How's all your indoor putting paying off?

[GolfSpy AFG]

This is my basement putting green (surrounded by my kids Hot Wheels stuff).  I can't recall the company that makes it; set me back about $1K after a military discount.  I can look it up and pass on the info to anyone who wants it.

From corner to corner it's a little over a 10 ft putt.

My daily practice involves working on face control and start line.  I set a goal of 40 3 footers in a row, and if I get to 33 (for example) and miss, I have to start over.  Once I finish that I'll go to the 10 ft putt, set balls at varying distances, and jump around to vary the distance/speed.  After that I'll do a lot of Stockton-style left hand only putts working on keeping the putter low to the ground all the way through the stroke.  I sometimes struggle with speed based on contact with the ball at inconsistent heights on the face and the Stockton drill is an attempt to address that.

Like everyone else on here, speed becomes an issue, in part I think because the speed of the practice green is so ingrained into me.  I spend a LOT of time pre-round on the practice green trying to adapt to that particular course/green.

 

[edteergolf]

4 hours ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

It's a great question, and the data I have doesn't seem to let me get at it directly. My GIRs are up very slightly this year over last (22% vs 19%), so if anything, that should slightly increase my putts. But my chipping and pitching has definitely gotten better, so I imagine it's some factor, but without the accuracy of ShotLink, I don't know yet that I'm able to quantify its impact on my putting.

Add ANOVA stats system.  You will get all the data you need and then some.  Very good at helping my players improve.  

[edteergolf]

20 hours ago, beelzeberto said:

Honestly I think I should be lower than that because I miss some easy putts that in practice I don't miss. Still building up the mental fortitude to putt well when the scores count.

I think you need to go loot at the PGA Tour stats for the 2019 season. (always use a full year and not the current year)  My guess is you are just fine at 1.8 and  I'd look elsewhere for strokes.  Let me know what you find. 

[sirchunksalot]

Great question! I couldn't find the answer percentage wise on Arccos, so I decided to go back over the numbers. For reference sake, I looked at the number of rounds I've played this year and tried to do a comparison at the start of last year and the start of this year. 

 

2019 

1 putts 9.9%

2 putts 64.2%

3+ putts 25.9%

38.4 putts a round

 

2020

1 putts 17.8%

2 putts 63.3%

3 putts 17.8%

35.6 putts a round

And just for context at the end of 2019 I was averaging 37.1 putts a round. I didn't do the breakdown because I wanted to see a comparison to how I was doing to start the season. 

I don't know whether to say the putting practice alone was the cause of the better numbers this year, or if the chipping practice had something to do with it. I would guess it's a combination of both. I will say that I've changed putting grips while doing the PuttOut practice. I went from left hand low to a more traditional grip with running my index fingers down the grip. I found I had smoother tempo with the more traditional grip, where I was a little jerky with the low left hand. 

[tchat07]

I was pumped for where my putting was at until my kitchen started getting remodeled. Now no more room for the birdie ball mat I have so I shall see where I am at once I get thr chance to get out.

Sent from my SM-G950U using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[ParFore74x]

The biggest aspect that I worked on was consistently getting the ball off the face straight and so far this year I feel that I am doing that. Speed control has improved significantly but still needs to be fine tuned. Getting the long putts to stop within a couple of feet of the hole has helped my confidence. Still getting the occasional three putt but they are being offset by the increased frequency of one putts so I can't complain. Aside from face alignment, my preshot routine for putting seems to have also helped my confidence and consistency. Staying relaxed is key for me.

[beelzeberto]

18 hours ago, edteergolf said:

I think you need to go loot at the PGA Tour stats for the 2019 season. (always use a full year and not the current year)  My guess is you are just fine at 1.8 and  I'd look elsewhere for strokes.  Let me know what you find. 

I don’t know much about the tour stats so I’ll look it up  

But I know where I’m losing strokes the most at (Driver/off the tee in general like a lot of us) but missing “easy“ (I use that term loosely) putts inside 6ft is frustrating especially with the amount of practice I put into inside 6ft.

