How consistent should your putting be from 10 feet?

[wmiller]

I was bored tonight, and doing a little berber putting in my computer room and thought I'd try an experiment.

20 putts from 10 feet, how many can I make?

First attempt I missed the 5th putt, for 19 out of 20.

Second attempt I made 20 of 20.

Third attempt I made 18 of 20. (think I was getting bored, and got sloppy there towards the end)

Back was getting tired, so I called it quits. But then I started wondering: Is this pretty good, or just average?

I was simply trying to determine if my putting stroke had any consistency to it, and it appears that it does. So, I'll ask the better players here. Is this normal for a weekend hack? I understand that this isn't real world as the speed and break (just outside left) is known. I was just trying to see if I could repeat the same stroke a number of times.

[mvmac]

Seems pretty good to me, shows your face angle is consistent

[JetFan1983]

For amateurs I'm not sure, but for the pros, here are some notable stats:

Angel Cabrera led the tour in % from exactly 10 feet this year, dropping 67.86% off 40 attempts.

Nathan Green was in last place with only 22.5% made off 40 attempts.

Keegan Bradley was only 184th overall with 24.14% made off 58 attempts this season.

You can see the full numbers from 10' here .

I'm not sure how much these stats should mean to us though. I don't think they differentiate at all on whether these putts were uphill, downhill, sidehill or straight. They're interesting to see though.

I think if you are leaving yourself a tap in most the time, knocking one in occasionally, and rarely three putting from 10 feet, you're doing pretty good, amateur wise.

Again though, there's a huge difference in difficulty between uphill 10 footers and downhill ones.

Anyway, your numbers of going 19/20, 20/20 and 18/20 are really good for a practice session. You should be happy with that. Now to see if it translates to the course.

All the Tour putting stats are right here .

[wmiller]

I seldom three-putt. Maybe once every two rounds?

[slabm7]

A 10 footer on carpet should be a high percentage putt. Especially after you hit it a few times. But the tour pros play on slippery greens with a foot of break and manage 60 percent. It's still a good accomplishment and good stroke practice thought.

[B-Con]

I think that sort of putting is good for drilling your tempo, setup routine, and stroke execution. So long as you don't get into an absent-minded rut while practicing, that is. I have an indoor putting strip. I've spent a lot of time on it. With regards to consistency (which is specifically what you asked about), here's what I've found: [list] [*] If you have any sort of backstop, you can be somewhat inconsistent in your distance and not notice. [*] Face alignment is tricky. Indoors you have a lot more visual cues, such as walls, baseboards, tables, or even carpet seams. Standing in an open space is fairly different. It's a lot easier to align yourself indoors. [*] Consistency means very little outside of 10 or so consecutive strokes. You need to be able to be consistent across large gaps in time when you play, and that's different from the kind of consistency that you exhibit when you hit a lot of consecutive putts. Short vs long term muscle memory, if you will. It looks like you've shown you have the ability to be precise and consistent. [/list] Instead of spending 15 minutes in a row putting, I've switched to doing far fewer putts, but more frequently. Just doing 10 putts once or twice a day helped me more than 50 consecutive putts did. However, I will say this: When I did a lot of indoor putting, I did avoid the occasional "duffed" putt better. Having a bizarre push/pull or a lag that stopped 5 feet short were noticeably less common. My muscle memory had been trained somewhat, and my tempo was more ingrained.

[Lofty Lefty]

I think 18+ out of 20 is a pretty decent score for putting the same putt over and over. I think it could actually be one of the best ways to practice putting, rather than trying to make putts from all around the practice green.

When you're trying to make the same putt over and over, it's simply going to be your stroke that makes you miss, not the read.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by JetFan1983

Angel Cabrera led the tour in % from exactly 10 feet this year, dropping 67.86% off 40 attempts.

It's actually from 9 feet > x >= 10 feet. So the average would be from 9'6" or so. :-)

[saevel25]

Believe me that percentage drops a ton if you get to 15 feet... Just to show you how important it is to really hit your short/middle irons well. More opportunity.

I agree, on carpet, its good practice. What you might want to do is create a small gate to hit through. Just drill that..

