You're Correct!

One of the biggest problems in controlling the distance of your putt is not knowing how far your putter is travelling in the back stroke. Because of this the tempo of your stroke becomes very erratic causing you to have very little control over the speed, and ultimately the outcome of your putts from a longer distance.

To create your formula, you need to take six balls to the practise putting green and work on the following drill on a regular basis:

• Set out your six balls in a line. Take your set up position to the first ball and make sure your feet are shoulder width apart. If this is something that you wouldnt normally do then you need to start as this is the bedrock for your formula. Now make a back stroke so your putter head moves to the outside of your trail foot, almost on your little toe and then hit the putt. Be sure to keep the tempo of the stroke the same in both directions. Do the same with all six balls and you should see them in a nice little cluster. Count the number of paces it take you to reach the middle of the cluster, as this is your distance for this length of back stroke.
• The next thing you need to do is repeat the drill but extend the length of your back stroke each time. Make the putter move a couple of inches outside your trail foot, then a couple of inches further the time after. Each time you pace out the distance make a note of how far each length hits the putts.

You can even make your back stroke shorter so you continue the same formula on putts as short as a couple of feet. This drill will improve your speed control and this is vital for you to improve your putting from long range.

With speed control being the key to your consistency, increasing the tempo of your putting stroke will only lead to more inconsistency. The danger of hitting longer putts out of control is the possibility of you taking 3, 4 or even 5 putts.

The shorter the length of your stroke, the more inconsistent your impact will be. This will have a knock on effect on the control and direction of your putts. You will find yourself hitting one putt too far and then compensating on the next putt, mis-hitting it and the result will be a putt stopping short of the hole.

If you back stroke is too long, especially for the distance of the putt then subconsciously your brain will tell you to slow down so you dont hit the ball too far. This deceleration in the forward stroke will lead you to hitting your putts short of the hole every time.