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Recommended Putting Drills for Distance Control?


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Hey for me the biggest improvement has come not from drilling distance control as much as putting mechanics. Drill a putting motion that results in square middle-face contact with the proper amount of shaft lean for your setup, and once you have mastered that feel you will find that controlling the distance becomes infinitely easier.

 

Now note that the first part of that (mastering the mechanics) is actually easier said than done, and will involve eliminating any unnecessary motion--read: hip turn--in your swing entirely, or it will be near impossible to achieve that ideal.

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One drill I like is to have 2 targets on the putting green, one short and one long (e.g. - 8', 40'). Alternate putts between the two. Similarly, pick 2 targets of roughly the same distance, but one uphill and one downhill. You can mix it up with more targets at different distances and slopes if you have the room to do so.

The idea is that you have one chance to get the right speed, and switching between short and long makes you think more about the stroke because you shift gears (rather than performing one lag putt after another). Good luck and use your imagination!

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Mark Crossfield just had this drill on his Youtube channel. Essentially he took two water bottles spread them apart by 3 feet or so and tried to lag the ball in between the water bottles. You can really use any to objects you have handy like head covers. But the idea is still the same try to putt and leave the ball in between the two objects. Start at 10 feet, then 20 feet and so on. Also when doing this drill putt from different lies - up hill, down hill. right breakers and left breakers. What I like about this drill is that it takes the hole out of the equation so you just focus on the pace.

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This may sound crazy, but it works for me. I find a flat spot on the green, take a ball, and as a baseline I take a stroke with the backswing going to my right toe (right-handed) and see how far that goes. That may go 10ft, 12ft, etc, depending on the speed of the green. Then I can gauge how far back I need to take the putter back for example a 10ft putt. Then I see how far a putt rolls when I take it back to the outside of my right foot. Very basic but this has helped me tremendously with length of putt.

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This may sound crazy, but it works for me. I find a flat spot on the green, take a ball, and as a baseline I take a stroke with the backswing going to my right toe (right-handed) and see how far that goes. That may go 10ft, 12ft, etc, depending on the speed of the green. Then I can gauge how far back I need to take the putter back for example a 10ft putt. Then I see how far a putt rolls when I take it back to the outside of my right foot. Very basic but this has helped me tremendously with length of putt.

I tried something similar for a while (the clock method), and it yielded decent results short term but found I start getting so fixated on where to stop the swing (e.g. 7 o clock or 8 o clock) that I started getting poor face contact which really played havoc with consistent distance.

 

I now simply look at the hole and leg my brain figure it out subconsciously. More instinct, less calculation.

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My favourite is is the foot-past-the-hole drill:

 

Stick a tee peg behind the hole by a foot, then putt from 10, 15, and 20ft. Putt in any order you like. All putts must finish either in, or between the front lip and the tee peg so 'it would have dropped if it was on line'.

 

Do it for uphill, downhill, L-R, R-L. The great thing for this drill is that, as you go through the attempts and the repeat attempts, you start making putts, so you get confidence from that. And, because you're hitting putts at the right speed, you start leaning to read putts with the appropriate amount of break

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I would recommend getting a couple of fake Odyssey plastic cups. Find a moderate slope that goes on an incline.

 

Next, stick the fake Odyssey cups about 30 feet away from each other.

 

Then grab 6 golf balls.

 

Start right in the middle of the 2 fake Odyssey plastic cups (roughly 15 feet away from each cup).

 

Hit 3-putts towards the uphill cup.

 

Then, hit 3-putts towards the downhill cup.

 

 

Next, move to distance where you're roughly 8 feet away from one cup but 22 feet from the other cup. Hit 3-balls to the one cup (i.e. 8-feet away) and from the same location, hit 3 putts towards the other cup (i.e. 22-feet away). Now do the same thing for the for the opposite location (8-feet and 22-feet away).

 

 

Pay close attention with your eyes in getting a sense as to how much time it takes for the ball to get to the hole on each putt. Your brain will start to adapt to the speed more quickly. If you're having trouble, you are probably thinking too much about stroke mechanics instead of just sensing how you need to hit the ball in order to put the best possible speed/touch on the putt.

 

I stole the idea from Jordan Spieth and just tweaked it a little.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RH

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Putt from 15 feet. Immediately after hitting the ball close your eyes and guess where the ball ended up (long, short, left, right). Repeat until you get three guesses in a row correct.

 

Drop three balls at 3,6 & 9 feet and putt them to the hole. Then drop balls a 6, 12 & 18 feet. Then drop balls at 10, 20 & 30 feet. Repeat.

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I'm probably in the minority here but I don't do speed control drills and lagging to practice objects. Greens speeds change too much and are rarely similar from practice green to the course.

 

Speed control comes from the consistency of the stroke. I think practicing rhythm, tempo and a quite lower body is more beneficial.

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One drill I like is to have 2 targets on the putting green, one short and one long (e.g. - 8', 40'). Alternate putts between the two. Similarly, pick 2 targets of roughly the same distance, but one uphill and one downhill. You can mix it up with more targets at different distances and slopes if you have the room to do so.

The idea is that you have one chance to get the right speed, and switching between short and long makes you think more about the stroke because you shift gears (rather than performing one lag putt after another). Good luck and use your imagination!

 

Sounds like a good and difficult drill. Similar to "playing a course" on the range, where you hit a different club each time and only have one chance to take that shot

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Place three tees or quarters on the ground. One where the ball starts when where the backswing ends and one where the follow through ends. They can be equally spaced or if anything follow through should be shorter than backswing. Learn to control stroke length will help win speed control.

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