Do you bang short putts in the back of the hole?

I’ve recently been practicing a lot and one decision I have come to is to start practicing banging putts into the back of the cup.

What I have noticed with my game lately is my first putt of any given three putt I have isn’t necessarily awful, it’s the range of putts from 4-10 feet. My current make percentage for 4-6 and 7-10 is 33%. Although my pool isn’t big because this is a fairly new stat I have been keeping. I always find myself very timid over these putts because I don’t want to blast it by so I try to play the break instead of using speed to take out the break, which thinking about it right now seems more of a guess than a strategy.

With that being said, for those who play your short putts with speed like our boy RF, how did you start practicing this? How did you overcome your fear of blasting it by. What did you notice on the course after you started putting this way?

Anytime I'm within 5' I will usually putt them very firm and into the back of the hole. Unless there is a severe break I will always do this. Really don't think of missing them as to me putting is ALL confidence. Now I do miss on occasion and when I do I will have the same 5 footer coming back from the other side, but will still putt aggressively.

No I still use die speed

Yes, but I bang it against the pin.

I like some speed, but not banging against the back of the cup speed. This really shrinks the size of the hole, I want the ball to fall in with enough speed to carry over the front lip and fall in the back half of the hole. This gives you some leeway in your stroke to die it in when necessary and also on occasion “bang” one in when you feel the need without altering your stroke and normal feel too much.

I usually putt short putts firm unless it's very downhill or sidehill. Anything flat or uphill I'm going back of the cup.

starting last year I began trying to bang the short putt in the hole - before that I tended to let it die. Looking at my stats, my 3 putt frequency dropped in 2019 and I attribute at least part of that to no missing the 2-3 foot putts which tended to slide out of the hole when I was trying to ease them in the hole.

Same. Maybe enough pace to make it 12-18inches by.

To me this - like anything else putting related - is personal. Does line dictate speed or speed dictate line? Depends on how you’re wired.

I’d say I don’t know a lot of really good players who consistently jam it in the hole on the greens. If you get too engrained in thinking about hammering it in the hole you’re going to get on some real fast/tournament greens and slap it all over creation if you’re off.

I've ALWAYS tried to straighten out putts with speed. Sometimes it works and sometimes I miss the equally long putt coming back.

But I'm probably not the one to ask. I should have separate handicaps for ball striking and putting. The former is almost decent. The latter is something less than that.

I use a hickory shafted putter because efforts with the new tech have gotten me nowhere.

This was one of the best tips my high school coach gave me. Not so much to bang it in but to be firm and take the break out. Problem is once you miss a couple of these and have several feet coming back the confidence goes pretty quickly. When I'm feeling good about my putting I revert to this, when it doesn't feel right I tend to play for more normal speed.

Same here!

Anytime I try to bang them in the face gets off path and the next putt is from 5 feet away

My opinion is that it's predicated on the type and speed of the greens you play on. Another part of the equation is the cups. We have had our share of crowned cups. It does not take very much to have a cup with a slight crown, either totally or on just one side. It just depends on if the guy changing the cups takes the time to do it correctly or not. But with cups like that, neither letting it die or ramming it has any major advantage, but stroking it firm at the hole would/should be the better option.

If I try to baby a putt into the hole, my stroke tends to get real jabby and ugly. For shorter putts, I like a smooth and easy stroke that firmly sends the putt on its line.

I apply enough umph for 18” past. Interesting question...

I never give much thought to speed, putting is a reaction for me. I pick a line from behind the ball, set up and react to the line I picked. Sometimes the ball dies in the hole, sometimes it goes in firm and sometimes it misses entirely, though I tend to be more of an aggressive putter because the course I learned on had greens that were on the slow side. Because of learning on slow greens, I often read less break than other people I play with. This approach came from reading Rotella and the basic idea is that we all have feel ingrained in us, (if you throw a piece of crumpled paper at the trash can, you don't miss wildly and never think about how hard to throw it), the same idea applies to putting. Pick a line and then react to it without conscious thought about speed and you will find that you will hit it more or less the pace you need for the line you selected. Also from Rotella....try to make EVERY putt that you hit no matter how long, (you should never try to miss which is what you do when you make a decision to try to lag a putt).

I generally finesse short putts, and have been terrible lately from 4-6 feet, so I am going to start putting firmly. I guess one 4-putt is better than three 3-putts.

