 uphill putts then 50 downhill putts and repeat as necessary until they were doing well. This is particularly tough though since I think most practice greens are relatively flat :/ We have 2 at delbrook, one for chipping/putting that is pretty flat, and one that is down by the driving range that actually used to be a hole like 10 years ago. Since its actually contoured and really a pain in the ass, thats where they did the drill...a little dangerous though because it is literally downrange from the teeing area for the range...and gets hit quite often since everyone and their mother slices (course design ftw! :P). But either way, she said it made her feel like she could putt just about anything. Phil's drill with putting in a circle around the hole at 3 ft...6 ft...etc seems like it might be good too.