[wmiller]

Ok, thanks guys!

Yea, reading greens has never been my strong suit, so I am not so consistent at 10-20 footers with any significant break. My misses seem to be more directional misreads than anything.

[JetFan1983]

Originally Posted by iacas

Quote:

Originally Posted by JetFan1983

Angel Cabrera led the tour in % from exactly 10 feet this year, dropping 67.86% off 40 attempts.

It's actually from 9 feet > x >= 10 feet. So the average would be from 9'6" or so. :-)

Smart ass You win again. Damn it.

Originally Posted by wmiller

Yea, reading greens has never been my strong suit, so I am not so consistent at 10-20 footers with any significant break. My misses seem to be more directional misreads than anything.

Aimpoint gets a ton of positive reviews on here from people. Granted, I have yet to take a lesson (emphasis on "yet") so I can't personally vouch for it, but based on the reps of the people who endorse it, it's gotta be good.

[Stretch]

My putting is extremely consistent from 10 feet. I miss almost all of them.

[The_Pharaoh]

You can't compare tour stats to wmiller's exercise. One thing is hitting 20 putts in a row from 10 feet and quite another hitting 40 10-footers throughout a season on tour. That's not saying wmiller's exercise is a waste of time. It isn't, it's an excellent way to practice. However, if the pros did the same exercise they'd be between 95-100%. And wmiller would be around the 20% mark on tour!

[johnclayton1982]

Quote:

Yea, reading greens has never been my strong suit, so I am not so consistent at 10-20 footers with any significant break. My misses seem to be more directional misreads than anything.

How do you know you arn't reading the greens properly but not hitting the putt with proper speed?  Just because you miss left/right doesn't mean you mis-read the break.  Slower putts break more than fast putts.  Watch "secrets of the short game".  He describes a good drill to isolate if you are hitting proper speed or misreading.  They are two very different mistakes that are difficult to differentiate.

You can read optimal break perfectly, line up perfectly, and if you hit it too hard you'll think you read too much break and too soft too little.

[wmiller]

I misspoke when I said that my misses are directional misreads. I absolutely understand that breaking putts are all about pace, I.e., less pace means more break, more pace means less. I definitely miss putts because I didn't have the pace right for my chosen line. Yet oftentimes I simply don't see a break, or underestimate it's severity. I also don't understand the math that has me missing 3 of 60 on carpet equating to 20 percent on fast smooth greens? I actually putt better the faster and truer the green are.

[The_Pharaoh]

Originally Posted by wmiller

I also don't understand the math that has me missing 3 of 60 on carpet equating to 20 percent on fast smooth greens? I actually putt better the faster and truer the green are.

Because you are hitting 20 putts in a row (the same putt) without moving from that position. It is not the same as having a 10 footer on the 16th hole of the 2nd round of your first tournament (Tournament of Champions) of the season, then your second 10 footer of the season on the 4th hole, third round of your third tournament (Bob Hope Classic) of the year etc. Plus, one will be uphill, another downhill, one left-to-right...also, it will make a difference mentally if you are standing over these putts for birdie, bogey etc.

[johnclayton1982]

I don't try to do line with my putter - its too hard.  I put a black line on my ball and line up the ball for what I think the break is from down near the green.  Once the black line is lined up where I think it needs to go, I just concentrate on lining up the black line with the line on my putter and hitting a straight putt the correct speed.  Its very hard to read break when you are sideways.  Dave Pelz talks alot about how putts are missed due to the conscious and subconcious disagreeing on the amount of break.  I think hes right.

The black line technique plus switching to a belly putter has helped me go from averaging 37 putts per round to 31.  Its not that hard to line up a ball with the line.  Its not all that hard to hit a belly putter straight.  Its much easier to do those two things correctly as seperate parts - once I get the line with the line on the ball, I don't think about break again - just speed.  Its much easier to do that than to try to do everything at once - speed and line.

[wmiller]

Ok, I see your point. But, in my defense, my 1.67 putts avg over 100+ rounds means I 'might' make a few of them...  :)

Edit: Besides, my putting ability wasn't the original purpose of the experiment. I was simply trying to ascertain if I can make a repeatable stroke.