When Should I Putt from Off the Green? (Video) - by Pete Styles
When Should I Putt from Off the Green? (Video) - by Pete Styles

Now putting from off the green is a vastly underrated and very much under practiced skill for a lot of golfers, even professionals, armatures or even high handicap and beginners. Putting from off the green is something that is just frowned upon for whatever reason and it’s ridiculous because more often than not putting from off the green will save you a shot over and above chipping.

So when you next go out and practice I want you to try and practice putting from off the green. And what you’ll start to notice is that the best opportunities for you to putt when you are not on the green is when you are quite close to the edge of the green and the grass between you and the green is quite smooth. So if it’s long and horrible and bubbly, we don’t want to be taking a putter from that position but if it’s flat and dry and smooth and there's no big bubbles in the way putting from off the green no problem at all. You don’t really need to change or adapt your technique; you take the same stance, take the same technique and just go ahead and hit it at the relevant speed. The one thing that it might take a bit of time is just to practice the feel of putting from such a long way off and how the grass here might be slightly slower than the actual green surface. But don’t be afraid next time you’re on the putting green on the practice area before you go and play, just take a hand full of balls, take three or four paces off the putting green and put them back on, you’ll quite quickly adapt to how it feels to hit the ball a little bit harder. Next time you go and play on the golf course use the putter from off the green when you get a chance and your scores will come down.
2015-03-26

Now putting from off the green is a vastly underrated and very much under practiced skill for a lot of golfers, even professionals, armatures or even high handicap and beginners. Putting from off the green is something that is just frowned upon for whatever reason and it’s ridiculous because more often than not putting from off the green will save you a shot over and above chipping.

So when you next go out and practice I want you to try and practice putting from off the green. And what you’ll start to notice is that the best opportunities for you to putt when you are not on the green is when you are quite close to the edge of the green and the grass between you and the green is quite smooth. So if it’s long and horrible and bubbly, we don’t want to be taking a putter from that position but if it’s flat and dry and smooth and there's no big bubbles in the way putting from off the green no problem at all.

You don’t really need to change or adapt your technique; you take the same stance, take the same technique and just go ahead and hit it at the relevant speed. The one thing that it might take a bit of time is just to practice the feel of putting from such a long way off and how the grass here might be slightly slower than the actual green surface. But don’t be afraid next time you’re on the putting green on the practice area before you go and play, just take a hand full of balls, take three or four paces off the putting green and put them back on, you’ll quite quickly adapt to how it feels to hit the ball a little bit harder. Next time you go and play on the golf course use the putter from off the green when you get a chance and your scores will come down.