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Best Putting Drills?


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What are some of your best putting drills? I am nowhere near the best putter in the world, but I feel I also don't practice it with regularity and commitment. I just go to putting green and putt from hole to hole most of the time. What drills would you recommend to improve your putting?

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Startline:  Putt through a gate or down a yardstick.  under 1 degree of error makes a 5 foot putt,  under .75 degrees of error makes a 10 footer, and under .5 makes a 20 footer.

Distance control: ladder drills like roll a ball 5 feet and then continue to rolls balls past the one you just putted (you can also roll to 20 feet or longer and then work your way back.  when rolling past,  try to just get the ball past the previous.  You can do things like see how many balls you can fit between 5 and 10 feet.    

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Definitely in agreement with @cnosil as well. Only other drill that I would add would be a clock drill. Personally a fan of 34 (3 & 4 feet) but clock drills are great because they can be from whatever distance u want and they can provide u with some pressure putts

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I think you've seen consistent and consistently good advice in this thread.  To me, there are three components of good putting.  You have to be able to hit the line.  You have to be able to hit it the correct distance.  And you have to be able to read the break.  Each component relies on the others, a good read and good speed won't work if you can't hit your intended start line, etc.  So putt through gates or down a yardstick to make sure you can hit your line.  Do the ladder drill to learn to control your distance.  Once you get those two physical components under control, you can refine your green-reading.  I use Aimpoint Express,  and for that it helps to practice just a bit with a digital level to "calibrate" your feel for slope.  

One little thing, most really good putters don't accelerate through the ball, their clubhead speed has just about leveled out at impact.  However, I'd guess that most inconsistent putters decelerate at impact, which in my experience can cause both inconsistent distance AND inconsistent start line.  A feel of accelerating through impact is a positive thing for many players.

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I bought a perfect practice putting green over quarantine and putt endlessly in the small hole, I have noticed better tempo and accuracy on course and almost rarely 3 putt anymore. Pricier but would recommend  

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1. Putt to smaller targets like coins to make the hole look huge. 
2. Ladder drill as said before. 
3. Try to hit different spots on the face to gain strike awareness. 
4. Play a pressure game with $1 per hole with a buddy, but everything inside 3’ must be placed 3’ away. 

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Good putting does take practice.  Lots of good advice above.  You do have to be able to consistently hit a straight putt, and be able to control distance.  The ladder drill trains the brain to provide the right amount of force to the ball.  I use 2 large nails connected by a 10 foot string; easily rolled up and takes up very little space in my bag.

IMG_0573.jpeg.7ef360344ec04af594341e90985c6f73.jpegIMG_0575.jpeg.20b255ad4afcca3a70b5965c0765253f.jpeg

Find a straight putt to a hole.  Place one spike a foot behind the hole.  Line up your ball and putter under the line.  Make stroke.  The ball should roll straight to hole.  If it doesn't, then something is wrong with the stroke.  Could be any number of issues.  You can start anywhere on the line; short putts, then move back as you get more comfortable with the stroke.

If the ball does miss, it should never be short and it should not be past the spike on the other side.  When you can consistently hit the ball straight, then you need to be able to read the break.  Find a hole on the green where a putt will have some break.  Set up the string as before, but set the spike past the hole on the line you read.  Treat the putt as a straight putt on your start line.  Make a stroke.  If you roll the ball past the hole but short of the spike and missed the hole, adjust the start line until your putt goes in the hole.  Now keep putting on that line.  Change up L to R and R to L breaks.... small breaks to start with.  

With this drill you will easily see what speed does to a breaking putt.  Practicing speed control using the ladder drill helps on long lag putting.  On long putts with quite a bit of break, coming up just short may be better than going past the hole; the next putt is easier.

We don’t stop playing the game because we get old; we get old because we stop playing the game.”

