Natalie Adams – PGA Teaching Pro
Here we are going to consider the best options for off green putting. Now the main thing you’ve got to think about is the length of grass that you’re putting in. If the grass is really high around the ball it’s not going to work at all so if we are off the green and we are going to putt we need to be looking at sort of closely mowed fairway type of grass that you can putt on and that’s going to work quite well for you. If you are only one or two feet off the green in the shorter grass then it won’t really affect the putt too much.
You can hit it as a normal putt. But if we are looking at moving to say 10 or 20 feet off the green then what I suggest you do is just go to your practice area, throw some balls around that so 10 to 20 feet off the green and just get a feel for how much firmer you need to hit the putt. Obviously the putt’s travelling more through longer grass than it normally would be on the green so it will travel a little bit slower. The longer grass will just slow the ball up a little bit more. So you will need to make a slightly bigger stroke. Don’t hit the ball any harder, keep the tempo constant, just swing with the biggest stroke as you go through the ball. But if your chipping isn’t particularly great then putting from off the green is a fantastic option because you’ll get a lot closer to the hole. You’ll get a much better result than hitting a bad chip. So a putt even if you don’t hit the putt brilliantly you’ll always end up much closer than if you’ve miss hit your chip. So it is a great option to have, the other time it’s good to putt off the green as well is if you’re in a particularly bad lie so if the ball is sitting down in a divot or it’s nestled down in a not particularly good lie then hitting a putt will be a lot easier to get the ball close to the hole out of. If you tend to chip from that sort of position you don’t hit in the top of the ball because the ball is nestled down or it’s in the divot so if you putt from out of that divot it’s a lot easier to control the ball. So there’s a lot of options when you are off the green but what I’d suggest you do is just practice round the practice green just working out how much bigger you need to make the stroke to get the ball through the longer grass because it will react a little bit slower than it would on the green. 2014-04-14 Natalie Adams – PGA Teaching Pro
Here we are going to consider the best options for off green putting. Now the main thing you’ve got to think about is the length of grass that you’re putting in. If the grass is really high around the ball it’s not going to work at all so if we are off the green and we are going to putt we need to be looking at sort of closely mowed fairway type of grass that you can putt on and that’s going to work quite well for you. If you are only one or two feet off the green in the shorter grass then it won’t really affect the putt too much.
You can hit it as a normal putt. But if we are looking at moving to say 10 or 20 feet off the green then what I suggest you do is just go to your practice area, throw some balls around that so 10 to 20 feet off the green and just get a feel for how much firmer you need to hit the putt. Obviously the putt’s travelling more through longer grass than it normally would be on the green so it will travel a little bit slower. The longer grass will just slow the ball up a little bit more. So you will need to make a slightly bigger stroke.
Don’t hit the ball any harder, keep the tempo constant, just swing with the biggest stroke as you go through the ball. But if your chipping isn’t particularly great then putting from off the green is a fantastic option because you’ll get a lot closer to the hole. You’ll get a much better result than hitting a bad chip. So a putt even if you don’t hit the putt brilliantly you’ll always end up much closer than if you’ve miss hit your chip. So it is a great option to have, the other time it’s good to putt off the green as well is if you’re in a particularly bad lie so if the ball is sitting down in a divot or it’s nestled down in a not particularly good lie then hitting a putt will be a lot easier to get the ball close to the hole out of.
If you tend to chip from that sort of position you don’t hit in the top of the ball because the ball is nestled down or it’s in the divot so if you putt from out of that divot it’s a lot easier to control the ball. So there’s a lot of options when you are off the green but what I’d suggest you do is just practice round the practice green just working out how much bigger you need to make the stroke to get the ball through the longer grass because it will react a little bit slower than it would on the green.
