vj: Your thoughts on making short putts?

vj: Could you go into your ideas on making short must make putts ? This part of putting is almost a separate game in it self and causes a lot of people problems.

I had a college buddie that always said under pressure the first one in always wins. There is a lot of truth in that statement. I find it understandable to miss short putts but not permissable.

I feel there are a lot of players that practice missing putts. Meaning players stand on the putting green hitting ten footers and very few go in. They practice from a variety of distances none of which are 3 feet or 50 feet. In my opinion this produces many "missed" putts in your memory bank.

Then you get over a three footer to win the club championship and all you can think of are all those putts you have missed over the past year on the putting green. Logically speaking if you practice this way you are setting yourself up for mistakes.

So practice 2 and 3 footers or 50 footers for speed and don't mess with the others.


Utilize a post shot routine as well. Zen Golf (although I am a Christian) is a great book out there concerning post shot routines. The basics are taking emotion to your good shots and putts and saying to yourself "How unlike me" for misses. All memories are built through emotions.

Originally Posted by vj So practice 2 and 3 footers or 50 footers for speed and don't mess with the others.

Wow, so this is very interesting. I hardly ever practice these distances. Are you really saying don't practice 6-20 footers? I bet I spend 99% of my time on 15 footers when I practice putting.

For me, success in the 3-6 yard interval is the key to good putting. And I do those pretty well. The other key is correct distance on the long ones.

Most putts inside 3 feet will go in anyway. Increasing the pressure on the "must makes" doesn't do me any good. But in the 3-6 yards interval, good putting can shave off a lot of strokes per round and breed short game confidence.

I guess better players, who needs several birdies on a good round need to focus morre on longer putts than I do. But they still need to sink their share of 3-6 footers to scramble pars.

Trig I would definitely suggest working three footers and 50 footers for speed. I would not mess with the ten, fifteen, etc... lengths during practice because of the above reasons.

Every nationwide or tour player I have worked with all say the same thing. When they win or have a great check they don't miss anything inside five feet. This means they are knocking in the short birdies and lagging the longer putts up there nice and snug.

To win a really big tournament, ball striking aside, all you need to do is make 99% of the short ones and then make three putts each day THAT YOU NORMALLY DON'T MAKE.

Also remember your mechanics.

Sustain your lag,
Trolio

Originally Posted by vj

Trig I would definitely suggest working three footers and 50 footers for speed. I would not mess with the ten, fifteen, etc... lengths during practice because of the above reasons.

Every nationwide or tour player I have worked with all say the same thing. When they win or have a great check they don't miss anything inside five feet. This means they are knocking in the short birdies and lagging the longer putts up there nice and snug.

To win a really big tournament, ball striking aside, all you need to do is make 99% of the short ones and then make three putts each day THAT YOU NORMALLY DON'T MAKE.

Also remember your mechanics.

Sustain your lag,
Trolio

VJ - thanks for all of your contributions to this site! This is really, really good stuff. I am going to put this to work immediately.

By the way, I wonder if the same type of practice could work with the full swing? Work on some drivers to ensure you have the tee shot grooved, then work on wedges. Hmmmm......

VJ,

I heard from a good source that the zone where you can have a legitimate shot at making the putt is up until 12 feet. After that, your odds decline, but not in a linear fashion versus length. For example, you have more or less the same chance of making a 25 footer as a 40 footer. So the point is that you should practice putts inside of 12 feet since those are the ones you have the best chance of making consistently. Is this true?

FROM 0 FEET 100% MADE
3 FEET 99% MADE
5 FEET 97% MADE
6 FEET 60% MADE
10 FEET 30% MADE

THESE NUMBERS COME FROM PELZ'S STATISTICAL TABLE FOR THE AVERAGE PGA TOUR PLAYER. I HAVE NO IDEA THE EXPERIMENT USED TO COMPILE THE DATA BUT IT IS THE BEST DATA I HAVE.

ODDS OR STATISTICS CAN BE MISLEADING ON TOUR BECAUSE THEY DO NOT GIVE YOU THE true NUMBERS OF PLAYERS winning. THE BAD WEEKS WHEN THE WIVES ARE MAD AND THE AIRPORT IS RUNNING BEHIND ARE THROWN IN THERE WITH THE WINNING WEEKS.

There is definitely a relationship between getting the ball very close to the hole and making the putt. According to Pelz the chance of making a putt between 20 and 35 feet is less than 10%. Again this is DEATH THOUGHT for us because we must feel we make every putt.

Conclusion,
Get your Golfing Machine fine tuned so that you can hit that seven iron four feet instead of fourteen feet. Read the speed (gives you the line), committ to that line, and make your best stroke. If you do this you made the putt.

Originally Posted by vj

FROM 0 FEET 100% MADE
3 FEET 99% MADE
5 FEET 97% MADE
6 FEET 60% MADE
10 FEET 30% MADE

Earlier this year, there was a post on GEA that compared Pelz's numbers and official PGA statistics for the past year via Shotlink(?). The PGA percentages/distances were pretty much similar to Pelz's observations. I tried to find the post in GEA forum but the search only goes back 3 months.

Originally Posted by Yoda

Originally Posted by vj
Get your Golfing Machine fine tuned so that you can hit that seven iron four feet instead of fourteen feet.

"Just hit it closer to the hole, Ben."

-- Valerie Hogan

What a concept!