How Do I Judge Putting Distance?

[Willard46]

How Do I Judge Putting Distance?

[golfro]

asked a... 8 handicap...?

[kennay92]

theres a lot of variables that play into it, it's really all feel though, can't really just tell someone how to do it.. at least i can't.

[bwdial]

asked a... 8 handicap...?

Probably chips 'em all in. ;)

[Beady]

My putting has improved astronomically over the last few weeks and I'll tell you why.

I get behind my ball, crouch down to get a read. All I do is look, I don't think to myself " well, it goes left, blah blah blah", just look and take it all in .

I start walking back to my ball and take my grip. I stand over the ball and look to the hole and think " ok, that far, uphill/downhill a little etc"
Look down, check my putter face alignment and swing. All of this is done fairly quickly. I have made a conscious effort to stop thinking about putting. I let my brain get a look at the break in the green, take note of how far away it is..... then putt. You'd be amazed how smart your brain is at making putts if you just give it the information and let it happen.

[out_in_30]

My putting has improved astronomically over the last few weeks and I'll tell you why.

very nice. i try and implement a similar approach.. taking too long just causes all sorts of demons to creep in and the muscles tense which never leads to anything good. to the OP, listen to what Beady just said.

[ks8829]

I use a method that works for me on distance control.

1) I keep the same tempo on all my putts
2) my release is the same for 90% of my putts especially longer putts
2a) my release distance is also the same on 90% of my putts
3) I judge the distance on the distance I take the club back
4) I use my feet as a guage of distance

It works for me and made me a more consistent putter. I still need to work on the distances I left several birdie putts just short but overall I am very happy with this new putter style

[2bGood]

First thing to do is get a read for the speed on the practice green. Find a flat spot (a level helps) and role the ball ten yards, you want to measure this out as close as you can. I have 1 yard marked on my putter, so I can 10 yard marked out to within an inch. You then want to time how long it takes the ball to roll ten yards. I find a regular timex stop watch will do the trick. Once you have the timing down you can then figure out how long of a stroke you need to roll the ball for that amount of time. You are going to need several tests in order to get this down. I find for every 1" of stoke I get .23 seconds of role. This can gets you close, but then you need to take into account slope. The easiest calculation is for each degree of slope, take the square root / pie. Next you have to look at the grain of the grass. When putting south after 12:47 ........





Or just say F**K it and putt.

[Mattplusness]

First thing to do is get read for the speed on the practice green. Find a flat spot and role the ball ten yards, you want to measure this out as close as you can. I have 1 yard mark on my putter, so I can do this. You then want to time how long it takes the ball to roll ten yards. I find a regular timex stop watch will do the trick. Once you have the timing down you can then figure out how long of a stroke you need to roll the ball for that amount of time. You are going to need several tests in order to get this down. I find for every 1" of stoke I get .23 seconds of role. This can gets you close, but then you need to take into a count slope. The easiest calculation is to take each degree of slope and take the square root / pie. Next you have to look at the grain of the grass. When putting south after 12:47 ........

.Classic.

[Zeph]

Feel, the same thing I use if I want to throw the ball close to the hole.

[wrx_junki]

With your eyes.

[Game]

I only use feel to putt basing it off of my experience on the practice green earlier but some people will pace out each putt and have an idea of how far back they need to bring the putter to get it that distance + or - slope of the green..

[Zeph]

You still have to use feel and judging with the eyes. On the long game, you got a club for different distances, and it's not critical if your shot is 5 yards long or short. On the green, 5 feet long can be fatal. You hit everything from 50 feet to 1 foot with the same club. There is just no way to judge and regulate the distance without using our built-in distance perception and feel.

[alisdair]

Same as for chipping and pitching: the 3 bears approach. I make a practice stroke hard enough to hit the putt to make it halfway there, then one to put it 6 feet past, then my last practice stroke is something in between those.

(Then I hit the putt fat.)

[TourSpoon]

After getting a read and factoring in uphill/downhill, etc., I set up and take a few practice strokes looking at the hole, not the ball. Then look ball, hole, ball, let it go.

[BostonSully]

With your eyes.

lol. I tend to close my eyes and sniff it out.

[BostonSully]

Same as for chipping and pitching: the 3 bears approach. I make a practice stroke hard enough to hit the putt to make it halfway there, then one to put it 6 feet past, then my last practice stroke is something in between those.

LOL Too true.. The 3 bears usually happens after 3 beers for me though haha. I crouch read the lie take a few practice swings nowhere near my ball for what I would expect that distance to be. Then step up 1-2 practice swings to make sure im still feeling the distance then I address look at the hole check if im still aligned and let it roll.

Do the same thing every time to maintain consistancy.

[kpaulhus]

First thing to do is get a read for the speed on the practice green. Find a flat spot (a level helps) and role the ball ten yards, you want to measure this out as close as you can. I have 1 yard marked on my putter, so I can 10 yard marked out to within an inch. You then want to time how long it takes the ball to roll ten yards. I find a regular timex stop watch will do the trick. Once you have the timing down you can then figure out how long of a stroke you need to roll the ball for that amount of time. You are going to need several tests in order to get this down. I find for every 1" of stoke I get .23 seconds of role. This can gets you close, but then you need to take into account slope. The easiest calculation is for each degree of slope, take the square root / pie. Next you have to look at the grain of the grass. When putting south after 12:47 ........

I was going to say....if you have time to measure the .23 seconds off of 1" of putting stroke...lol OMG that would look rediculous on the practice green.