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As mentioned earlier putt down the yard stick  to get your alignment. Once you got that then it's all speed and green reading. I don't use the cups on a practice putting green. I use a golf tee. I will place it in harder spots on the green and putt to hit the tee from different directions.  Then move to a different location.  If you can hit a golf tee you can  definitely hit a 4- 1/4 " hole.

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I like many of the drills seen here.  However I have never seen anything improve putting, setup, pace and actual putting in competition more than:

Spending time working your way around putting green just looking at the hole.  I've done it and putted so well after(don't get me started on those rounds), I've recommended and seen countless others repeat with similar success that I cannot put anything above it.

We must assume ... that is that you are not a complete beginner and that you: 

1. You learn to go with how your body needs to be setup to see where you are going.

2. Your tempo will default to what works well for you.  You have to allow that to translate when you go back to standard.

3. You must avoid the common practice to just try a few and then return to standard drills.  Stick with it for 18 holes or 20 minutes(on practice green), something that allows time to work. 

     3a. Work the clock with this method - and for certain putt many super long putts.  They'll start to just die right next to the hole and you'll sink more than                    you would ever expect from downtown!

4. You're not an idiot like me and fail to do this practice routine regularly, and too often wait until the wheels have come off.

You'll truly be amazed! So much good happens so automatically if you allow it to.

WITB

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On 6/29/2020 at 9:27 AM, zrumble said:

1. Putt to smaller targets like coins to make the hole look huge. 
2. Ladder drill as said before. 
3. Try to hit different spots on the face to gain strike awareness. 
4. Play a pressure game with $1 per hole with a buddy, but everything inside 3’ must be placed 3’ away. 

4. Sounds similar to pull-backs .... everything (actually regardless of leave length) is "pulled back" the length of your putter.

What I l really like about you mentioning this in your reply is .... adding competition to the drill which is the only way to truly get what you practice - game ready.

WITB

Drivers: Cobra F9 w/Atmos

FW: Adams XTD Speedline 3W

HOOK STICKS(hybrids): Adams and Callaway  hook sticks!🤓

IRONS: Callaway CF19 (4-P)   /   CF16 (4-AW)  /   Ping Eye2 (3-S)   /   Tommy Armour 845s (3-W)

WEDGES: Ping Glide 2.0 Stealth 56 ES  /   Cleveland CG14 50*, 56*    /  Smartsole  56*   /  RTX4 56*  /   NIKE VR 56*

PUTTER: Ping Zing2 /  Anser4  /  Bobby Grace LoPro   / couple of Odyssey No. 2's

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I think the advice here is fantastic.  I could not agree more with @DaveP043 's fundamentals.  (start line, distance control, and read)

For me, I do most of my start line work at home.  There are many ways to practice it, but typically i will putt down a ruler and/or  set up putting gates(using anything from tees, sleeves of balls, or even the pelz putting tudor).  This has greatly improved my putting ability and is easy to do for 15-20 minutes a day at home.  

The other investment I would make is in a digital level.  I am an aimpoint follower as well, but at a minimum it will help you get a feel for reading the break/slope on greens.  On the course/practice range I work on:

1) ladder drill

2) gated putting drill:  I will find a putt that has a decent amount of break, read the putt, and then set up a gate where I believe the start line should be.  I like this drill because it works on all three fundamentals at once(start line, distance control, and green reading)

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The most important piece of a putting stroke in my opinion is consistency in the physical stroke and where on the face you're making contact with the ball. To practice this I stole a drill from the GOAT (Tiger), I put 2 tees just slightly wider than the width of my putter about 5 ft from a hole or tee in the ground. If you make contact with either of the tees, you're not returning your club face to the same spot that you're starting it at. I will do this from 5 ft until i make 10 in a row then I will move back to 7-8 feet and go until i make 5 in a row. Move back to 10 feet and go until i make 5 in a row. 

Since I've started doing this 2-3 times a week. My 3 putt % in Arccos has gone 19.5% to 13.3% (In the last 3 rounds combined, I've only had one 3 putt).

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