X handicap = ? putts per round

[Aflighter]

from the stats I was shown the number of putts between a 4-5 handicap and a 10-12 handicap isn't much.maybe 4 putts top.number of putts are so deceiving.i personally count putts off the fringe into my total putts because I feel like if your using a putter then your putting.most of the time ill have 34-37 putts and im a 9 handicap currently.you can either hit more greens and hit closer to the hole or you can practice and practice your putting and chipping to be better.since I prefer hitting balls over practicing putting and chipping I try to hit more greens but ive been told its easier to work on short game than trying to hit second shots closer.it doesn't help that theres not many short game facilities to practice on compared to driving ranges.

[John333]

I'm pretty consistently at about 31-32 putts per round lately. It seems to me that on my good days, I hit greens and 2 putt. On my bad days, I miss greens, chip badly, and still 2 putt. Go figure.

[MS256]

I don't keep track of putting stats (maybe I should) but total putts wouldn't tell me very much. For example today I played like absolute crap, didn't putt very well for me, and had 29 putts. Missed a boat load of greens and chipped to within a couple of feet of the hole a bunch of times from just off of the green. Missed a few putts that I would never expect to miss (one for par on a par 3 where I missed the green and hit a pretty decent chip to 3 feet and missed the darned thing). Looking at the 29 putts it would appear I putted well and/or played well. The +7 I shot (on an easy course) tells a different story.

[AndyNatt]

Hi, the usual 'target' I use for my stats is as follows; 18 putts per round plus the number of GIR's you have. Easy formula on excel (makes me sound sad!) It means that if you 9 holes in regulation (GIR), then add this to 18 and your target for that round is 27 putts. It does sound extreme, but if you chipped and one putted every time you missed a green your handicap would race down. This formula also means that you can compare % with FIR and GIR to see which element of your game needs the most practice. Even with this tough target on putting, my comparison % show that it is my driving that is still the weakest part of my game. I use a (British) traffic light system, Red, Amber and Green for which ever part of my game needs the most attention, FIR, GIR or chipping and putting. If the Putting % is the worse, then the practice is very much focused on the short game and so on.

[Jeremie Boop]

I don't think that handicap necessarily equates to a certain handicap. Putting isn't that difficult. It took very little practice for me to get to the point where I rarely more than 2 putt. It's taken exponentially more practice for me to get my full swing to even the mediocrity that it is right now. Getting your putting and chipping to a decent/good level is a quick and easy way to bring your scores down by a handful of shots per round, which is why I spent the time to work on it. Now it's a matter of taming my tee shots to make a significant impact on my scores.

[Slice of Life]

No (or veeery little) correlation. I'll sometimes putt 24 times in a round and shoot a 102. Other times I'll shoot a 90 and have 37 putts.

People who miss greens are less likely to 3 putt...since they can chip up to 15 ft instead of hitting the green 40 feet away from the pin.

[brice]

Average PPR for a tour player is 29? If only I did the other stuff better

[Golfingdad]

Average PPR for a tour player is 29? If only I did the other stuff better

Amen.  My putting average is probably in the realm of 31-ish, give or take.  Yet, I'm about 12-15 strokes away from a tour pro, on average, so ...

putting ain't where it's at.

[Aflighter]

Average PPR for a tour player is 29? If only I did the other stuff better

That 29 might not look so impressive but you have to understand they hit more greens in regulation than we do on average.If they only hit 9 greens id guarantee you that average would be more like 20 or so.When you hit more greens your gonna have more putts because your two putting instead of getting to chip up close to hole where 1 putting is a lot easier.When a pro is hitting 14-16 greens and has 29 putts then he made a good amount of birdies.

[rdsandy]

Didn't Brodie's "Every Shot Counts" debunk the importance of putts per round or per hole as a useless statistic?

[iacas]

Didn't Brodie's "Every Shot Counts" debunk the importance of putts per round or per hole as a useless statistic?

You don't need a book to do that. Common sense is good enough.

[rdsandy]

Then why all the obsession?

[brice]

Pro's on average miss 6.5 greens, i don't think missing 2.5 more greens would lead to 9 less putts lol

[nick1998bunker]

I just came off a HDCP spike to a 4 and was averaging 32 ppr

[David in FL]

Then why all the obsession?

Because common sense is so damn uncommon.....

[Aflighter]

So if I have 36 putts in a round shooting an 85 and hitting 8 greens then how bad do you guys think my putting was?Ive always felt anything over 30 putts was not good.

[Slice of Life]

So if I have 36 putts in a round shooting an 85 and hitting 8 greens then how bad do you guys think my putting was?Ive always felt anything over 30 putts was not good.

Averaging less than two putts a hole when you hit almost 50% GIR would be good IMO.

[Golfingdad]

Averaging less than two putts a hole when you hit almost 50% GIR would be good IMO.

I don't know that I'd quite call it "good" ... but I certainly wouldn't go so far as to call "anything over 30 putts" bad either.

I would agree, though, in the sense that as long as you're averaging under 2 putts per hole then it's not your biggest weakness (no matter how many greens you hit).