Long Putts

Long putts: Get them close.

By: Bruce Munch

Head Professional, White River Golf Club, Rochester, VT.

If you want to improve your score in the shortest possible time and with the least amount of effort, learn to putt. Putting accounts for approximately half of the shots you take in any round of golf. The beauty of putting is that anyone can become a good putter because it is a function of control and has nothing to do with power.

Last week we talked about how to consistently make putts from inside of four feet. Today we are going to talk about how to get those longer putts inside this four-foot area.

There are only two things you have to deal with in putting, line and speed. Of the two, speed is more important. A poor read will leave you with a 3 to 4 foot second putt, but poor speed control can leave you 10 feet short or 10 feet past the cup. Here is a great drill to help you learn the speed of the greens on your home course. Take two tees to your practice green and find the flattest area on the green. Place the tees eight paces apart (approximately 20 feet) and spend about 10 minutes putting back and forth between these tees with your only focus on the length of stroke required to go this distance. This will become your standard distance. This will give you a frame of reference from which you can judge the stroke necessary for putts that are shorter or longer than this.

When you play at a different course, get there early and set up your two tees, on a flat spot and spend about 5 minutes putting back and forth between them, again concentrating on the length of stroke for your standard distance putt. Your mind will compensate for the difference in speed between your home greens and the ones you are about to play, and you will not waste 4 or 5 holes learning the speed of the greens. Try it, you will like it.

More mistakes are made on the backswing of the putt than the forward swing. You might fan the club face open on the backswing and then fail to close it and you miss the putt to the right. Shorten your back swing. How much backswing do you need? Try this: put a ball on the green about ten feet from the hole, put your club against the ball and push it to the hole. No problem!!! This drill will show you the importance of a long follow through over a long backswing.

Here are a few more drills that will help your long putting:

We placed a circle of tees around the hole, using our putter to measure, as a drill for short putting practice. Using the same circle of tees around the hole, move back 20 to 30 feet and practice getting the ball inside the 6’ diameter circle. If you can do this consistently you will rarely three putt. On the course, for long putts, envision a 6’ diameter circle as your target, instead of the hole itself. It will help you two putt and every so often it will fall in.
On your practice green try to putt from hole to hole and your goal is to make it back to the starting point with no three putts.

Above all, realize that you are putting over a living surface. Grass is not as consistent as a pool table and so even well struck putts may not go in. All you can do is make your best educated guess regarding line and speed and trust it. Why do the pros putt better than we do? They make better educated guesses based on years of practice. Get your Masters Degree in putting and sink more putts.