I had 41 putts in route to an 88 on Saturday. My putting has always been an area that needs more attention, but this was really bad. My greens have been aerated, and I have spent 0 time working on my putting, but still. There are two parts of this I want to address. One is my plans for improving my putting. The other is simply what I did to try to keep myself engaged in my round when my putter was measuring low on the Kelvin scale. It was a struggle, but I stayed present.
On the improving putting side, I’ve discussed various ideas before, but I am going to drill down further. One thing I want to get better at is to run an 18 hole “simulated” round on the practice green, and track my strokes gained stats. This is a simple way to consistently test if my putting is improving. Pick 18 distances, and record the scores. This is both a good habit to build, and can serve as a canary in the coal mine if I start having issues again. Ideally, this keeps me focused on my putting.
With some ideas for practice, and advice I had gotten from others, I had some drills I wanted to do. Then a text from my friend changed my entire approach. The drills will still have a place, but his suggestion was I build a clock system with my putting, and teach myself the feel for different length putts. Then just spend some time on the practice green before the round, figure out how far they are going that day and walk onto the real greens with confidence.
I have always approached putting as a game of feel. I look at the putt, and I then trust my body to hit the ball the distance I need it to go. This has NEVER worked for me. There have been rare days when my speed control has been good, but most of the time I spend the day hoping to make stressful second putts to avoid three putting.
Measuring the distance of putts has become part of my normal routine. I step off every putt before I hit it. My step is about 30 inches, so 2 steps is about 5 feet. The goal will be to build feel for putts of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 feet (and beyond). There will still be some feel as I read the greens and adjust to the conditions, but ideally, I will build a feel for each putt length and not have to rely on feel to get the ball closer to the hole. I have established routines for more consistent putter setup, and this is the logical conclusion to this idea.
The first step will be seeing if I can build consistency with my putting stroke. This is going to be its own challenge, but I believe even if the overall concept fails, the time spent here will have a ton of value. If I can build a system with 5 foot increments, I can bring that directly to the golf course. A putt that is 5 steps long would be 12.5 feet, assuming it was flat, I could still hit a 15 foot putt and it would have a good chance of going in, and I’d also know to play less break because of the higher pace. Ideally this will make me a more consistent putter. I just need to put in the work.
My big takeaway from my round is that the rest of my game is shaping up decently. Still some mental errors, but nothing major. I managed to make par on 3 of the 4 par 3s, which makes me happy about my ball striking. The 4th par three I simply hit the wrong club. I was fully committed to it, the wind just shifted and I nuked a 6 iron 208 yards. My driver swing is feeling good, but still needs some attention. My wedge game was solid, but my on course distance control off grass was lacking. Hopefully our grass range will be open soon to get some repetition in.
Despite my putter being cold, I kept fighting and trying to make par. I found a little bit of feel with it on the last three holes and hit better putts. I still lost some focus, but never quit on the round. This was highlighted by my playing partner Larry. He completely quit on the 12th hole, and stopped trying. He wasted his own time, and made the rest of the round more difficult for the rest of the group. I am glad I was not Larry.
I am 2 rounds into strokes gained, and it’s obvious where I need to put in work. One round had multiple penalties off the tee that drove my SG:OTT way down, but generally it’s my short game that is hurting me most. This is not surprising, as I have always struggled with my putter and I have not put in the work yet this season. My biggest issue with putting is I have never found an idea that worked for me. I’m hoping Seth’s suggestion sets me on the path towards success, and I am looking forward to trying it.
I took a putting lesson a while back that had a similar strategy. He told me to use my right shoe. A two-step putt was half way to the big toe. Four steps was to the toe. Six to the middle of the shoe. Eight to the right edge. Ten about a ball outside right. Twelve? That's 30 feet, so you're back to feel. The key is to keep the tempo constant.
Your distances might vary. If I play a course with speedy greens, eight steps might be to the middle of the shoe. It's very rarely more than one level off either way though.
It made me a better putter, but certainly not a great putter.