Putting, Part II, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles
Putting, Part II, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles

So we know how important being a good putter is to your score; but there's more to putting than just making a good, consistent stroke. Lots of other things go into actually holing the ball or certainly making a good, solid two-putt. Now, from my perspective, the best and most important thing for you to focus on is your speed control, your distance control when you're putting. Very rarely will you ever miss a putt three foot to the left or three foot to the right. But, quite often, we see club and amateur golfers missing the ball three foot long and three foot short. And if you miss it by three foot long, three foot short, you leave yourself quite a difficult, missable return putt to make the two-putt. So the biggest priority is getting good distance control.

Now, as an ideal to the rule, we would like the ball to roll past the hole. Rolling the ball slightly past the hole gives every ball an opportunity to go in. There's nothing more frustrating than, during a round of golf, having sort of 18 putts rolling towards the hole and then stopping six inches short. Yes, you've got a tap-in; but that's 18 opportunities that could have gone in. So try and get the ball to roll slightly past the hole. The sort of desired distance would be between 12 and 18 inches. So just knocking it this sort of distance past the hole really gives you a good opportunity to get the makeable next putt you should never miss from this distance--hopefully not. And it gives the first putt a good opportunity to go in. If it's going at the hole too hard and the ball's really running at the hole, you might see it bounce off the back lick of the nest. And if the putt misses the hole, it runs on too far, you miss the next one. But like we described, anything that comes up short of the hole, it's never had an opportunity to go in.

So next time you're on the putting green practicing, just focus on your speed control. Make sure every putt you have, you give it a chance for it to go in, but try not to knock it more than three foot beyond. Three foot beyond is roughly the length of a putt, and most putts is about 35 inches; 36 inches is three feet. So if you can keep the ball within the length of your putt beyond the hole, then you're doing okay. And the ideal point to aim is about 18 inches, about halfway down your putt. So if the hole's here, the ball should be finishing about half a putter's length beyond the hole would be ideal.

Now, the next thing to consider is the line of the putt. So we've assessed the break; we've seen the how the ball is going to curve. Most club golfers will miss putts, about 85 percent of putts missed on the low side. Think about the last round you played. How many putts did you leave low side or short on low side? Now, we actually call that the amateur side of the hole and therefore we call the high side of the hole the pro side. And when you watch the golfers on the television, most professionals will have the ball going into the top side of the hole, dying in to the top half of the hole because if I had a putt that's rolling up the high side and it's turning in from the top side, it's always got a chance to drop in. But as soon as I hit a putt that's dropped below the low side of the hole, it's always going to keep turning away.

So just next time you play, try and get your putts rolling past the hole. Try and get your putts up on the high side and dropping in from the top of the hole rather than missing in the low side. It's well worth also keeping your stats so when you finished your round, just mark on your scorecard, maybe even as you're going along, if you can do it as you're going along how many putts you took, did it go past the hole--give yourself a tick for that--did it stay within three feet going past the hole--give yourself a tick for that--and did it go on the high side? So the worst one would probably be short and low side. That would be a big, critical miss. It's never had a chance. But high side and past the hole, at least the putt has a chance.

The one other thing I see with a lot of amateur golfers related to their putting but not necessarily their stroke is their keenness and eagerness to follow the ball and watch it and look up. So I work on a routine that when I'm hitting putts, I'm staying down until the ball has gone at least six feet away from me. I can kind of see over here, I start to lose a bit of my peripheral vision. It goes a bit blurry. I want the ball to roll out of my peripheral vision before I look up to follow it. I certainly wouldn't want to be watching it straight off the club face. That's going to do me no favor; there's too much body movement. So if I hit a putt here, nice set-up, good stroke, and then turn and see and watch it roll into the hole if it's more than six feet away. If it's inside six feet, listen for the ball going in the hole rather than looking after it. And, hopefully, that'll just keep you a little bit more stable. So pace control, a big priority. Get the ball up on the high side of the hole rather than the low side, the pro side if you can. And then stop watching the putt as you hit it. Try and keep everything down until the ball leaves your peripheral vision. And, hopefully, that will make you a better putter.

