How often should I be 1 putting?

[jshots]

Both yesterday and today I hit 12 GIR and shot 77/78. My irons have been right on and I think every GIR except maybe 2 I had putts that were less than 20 feet for birdie, 2 of them were tap ins and I made one of the longer ones for a total of 3 birdies. Is that a good number or should I have been sinking way more of those? I had a total of 35 putts today, 34 yesterday, I feel as though this is not very good.

[GaijinGolfer]

1-putting really depends how good your irons and shortgame is.

[CuppedTin]

I believe putting is the most under practiced part of the game. Yet it is the only club that is required on every single hole!

[jshots]

Originally Posted by TitleistWI

1-putting really depends how good your irons and shortgame is.

Maybe I wasn't really clear. Minus the two tap ins on my GIRs and the two that were like 30 feet that leaves about 8 putts that were inside 20 feet, of those i only made 1. Is there a reasonable percent of putts I should be making inside 20 feet or is 1/8 good?

[x129]

An average PGA pro(on PGA greens) will sink about 30% of 10-15' putts. From 15-20' it drops to ~20%. So lets say the average form 10-20' is about 25% so  somewhere between 1-3 seems pretty reasonable. You are going to need a much bigger sample size to draw any meaningful conclusions from.

35 putts seems high though. You had 3 1 putts from GIR which means you had at least 2 3 putts. On your nonGIR holes, how many did you have a decent save chance (i.e. your within 50 yards or so on the  GIR+1 shot) where you 2 putted? I am guessing it will be easier to get better at not 3 putting and chipping  than getting better at sinking 15 footers.

[mchepp]

Certainly the above advise is true. If you hit the ball closer to the hole you will one putt more. And if you practice you will improve, but I would rather take a deeper look at how to get better.

It seems by the information you provided that you might need to work on your chipping. There are numerous stats that are missing from what you put down but that is my guess. I would like to know how far you are from the hole on those 12 GIR. An average would be acceptable. If you are averaging 25-30 feet from the hole on each GIR then you are only going to make 5-10% of those birdies. Also how far do you have for par after missing the green. If you don't chip it close you are going to make bogey. It is stats thing. If you are chipping it to 10 feet on average then you are at best going to be 40% from that range. That means 4-5 bogeys.

It may also be that the course you are playing the greens are big. At my home club if I hit 12 greens I will shoot very close to par or even under, why, because our greens are so small that I will inevitably hit a few very close. So over 30 putts for me is a bad putting day, because even when you miss a green it is very close to the pin.

Somewhere (I think iacas has it somewhere) there is a stat sheet of the percentage makes of the pros from specific distances. Those are pros stats. And it drops off dramatically after 6 feet. Therefore when a green is missed we have to chip it close to improve our chances for pars.

[jshots]

I was writing a post about my stats and it made me realize that my problem isn't putting, although I could improve my putting a bit. It makes sense that when you are hitting lots of greens that you are going to have more putts. I only had 3 holes where I didn't hit an approach shot onto the green and I doubled two of them and bogeyed the other.

I was really just wondering how people get under 30 putts, and i'm guessing that those are mostly people who are getting up and down a lot.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by mchepp

Somewhere (I think iacas has it somewhere) there is a stat sheet of the percentage makes of the pros from specific distances. Those are pros stats. And it drops off dramatically after 6 feet. Therefore when a green is missed we have to chip it close to improve our chances for pars.

Yeah, here it is. I'm posting it only because it took me awhile to find it. I think I'll change the title... http://thesandtrap.com/forum/thread/51757/putts-gained-stats

[anotherday]

Originally Posted by jshots

I was writing a post about my stats and it made me realize that my problem isn't putting, although I could improve my putting a bit. It makes sense that when you are hitting lots of greens that you are going to have more putts.

Everyone eventually has to hit the green... I don't see how hitting the green in regulation more often would change how many putts you take.

[newtogolf]

I think the logic is; by hitting more GIR he's reaching the greens from longer distances (less accurate) but is further from the cup which is forcing him to putt from longer distances versus hitting the fringe of the green, chipping onto the green close to the cup and increasing his chance of 1 putts.

