Sadly for most of us, we hardly have the resources to work on putting. Some of the less avid golfers are fortunate to even just play one round per week. Nevertheless if you really want to enhance your putting results, you want to put your time in and work on your stroke. Putting really has no quick solution, and if it probably did, everyone would do it and the sport would lose its luster.
Improving your score all relies on your capability to play the putting game. Every golfer knows that you’ve got to make a putt on every single hole (apart from the rare occasion of hitting a chip in or hole out). If you need to boost your score, then improve as much as you can on the strokes that you are going to be taking on the course.
Short Putts
To start with, you want to hole out all of the putts that you should make. These are the putts that are inside six feet or less of the cup. There are one or two drills that I often do to work on this length.
The first thing you need to do is to get a straight putt and put a tee down at 3 feet, six feet and 9 feet. The objective is to make nine putts in a row, three from each spot. Begin by making 3 three-footers. If you miss one then you have to start again, but if you make three straight shots then you can move on to the subsequent spot. If you miss on a six-footer or a nine-footer, then you have to go back to the beginning and start at the three-foot mark again.
Another drill that can help you with the makeable putts is the six-foot circle. Place four tees round the hole making a box or a wheel. Each tee should have equivalent distances apart and this drill will help you make putts of various levels of difficulties like the uphill, downhill, right-left and left-right putts. Like the first drill make three from each location before moving on to the next.
Eliminate Three-Putts
Now that you have practiced your makeable putts and are sure that you can make more from three-feet, six-feet and nine-feet, you’re now in a position to take a lot of pressure off the others sides of your game. It’ll be all the more tough for you to three-putt if you do not miss the short ones. However another aspect that requires practice is lagging putts longer than 20-feet. This way you can dump the added shots taken by three putts by ensuring you leave yourself a tap-in from the long lengths.
A couple of drills can be done to practice your distance control. First thing is to put a tee down 3 feet directly behind the hole. Then go out to 20 feet away from the cup and put a tee down each 3 feet. Depending on how much green there is to work with, you can go out up to 44 feet or so. Then go on to hit your putts from each location, making certain that all 3 putts make it past the hole but in the tee that’s placed 3 feet behind the hole. If all three shots don’t finish up in that area then start from that distance again.
Playing a game with yourself is also another technique that can be used to work on your putting. Take a single ball and putt to different holes on the practice green, making sure that each putt starts out at 25 feet or even more. After making your first putt, ensure you finish and make your 2nd putt as well. Score yourself a (-1) for each shot you make in one putt and a (+1) for each hole you 3 putt. The target is to get to (-3) before you get to (+3).
An extra tip for discovering your touch as swiftly as possible is to hold your finish. Rather than watching the ball roll to the hole after your putt, maintain your follow thru as you watch your ball come to a stop. It’s going to be less complicated for your subconscious to ingrain how far the last stroke made the ball roll so you can adjust your shot to how soft or how hard you’ll hit the subsequent putt. You’ll quickly find that with a little work, you can discover your touch on the green.
Jamie Faidley not only helps with how to practice putting, but also writes articles on putting drills so golfers know what to work on. If you want golf-related content on your site, contact him at Easy Pars.
Tags: Golf by Jamie Faidley
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