 2012-05-31

So we know how important being a good putter is to your score; but there's more to putting than just making a good, consistent stroke. Lots of other things go into actually holing the ball or certainly making a good, solid two-putt. Now, from my perspective, the best and most important thing for you to focus on is your speed control, your distance control when you're putting. Very rarely will you ever miss a putt three foot to the left or three foot to the right. But, quite often, we see club and amateur golfers missing the ball three foot long and three foot short. And if you miss it by three foot long, three foot short, you leave yourself quite a difficult, missable return putt to make the two-putt. So the biggest priority is getting good distance control.

Now, as an ideal to the rule, we would like the ball to roll past the hole. Rolling the ball slightly past the hole gives every ball an opportunity to go in. There's nothing more frustrating than, during a round of golf, having sort of 18 putts rolling towards the hole and then stopping six inches short. Yes, you've got a tap-in; but that's 18 opportunities that could have gone in. So try and get the ball to roll slightly past the hole. The sort of desired distance would be between 12 and 18 inches. So just knocking it this sort of distance past the hole really gives you a good opportunity to get the makeable next putt you should never miss from this distance–hopefully not. And it gives the first putt a good opportunity to go in. If it's going at the hole too hard and the ball's really running at the hole, you might see it bounce off the back lick of the nest. And if the putt misses the hole, it runs on too far, you miss the next one. But like we described, anything that comes up short of the hole, it's never had an opportunity to go in.

So next time you're on the putting green practicing, just focus on your speed control. Make sure every putt you have, you give it a chance for it to go in, but try not to knock it more than three foot beyond. Three foot beyond is roughly the length of a putt, and most putts is about 35 inches; 36 inches is three feet. So if you can keep the ball within the length of your putt beyond the hole, then you're doing okay. And the ideal point to aim is about 18 inches, about halfway down your putt. So if the hole's here, the ball should be finishing about half a putter's length beyond the hole would be ideal.

Now, the next thing to consider is the line of the putt. So we've assessed the break; we've seen the how the ball is going to curve. Most club golfers will miss putts, about 85 percent of putts missed on the low side. Think about the last round you played. How many putts did you leave low side or short on low side? Now, we actually call that the amateur side of the hole and therefore we call the high side of the hole the pro side. And when you watch the golfers on the television, most professionals will have the ball going into the top side of the hole, dying in to the top half of the hole because if I had a putt that's rolling up the high side and it's turning in from the top side, it's always got a chance to drop in. But as soon as I hit a putt that's dropped below the low side of the hole, it's always going to keep turning away.

So just next time you play, try and get your putts rolling past the hole. Try and get your putts up on the high side and dropping in from the top of the hole rather than missing in the low side. It's well worth also keeping your stats so when you finished your round, just mark on your scorecard, maybe even as you're going along, if you can do it as you're going along how many putts you took, did it go past the hole–give yourself a tick for that–did it stay within three feet going past the hole–give yourself a tick for that–and did it go on the high side? So the worst one would probably be short and low side. That would be a big, critical miss. It's never had a chance. But high side and past the hole, at least the putt has a chance.

The one other thing I see with a lot of amateur golfers related to their putting but not necessarily their stroke is their keenness and eagerness to follow the ball and watch it and look up. So I work on a routine that when I'm hitting putts, I'm staying down until the ball has gone at least six feet away from me. I can kind of see over here, I start to lose a bit of my peripheral vision. It goes a bit blurry. I want the ball to roll out of my peripheral vision before I look up to follow it. I certainly wouldn't want to be watching it straight off the club face. That's going to do me no favor; there's too much body movement. So if I hit a putt here, nice set-up, good stroke, and then turn and see and watch it roll into the hole if it's more than six feet away. If it's inside six feet, listen for the ball going in the hole rather than looking after it. And, hopefully, that'll just keep you a little bit more stable. So pace control, a big priority. Get the ball up on the high side of the hole rather than the low side, the pro side if you can. And then stop watching the putt as you hit it. Try and keep everything down until the ball leaves your peripheral vision. And, hopefully, that will make you a better putter.