Nope. I dont want a 4 footer coming back if I happen to yip it

Never. Dont feel the need to bang it off the back..... I might speed it up a little to kill the break but I've got a Charmin soft touch and play the break

Not a banger.

I really like this concept, play it just a little one side of center, depending on break and hit it firm, knowing well its going to break to the center at least some. Straight putts, dead center, 2-3' ft by on each.

A lot of variety in perspective in the thread, I dig that.

This particularly is a very interesting perspective. It really resonates with me and it sounds a lot like Adam Young in the sense that we have feel ingrained in us so we can “figure out how to get our body there”. I usually pace off my long putts and have an idea of how far to pull the putter back but maybe I should change that as depending on the speed of the greens it screws me.

I played yesterday with the mindset of “hitting my putts firm” and only had one three putt. (I blame the random I was playing with who going to town on his apple while I was putting, lol) so very intriguing. My mindset has gone from banging it into the hole to hitting them firm with pace. Seems to be a better idea. Having a four footer back to the hole doesn’t seem terrifying because I just saw the line it took to get there.

Bang it and miss it on our greens and your putt coming back will mostly be longer sometimes much longer.

You gotta be a pretty solid putter to go ramming speed into the cup. I put a lot of time on the practice green to start the ball on the intended line to be able to do so. If you tend to pull or push putts, ramming isn't the way to go. There is something to the old cliche of the straight putt being the hardest putt.

"What I have noticed with my game lately is my first putt of any given three putt I have isn’t necessarily awful, it’s the range of putts from 4-10 feet. My current make percentage for 4-6 and 7-10 is 33%."

Something doesn't ring true here.

Because you're blaming your 3-putt percentages on short putts - while in reality it seems to me it's because of your lag putts aren't that good.

Even Tour pros have vastly different putting percentages from the 4-6 foot and the 7-10 foot range (four footers or less is 91% and better, while 7-10 foot range is 40-60 percent).

To me, unless you're facing a 70 foot first putt, any leave in the 7-10 foot range IS awful, and you're going to make fewer putts - while you should be looking to leave yourself something in the 4-foot or less range, where your percentages are going to be better. ... And trying to bang in 8-10 footers just seems like a bad idea, as it'll lead to more lip-outs and long leaves.

havent banged anything. in a long time

"Having a four footer back to the hole doesn’t seem terrifying because I just saw the line it took to get there."

Except for the fact that the line you saw was the "dying line", as the ball died to it's finishing position - and not the line you can "putt with pace" on the comebacker.

How do you feel about mash after your Scotland trip?

For those that are 7-10 feet, yeah, you're right. They are awful. Most of my first putts are in the range of 4-6 feet with some crappy ones in 7-10 feet and as I said, the pool I took from isn't big since it's a relatively new stat. It's those short putts I have issues with.

So you're saying, I can't have a general idea of the line and therefore not be able to surmise the potential line to be able to hit it firm into the hole? Seems a little close minded there.

Also, I'm not 100% on banging every single putt into the hole, just trying to get a general idea of what everyone does, length they do it and how they handle different scenarios such as downhill, sidehill, uphill, etc... because this idea is new to me.

"So you're saying, I can't have a general idea of the line and therefore not be able to surmise the potential line to be able to hit it firm into the hole? Seems a little close minded there."

It's not being close-minded, it's being realistic - and I was just trying to point out the folly in your theory as your said, "I just saw the line it took to get there," that's opposite to the theory you're proposing.

"Banging short putts in the hole" requires precise knowledge of the line, not a "general idea."

I'm a "die it in guy" but I like to experiment, especially in the off-season. When I go out and try to bang them in, I miss high side way too often.

And, yes, that's after consciously trying to play less break because I know I'm hitting the putt harder.

It's like I can't MAKE MYSELF play less break than I naturally see. I can get into a rhythm on the putting green of banging them in and it feels real good, but I just can't change my stripes on the course. My natural "read" is for a certain speed, the speed at which I've played putts my whole life. I like a wider hole. I like being able to start a putt at the edge and KNOWING it's going to break, or drop in the side instead of lip out. Some guys like being able to take break out of it.

That said. . .OCCASIONALLY, I'll really like a line or just what I'm seeing and I'll bang it in. I like being being reactive, as someone said above. I consider putting the most reactive part of the game. I don't take practice strokes. I don't read too long. I don't use a line on the ball. I don't even really use the alignment aids on my putter. I just roll the ball over a spot.