5 foot downhill vs 7 foot uphill: Stolen from Twitter

Strategy
#1

This question has been answered definitively by our friends @LouStagner and Mark Broadie (he might not be on the site, but I’ll pretend I’m friendly with him) but it’s made me think about putting, expectations and reality.

I guess it just shocks me the make percentage on a downhill 5 footer (on average) is 3/4. That means we miss 25% of them… 7 footer uphill is a 56% make chance… pretty much a coinflip.

I’m focused on improving my putting this season (mostly by eliminating 3 putts) but I also want to make sure my expectations are in line with reality… If I’m missing half of my 5 foot downhill putts, I know it’s something to work on…

I think the real challenge at the individual level is building a large enough data set to see where we are actually weak, and thus improve on it… it’s something I’m still struggling with!

Anyone have any experience with MEASURABLE gains in their putting?

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#2

See… this is really useful specific data.

I’d tried Shot Scope (V2, not the current V3) and was disappointed in that level of granularity especially with respect to putting.

So, possibly, in this kind of situation good old-fashioned handwritten notes may be the best solution?

Oh, PS:
I’ve improved my putting - overall, in general, on average (not for any one specific type of putt) - by working on impact/start line, distance control and by taking an AimPoint class.

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#3

This is interesting, but the bigger takeaway is that golfers should not try to leave themselves a specific kind of break with a chip or putt. We simply don’t have enough control over the ball.

For example, if you are chipping the ball to an uphill pin, and trying to avoid a downhill putt coming back, the likelihood is that just leave you a longer second putt overall. Proximity is king!

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#4

The issue with Shot Scope or even Arccos is that that GPS is not accurate enough to tell the difference of a 4-foot putt versus a 7-foot putt. They are experimenting with boosting the signal which should improve accuracy, but you can’t expect perfection like Shot Link (which uses lasers). If you’re interested in keeping those stats you’ll have to manually take them down IMO.

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#5

Best way to get better at putting is to chip it stiff

Half joking… in my case I know there is more scoring improvement available in my wedge game though

Sometimes when we chase things, they run away. Without getting too “wu wu”, you may want to get a simple 15 - 30 minute set of drills to do and make sure you do them every week. After that, just let go. Totally detach. You really can’t get better at putting. You can only hit the next putt good.

Here is a fun mindset. If you were a “putting robot” how would you approach putting? You certainly have any emotion / interrupting thoughts. Would you attach meaning to whether the ball rolls in? No. All you would do would be to try and find line and speed and hit that. If you missed you would then begin the process again on putt #2.

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#6

I find it interesting how much proximity plays a role in make percentage… I also wonder if you could actually get useful data tracking differences vs “average” and start to identify your own individual strengths vs weakness…

There are many different factors that go into putting, speed, aim, read, stroke are the big four categories that I can think of… and they can all intersect and change each other… if your aim or stroke keeps missing right, eventually you will move your line to the left… It’s fascinating we can make putts at all!

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#7

Yeah definitely. It’s not just distance but the OP was talking about very specific types of breaks … which is totally non-existent in Shot Scope (not sure about Arcoss and others).

For example, I know - in general - I find side slope putts, in either direction, currently the most problematic for me. But that, of course, is anecdotal and not derived from big data…

#8

Lou covered that as well… break definitely has a negative impact on make %

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#9

This isn’t a joke, though, you’re best off trying to get as close as you can. If you try to leave an uphill putt, say aiming to leave it 3 feet below the hole, your “downhill misses” might be 6 or 7 feet, even with dang good accuracy. If you’re aiming at the hole itself, you’ll leave more putts closer to the hole, and make more of those.

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#10

I agree with the sentiment. Humans are incredible. Crazy that we can filter the amount of inputs our brain receive and create functional models that allow us to operate in the world at all.

Regardless, we are good at chunking / self organizing. Start playing 5-5-12 twice a week after 10 minute of block technique work. If you start consistently scoring better (fewer putts) the performance on the course should improve.

To me, putting more than anything proves the saying “in your head and you’re dead”. I don’t want any part of analyzing anything beyond stroke, speed, line

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#11

The real best way to get better at putting is to leave your approaches on the collar so the first “putt” isn’t officially a putt!

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#12

Agreed - with one exception. We have a pin on our course where legitimately it’s unfair. If you’re above the hole and don’t make it it’s going 6 feet past at best (even with tapping it). You have to hit the putt so softly that it’s at the mercy of gravity and any bumps on the green. HAVE to stay below that one. Otherwise I’m 100% with you - closer is better.

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#13

:joy::joy: I’ve seen a few situations like that. There’s always an exception to the rule in golf

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#14

The problem word here is “we.” Unless I’m mistaken, these are Tour stats. Which means “we” are probably missing a higher percentage.

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#15

That’s probably right… I don’t think there is any good data collection on amateur putting.

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#16

If you captured

  • number of putts
  • proximity (ie first putt from 20’, second putt from 4 ‘ long) you could start to see what’s going on pretty quickly

Another decent thing would be to chart all of your first putts. Draw a green, normalize so that all uphill putts go from 6 to 12, max left to right break would be 9 to 3, etc.

You then draw all 18 putts on that page

For me, generally I know some things:

  • lots of one putts mean I am chipping it into the 6 ft green zone
  • no three putts mean lag putting is on

A great day putting for me is lights out inside of 6 ft, maybe two dropping from 10 - 15 ft, and a bunch of stress free two putts from outside 15 ft (when I am on a lot of these scare the hole and I am tapping in)

Another perspective. If I am missing a bunch of greens and two putting, it is almost never a putter issue. Almost always leaving pitches and chips outside of 6 ft where make percentage drops off a cliff

As you know, I hardly keep any stats. Journaling the round almost always reveals where I left shots out there (usually blasting it OB for me)

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#17

This is some interesting data but understand the rule here isn’t concrete. Because there’s no set playing surface, too many variants like green complex, grass, condition, speed and pin placement can take exception to this rule.

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#18

I like that data, makes me less leery of downhill putts!

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#19

So I’ve used Shotscope for a while. It has absolutely helped me improve. Upgraded to V3 this summer.

Using the data I identified and worked to improve the following issues with my putting stats 2020 (2019);

  • leave it short - 60%(81) - down to 35% last 5 rounds
  • 3 putts - 10%(14)
  • Avg proximity to hole after 1st putt - improved on all ranges
  • Avg. shots to finish - improved on all but 12-18ft range

I specifically researched drills and games to improve these points.

I also knew from reflection that I had a problem with commitment through the stroke leading to involuntary deceleration. Again I found drills (hit putts, don’t look, feel/guess where the ball ends up, then look), plus a “be BOLD!” mental prompt to commit to my stroke. I also had a confidence problem with 3’ putts and many lipped out during competitions. I found a pressure drill to work on this.

Where I still struggle is where the course has been prep’d for club championships and the greens are upped from 9 to 13 on the stimp for one weekend only.

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