Originally Posted by anotherday

Everyone eventually has to hit the green... I don't see how hitting the green in regulation more often would change how many putts you take.

[mchepp]

I would agree with your conclusion. I think tracking your stats can tell you a ton about how you are playing and where to improve. I would say even if you want to improve your putting you should analyze what distance you struggle the most. You might be 98% from 3 feet, but 15% from 10-15, I would suggest working on the latter to improve. But likely even that will only reduce your score 1-2 strokes.

For me double bogey often start from the driver.

Originally Posted by jshots

I was writing a post about my stats and it made me realize that my problem isn't putting, although I could improve my putting a bit. It makes sense that when you are hitting lots of greens that you are going to have more putts. I only had 3 holes where I didn't hit an approach shot onto the green and I doubled two of them and bogeyed the other.

I was really just wondering how people get under 30 putts, and i'm guessing that those are mostly people who are getting up and down a lot.

[turtleback]

Originally Posted by jshots

I was writing a post about my stats and it made me realize that my problem isn't putting, although I could improve my putting a bit. It makes sense that when you are hitting lots of greens that you are going to have more putts. I only had 3 holes where I didn't hit an approach shot onto the green and I doubled two of them and bogeyed the other.

I was really just wondering how people get under 30 putts, and i'm guessing that those are mostly people who are getting up and down a lot.

I just had my best putting day ever yesterday, 27 putts, including 12 putts on the back nine and 1-putting the final 5 holes.  The difference was twofold.  First, I missed all 5 of those greens but instead of chipping to 10-15 feet like I usually do I chipped to 3-6 feet.  The other part was I was making the putts inside of 6-feet.  In his book Elements of coring (which I swear by), Ray Floyd says that the most important shots for the scorer are the putts inside of 6 feet.  Make half or more of them and you are on your way to being a scorer.  The flip side is that we also need to work to be able to get those chips and little pitches around the green inside of the 6 feet.

[jshots]

Yeah, but it made me realize that total putts is a misleading stat. I know they just added that new putts gained category to stats, probably for this very reason.

[newtogolf]

I think any stat can be misleading on it's own.  Take for example "Fairways Hit", I might hit 12 of 18 fairways, but my average drive is 230 yards whereas another player might hit only 10 fairways but their average drive is 280.   I'd give up hitting two fairways to cut at least 50 yards off my 2nd shot.  I view all my stats in relation to my score.

Originally Posted by jshots

Yeah, but it made me realize that total putts is a misleading stat. I know they just added that new putts gained category to stats, probably for this very reason.

[tmf9]

How many 1 putts and 3 putts did you have?  The quickest way to improve putting is to eliminate 3 putts (just getting the right distance helps with that tremendously) and to me deadly from within 10 feet.  Putting is something you HAVE to work at.  A couple weeks ago i was struggling with my putter having about 32-34 putts a round.  After living on the putting green and making sure i kept my head still I have had 27 and 26 putts my last two rounds hitting 11 and 9 greens.

[Shorty]

If I hit 18 in greens in regulation I would not be surprised to have 36 putts. And clearly not be unhappy with a par round.

It has never happened and never will.

Usually, the more putts I have means that my iron play has been good. If I've got 15 or 20 footers all day I'm not going to hole more than a couple. But If I'm missing greens and having chips all day and putts from off the green, I might have 25 or 26 putts.  That means I have played poorly. 30 would be average, but it's an indiction of bad iron play, not good putting.

Unless you are playing on really treacherous greens, if you are having more than two 3 putts a round, your putting is bad. The greens at my course are not that tricky, and I have frequently gone over 100 holes without a 3 putt.

[bunkerputt]

I would say look at the make pct. for pros from given distances.  If you aren't doing at least that well, you've got work to do.

[tmf9]

Originally Posted by bunkerputt

I would say look at the make pct. for pros from given distances.  If you aren't doing at least that well, you've got work to do.

Are you saying he should be putting as good if not better than the average tour pro?  I would argue if your make percentage is close to tour average you are putting very well.