[GolfSpy BOS]

4 minutes ago, beelzeberto said:

I don’t know much about the tour stats so I’ll look it up  

But I know where I’m losing strokes the most at (Driver/off the tee in general like a lot of us) but missing “easy“ (I use that term loosely) putts inside 6ft is frustrating especially with the amount of practice I put into inside 6ft.

I feel your pain there!  In my 3 rounds this year I've had no 3-putts which is great, but I've probably left 4 or 5 putts within inches of the hole just short on the right line.  I'll chalk it up to very slow greens right now, but next time out I need to start aiming 2 feet past the cup.

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

22 minutes ago, beelzeberto said:

I don’t know much about the tour stats so I’ll look it up  

But I know where I’m losing strokes the most at (Driver/off the tee in general like a lot of us) but missing “easy“ (I use that term loosely) putts inside 6ft is frustrating especially with the amount of practice I put into inside 6ft.

I always find beginning of the year is tough (my PPH is pretty good right now) but I feel like I am just missing things that in a few months will be rolling in. Speed is pretty good overall but am just off a little and feels like its been bad. Both rounds have been 2.0 PPH respectively though so its not atrocious lol just feels worse than it is.

[ncwoz]

Technically my stats are about even to last season (~34.5 putts per round), but the course our league is at this year has some extremely undulating and tricky greens. In addition, my GIRs are up.

So looking past the putting stats, I think the indoor putting is already paying off!

[The 19th Hole]

I had purchased the Puttout Trainer a while before the lock down and had used that in my office and it originally really helped my confidence on the greens. However, I watched a video by James Robbinson where he did 100 putts in the video then donated to covid relief for how many he didn't get the "Perfect Putt" on. Out of 100, I think he ended up with only 7 perfect putts. I thought that was low so I went into my office the next day (and challenged my friend to try at his work too) and we tried this for about 2 weeks. Only 1 day did I do better than 7, and all in all I felt myself getting worse. Now, unfortunately, I am less confident in my putting out on the course...I think it has to do with my carpet being so thin, firm, and fast and it throws me off that my putter head moves so much during my set up as there is almost no friction between the ground and the putter, where on a real green, the grass has friction to hold my putter in place a little easier. 

[cnosil]

I don’t know much about the tour stats so I’ll look it up  
But I know where I’m losing strokes the most at (Driver/off the tee in general like a lot of us) but missing “easy“ (I use that term loosely) putts inside 6ft is frustrating especially with the amount of practice I put into inside 6ft.

What you will find us that averaging 1.8 putts per hole will put you at 181st on tour.

From 6’ the average is 70%.

Most people have too high of am an expectation on how well they should do.

[edteergolf]

1 hour ago, beelzeberto said:

I don’t know much about the tour stats so I’ll look it up  

But I know where I’m losing strokes the most at (Driver/off the tee in general like a lot of us) but missing “easy“ (I use that term loosely) putts inside 6ft is frustrating especially with the amount of practice I put into inside 6ft.

I have them so here you go:  #1 in putting average for 2019 Jordan Spieth 1.694.  Last place with enough rounds (full season) is basically 1.8.  The 100th guy is 1.76 +/-.  

I'd suggest judging your makes or misses as 'easy' or 'hard' putts.  It is a poor strategy that only leads to frustration.  As an 11 handicap, you are probably putting too much effort and time into putting considering it's weight toward scoring for a handicap golfer.  Tee shots into play (in between the trees with an unobstructed swing & no sand = success) Hit 50% or more of the greens and I don't care how far away unless it is like 60 feet.  Learn to not three-putt from inside 40'.  With good concepts this is incredibly easy to accomplish.  Around the green the best in the world barely average just over 50%. Most handicap golfers should be happy with three most of the time.  Par half the holes and you are already better than an 11 handicap.  

[edteergolf]

On 5/27/2020 at 3:25 PM, GolfSpy MPR said:

Perhaps a good time for me to weigh in on my own question. Using April/May rounds last year versus my rounds this year, I'm currently seeing:

• 2019: 1.91 avg | 2020: 1.8 avg
• 2019
  • 1 Putt: 23%
  • 2 Putt: 63%
  • 3 Putt: 14%
• 2020
  • 1 Putt 28.7%
  • 2 Putt 61.1%
  • 3 Putt: 10.2%
  • Putts per GIR: 2.0

So on the whole, this is looking quite promising. I'm not seeing in GG where to pull up putts per GIR, but moving percentage points from both 2- and 3-putts into 1-putts is very encouraging. Let's hope it continues and even improves as speed control on real greens (and longer putts) continues to get dialed in.

