Challenge - Death by 6 foot putt

[b101]

Hopefully this is the right place for this, but I thought it could be a fun way to share some putting practice and hopefully work on an area that is often lacking (certainly in my practice) - notably pressure putts. For me, this tends to be the really tiny motions when you know that a miss is likely to bring a three-putt into play, but if you're too tentative, you won't hole out. The challenge is simple:

• Find the toughest six foot putt on your practice green - up to you how much break there is or what you define as tricky.
• Place three balls down at subtly different stations. You cannot hit the exact same putt three times. 
• Video and count the number of times until you get all three in a row. If you miss, you start again. 
• Post explaining the putt, why it's tricky to you, how long it took you to succeed and an upload the video of your successful attempt (as well as at least one miss to demonstrate the perils of missing!).
• The video of the successful attempt must not include any cuts - one clip with all three putts one after the other.

---

Mine from today (at a local course I head to for practice) looks like this - a nasty downhill left to right putt. The first putt is actually the toughest as it goes across a break (if that makes sense). A number of the putts I hit that I was sure were good would hold their line just left of the hole, but those that started inside left edge would tend to miss right. It's the first time I've found AimPoint to just not really work... The second plays 3% left to right break, again downhill and the third is 5% break. (AimPoint was a while ago, but I seem to remember 3 fingers corresponding to 3% etc). This is normally near impossible when it's been dry, but mercifully there was some rain two hours before I went to the course. I'll re-record when it hasn't rained, but normally a miss low would go six feet past, so your stroke has to be tiny, but assertive.

Total time taken: 15 minutes 22 seconds
Success rate: mmm...

Putt 1: 7/26
Putt 2: 1/7
Putt 3: 1/1 - unbelievably!

What I really learnt from this is that I have to keep my grip pressure light and not tense up and also to trust my line. I worked out about the grip pressure on my second-to-last attempt and it just made the world of difference. Worth doing this just for that moment and next time, I'll try to make more with putts 1 and 2.

Let's see yours - how difficult can you make it?!

[iacas]

I've pinned this one.

Good challenge.

[jamo]

This is a really cool challenge!. I'll have to try it next time I'm at the practice green. 

[b101]

1 hour ago, jamo said:

This is a really cool challenge!. I'll have to try it next time I'm at the practice green. 

You get a competition badge, too - thanks to @iacas! 

Erik, one addition to the rules, if you could add to my original post: the video of the successful attempt must not include any cuts - one clip with all three putts one after the other.

[klineka]

I did this challenge for my putting practice at the range tonight. It was tougher than I expected. The green at the driving range doesnt have a great deal of slop to it, but my putting from 5-10 feet isnt all that solid anyway so I knew this would be a great challenge for me

The stats for me:

Took me 12min 30 seconds.

First putt, made 14/26

Second putt, made 5/14

Third putt, made 1/5

I was quite please and started getting quite confident with the first putt, had a slight left to right break in it. The second putt was a touch downhill and I struggle with that one a lot. Here is the video

@b101 Thanks for the challenge idea, it was a great way for me to mix it up during my putting practice tonight!

edit: I just realized I didnt include clips of me missing like you did in your video.. I have a whole 12 minute segment of those if you really want to see them 

Edited August 9, 2017 by klineka

[b101]

On 09/08/2017 at 1:44 AM, klineka said:

I did this challenge for my putting practice at the range tonight. It was tougher than I expected. The green at the driving range doesnt have a great deal of slop to it, but my putting from 5-10 feet isnt all that solid anyway so I knew this would be a great challenge for me

The stats for me:

Took me 12min 30 seconds.

First putt, made 14/26

Second putt, made 5/14

Third putt, made 1/5

I was quite please and started getting quite confident with the first putt, had a slight left to right break in it. The second putt was a touch downhill and I struggle with that one a lot. Here is the video

@b101 Thanks for the challenge idea, it was a great way for me to mix it up during my putting practice tonight!

edit: I just realized I didnt include clips of me missing like you did in your video.. I have a whole 12 minute segment of those if you really want to see them 

Sorry, completely missed this, but I see Erik has given you the award. Well done 

To everyone else, let's see a few more attempts, shall we? Or are we all awful at 6 footers?

Edited August 11, 2017 by b101

[djake]

@b101 I like this and will tape next time I am at the putting green

[Piz]

Ah love me a six foot putt.  Far enough away to not get fractious should it not drop; but close enough to have every intention of making it so.  The ones ah git vexious over is them dang two-footers.  Ah don't think mah ah-balls align right ah git too close to the durn hole.

[dennyjones]

 

Here is my attempt.  3 6' putts from different  places on the green.  This is not the hardest hole as you can see the 6% slope in the background.   These three putts were 1, 1 1/2 and 2%.   Not too difficult.  I completed the task with 6 attempts from the first putt, 4 attempts from the second and 1 attempt from the third.  Overall time I would guess, to be around 8 minutes. 

[b101]

12 hours ago, dennyjones said:

 

Here is my attempt.  3 6' putts from different  places on the green.  This is not the hardest hole as you can see the 6% slope in the background.   These three putts were 1, 1 1/2 and 2%.   Not too difficult.  I completed the task with 6 attempts from the first putt, 4 attempts from the second and 1 attempt from the third.  Overall time I would guess, to be around 8 minutes. 

@dennyjones - good work! However, we want to see the very hardest 6 footers on the practice green (bullet point 1), so please do post up your attempts on the 6% slope. Looks pretty brutal and would love to see it!

[woodzie264]

1.  3% Right to left, 3% downhill 

        4/12

 

2.  2% Left to right, 2% uphill

        2/4

 

3.  3% downhill

        1/2

 

10 mins

Admittedly, this particular practice green isn't the most difficult I've ever been on, but I feel like this was the most difficult place on it. It combined some breaking right to left on one putt going downhill, then a left to right break going uphill on the next, with the third putt being straight downhill.

I had more putts prior to my clip that were edited out, but this was 4mins long (sorry) and so I wanted to cut some of it out and by time this clip starts I have first putt fairly figured out

Fun to do.

[Buckeyebowman]

Oh, Hell! I'd probably be there all day!

[CT207]

32 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

Oh, Hell! I'd probably be there all day!

LOL... don't worry, you're not alone. Plus, the putting green is right outside the clubhouse and if I tried filming, all one would hear in the background is stuff like this... "what the hell are you doing?" , "why are you filming that?", "I bet you miss the putt". etc.

I also have no clue how to edit and post a video.

[Golfer gal]

What is the six footer challenge?

[RandallT]

I remember this challenge a little while back:

@Golfer gal- any context to your question? Is it a Sandtrap thing you saw or something you hear about at your course or maybe in magazines? 

[Patch]

I practice 5 footers all the time. Adding another foot is not a bad idea. Just need to roll the ball 7' now, instead of 6'. 

[Groucho Valentine]

5-6 footers are the length of putt i primarily practice. Probably 90% if i were to guess at a percentage. Any longer than that and you're really just practicing missing. You're not going to make many putts outside of the 7 foot range, unless you're doing lag work. I like to practice making putts. These types of challenges are usually all very similar. Find a series of strait and breaking putts around a hole and make them all, whatever that number is. Miss one and you have to start over. 

Edited January 17, 2018 by Groucho Valentine

[Club Rat]

34 minutes ago, RandallT said:

I remember this challenge a little while back:

Thanks Randy, now that you pointed it out, I remember that challenge.
Is there a way to link or provide the challenge details in the "info" drop menu?