I am ordering the book as well.
Thank you … and if you have any questions as you go through it and develop your practice plans, send me a note. My e-mail address is at the end of the Introduction in the book, or PM me here. Here’s to you Making More Putts.
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I had a round recently at a course I play maybe 2x a year at most so not super familiar with the green intricacies. I had a pretty good ball striking day: 9/14 FIR(most misses not far off) 9/18 GIR but my biggest problem was the 39 putts(3 putt 7x) en route to my 89. For the most part I was happy with the round but those 7 strokes I left out there have me wondering how some of you practice putting tiered greens. Most of those 3 putts I was approx 30-50ft from the hole on the wrong level and had a lot of 8-12 footers for my 2nd putt. I do the ladder drill often to get my feel down but was curious if any of you have something you practice that’s anything short of playing this course more and getting more familiar w/ the greens?
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I will be following this thread. You question is a VERY TOUGH one. I know for me, I was able to find a couple of tiers on a practice green I spent some time on … it was a game saver… Going up a tier is less of a challenge… coming down is a bear, since you have to estimate roll out.
Here is what I do for putting up a tier. I read the green from the tier to the hole, and then from the location of the ball to the top of the tier. Since based on your location the upslope has an impact on the direction. This gives me the line I need to putt on.
Now we need the speed. When I am on the top tier I make a putting stroke that I think will be the amount needed to make the putt from where the top tier starts is to the hole. Then I go to my ball location and make another practice swing to gauge the amount of energy it takes to get the ball onto the top tier. Then I just let my mind combine those to strokes - amount of energy and stroke the ball. Your brain is powerful and I know this works… it just takes some practice and trust.
You can apply the same idea in reverse from putting down a tier. … both for the read and the energy. I get right to the top of the tier when it starts to drop off and determine, how far the ball will roll out, if I just barely get it over the edge… then… well you get the idea. Hope this helps.
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Yes, definitely does - thx!
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Seems like a two tiered practice green would be a huge resource for practice.
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Slow motion putting strokes. Watch the face square at impact.
You have that many holes with two tiers? That feels like a lot. But anyway, be that as it may I would try to keep track of what the putts are and how you’re missing them. Up a tier, down a tier, short, long, left and right. Figure out what your trends are and then adapt to that.
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I highly recommend finding a two or three tier green (practice green or on course during less busy time) and practicing the Bradshaw Drill from Gary Nichols. That drill has definitely helped my lag putting.
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I’ve mentioned it in other topics, but started putting at the end of last year looking at the hole. I rarely 3 putted since (but also still rarely one putt). I finally got a copy of the book “Instinct Putting” and finished it yesterday. I highly recommend it to anyone struggling with their putting.
I’m looking forward to getting back out in the spring (and putting at home all winter) now that I know the science and statistics behind it! I love the drills provided for lag putting as well.
This will likely end my short-lived plan of trying armlock putting…we’ll see how it goes.
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I think what’s interesting about putting is how many different things go into sinking a putt…
Good read, good speed, good line… and doing so consistently… things like armlock really only help you roll the ball better (which is important!)
I’m really bad at judging / hitting distances consistently… it’s one of my main focuses this season.
All we can do is work to get better!
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You should really give Instinct Putting a read…target vision/binocular vision really makes sense to me and seems to be helping on distance control.
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I’m currently reading three books from this site… so I’ll have to come back to that one!
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I realize that this data is older (published in Golf Magazine in 1999)…but still super informative:
This is from “Instinct Putting”…and the book has some great drills on the 4-10 footers and the 21-50 footers that I’m honing in on during the winter months.
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My goal based on these numbers…work on putts from 4-10 feet (one putts make a huge scoring difference in this range)…and work on 2 putting from 21-50 feet (3 putts kill scoring in this range). 4 feet and in is almost automatic for 1 putts, 11-20 feet is mostly automatic for 2 putts, and over 50 feet is almost automatic for 3 putts…regardless of handicap according to these statistics.
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