Putts per GIR is not a very helpful stat.  Eliminate your three-putts and you are fine.  What is GG?

[edteergolf]

On 5/27/2020 at 3:03 PM, edingc said:

Still mediocre! **surprised, but not really surprised face**

In all actuality, though, I have gotten a lot better and more consistent. I fixed my setup over the winter, as I was previously standing way too close with toe down, and cutting across the ball with my stroke. Led to all sorts of distance control and start line problems. I feel like I've really improved my lag putting and start direction because my stroke and impact location is much more repeatable.

I really am loving the new-to-me Spider X, which at the same length as my old Spider Tour, just feels so much better in my hands.

I need to reduce the number of three-putts per round, as I currently am good for three or four. I'd like to attribute this somewhat to me being the first off on the course most days. I typically play around and through the maintenance staff, so I play a few holes with uncut, dew-covered greens, a few holes with fresh-cut wet greens, a few with drier, uncut greens and finally a few with cut, dry greens. And because my course doesn't mow the greens in order, it's not uncommon to change between all of the available options in just a few holes.

I'd suggest not using speed and condition as any kind of excuse.  Greens are not supposed to all be the same.  The number one putting skills is predicting speed.  Improve the skill and your three-putts will be reduced.  Just get putts within 3 feet from between 20-45' and you will reduce three-putts.  That is a six foot circle around the hole! 

[beelzeberto]

1 hour ago, edteergolf said:

I have them so here you go:  #1 in putting average for 2019 Jordan Spieth 1.694.  Last place with enough rounds (full season) is basically 1.8.  The 100th guy is 1.76 +/-.  

I'd suggest judging your makes or misses as 'easy' or 'hard' putts.  It is a poor strategy that only leads to frustration.  As an 11 handicap, you are probably putting too much effort and time into putting considering it's weight toward scoring for a handicap golfer.  Tee shots into play (in between the trees with an unobstructed swing & no sand = success) Hit 50% or more of the greens and I don't care how far away unless it is like 60 feet.  Learn to not three-putt from inside 40'.  With good concepts this is incredibly easy to accomplish.  Around the green the best in the world barely average just over 50%. Most handicap golfers should be happy with three most of the time.  Par half the holes and you are already better than an 11 handicap.  

Thanks for the tips! I practice a lot of short game in general because that's what I was told you needed to work on the most to get good and that advice has resulted in maybe one three putt a round. Most times I don't have any three putts unless it's a really off day.

I've been getting lessons to work on extension/not flipping at impact and removing the chicken wing. It has resulted in higher scores than normal for now, but I trust the process and know my scores will come down eventually with the improved swing.

[edingc]

1 hour ago, edteergolf said:

I'd suggest not using speed and condition as any kind of excuse.  Greens are not supposed to all be the same.  The number one putting skills is predicting speed.  Improve the skill and your three-putts will be reduced.  Just get putts within 3 feet from between 20-45' and you will reduce three-putts.  That is a six foot circle around the hole! 

Yup, excuses don't fix the problem. Last round I had three three-putts in a row (my only three putts of the round). The cause wasn't the greens, but rather a loss of mental focus - I was frustrated with my previous shots and blasted my first putts way past the hole on the first two holes, and then got timid and left the first putt on the third hole well short. 

Good stuff, as always, @edteergolf. 

[THEZIPR23]

4 hours ago, beelzeberto said:

I don’t know much about the tour stats so I’ll look it up  

But I know where I’m losing strokes the most at (Driver/off the tee in general like a lot of us) but missing “easy“ (I use that term loosely) putts inside 6ft is frustrating especially with the amount of practice I put into inside 6ft.

Don't beat your self up to bad about 6 footers. Tour average make % is right around 70%. 

[BMart519]

100% on 1-6ft putts according to Shot Scope for a tidy 30 putts (with two 3-putts, average 35-36) in my last round at Northern Bear outside Edmonton, which ties my lowest putts total from 2018. A lot were 5-6 footers definitely not all tap-ins, plus a 12 footer for birdie... That was definitely influenced by only hitting 5 GIR. A few weeks back I made a 75 foot downhill double breaker for birdie which was the best putt I have ever made, but AimPoint was a major contributor in that one. 

Buying a metal yard stick to putt on has driven much more improvement than my PuttOut mat and target did in the past 1.5 years to the point I regret buying them with the grooving issues. The alignment lines are the best part of that mat IMO. I could clearly identify my pull tendencies on the ruler and which putter worked best for start line in the offseason. This showed my old Taylormade face balanced putter (the last time I had 30 putts) performs better than any of the 4 I demo'd over 2019. Even though conventional wisdom is more toe hang is better for a pull miss, it encourages more rotation which makes me putt worse. 

The yard stick is so narrow you can only open/close face angle by 0.5 degrees either way or you will not make it off the end of the ruler. I try to make 10 in a row and have only been successful ~20 times over the 2 months I've been using it in lockdown. The difficulty level is perfect - you have to be focused and you will only succeed a small portion of the time. I also track the most consecutive putts made on the ruler which was 21 with the Taylormade vs 14 for the next closest which again made putter decision simple and took any emotion or looks consideration out of the process.

On the putt-out mat I don't even recall how many I made in a row from 4 feet, but it was around 80-90 so I don't find it a great training tool for accuracy as I believe that is around +/- 5 degrees of face angle which is poor control TBH. The "perfect putts" become a bit of luck once you have worn channels in the mat and you start hitting double breakers in the channel that happen to settle in the micro target. 

Edited May 29, 2020 by BMart519

[Jus2Good]

I've been indoor putting all winter, but haven't seen much improvement.  There's something about actually stepping on a green, which is different.  Additionally varying green speeds make things trickier.  Ultimately, I think the problem with indoor putting is you never have to worry about breaks.  Hitting a putt square is key, but if you're constantly misjudging the speed and breaks the practice doesn't pay off.

[ncwoz]

7 hours ago, Jus2Good said:

I've been indoor putting all winter, but haven't seen much improvement.  There's something about actually stepping on a green, which is different.  Additionally varying green speeds make things trickier.  Ultimately, I think the problem with indoor putting is you never have to worry about breaks.  Hitting a putt square is key, but if you're constantly misjudging the speed and breaks the practice doesn't pay off.

Yeah, I can relate for sure. Judging break I think is the weakest part of my putting, but it's easy to start doubting if you're squirting it up or not when they're not dropping.

[GolfSpy MPR]

On 5/27/2020 at 2:25 PM, GolfSpy MPR said:

Perhaps a good time for me to weigh in on my own question. Using April/May rounds last year versus my rounds this year, I'm currently seeing:

• 2019: 1.91 avg | 2020: 1.8 avg
• 2019
  • 1 Putt: 23%
  • 2 Putt: 63%
  • 3 Putt: 14%
• 2020
  • 1 Putt 28.7%
  • 2 Putt 61.1%
  • 3 Putt: 10.2%
  • Putts per GIR: 2.0

So on the whole, this is looking quite promising. I'm not seeing in GG where to pull up putts per GIR, but moving percentage points from both 2- and 3-putts into 1-putts is very encouraging. Let's hope it continues and even improves as speed control on real greens (and longer putts) continues to get dialed in.

A couple more rounds since the last update, and the numbers keep getting better:

My last two rounds, Arccos has me as a better-than-scratch putter. Maybe, maybe not. Either way, I'm feeling as comfortable and confident on the greens as I can ever remember.

Now I have to get some other parts of my game in shape without losing the putting. ["Good luck with that," he says to himself.]

[StrawberryShortCake]

My putting is much better but as the greens speed up as they dry out and catch some wind. I'm having a hard time adjusting from the mat in my basement to the real green. I've drained some awesome putts this year because of my alignment being much better but I still need to work on tempo on real grass.