Putting Drills for Distance Control

[_conejunkie]

What drills/games have you all used to help your child improve putting distance contol?

 

I see my child struggle with this and most always blows it by the hole or bangs the cup too hard causing a miss.

[hangontight]

1) Make a “box” with clubs or alignment sticks propped up on tees (high enough so balls can roll under. Line up like 10 balls starting from 6’ away progressing back as far as you want, usually 25’ or so. 1 pt for each ball in the box, make it a competition , you vs. him or a buddy.

 

2) set up four tees , a set of two at each end 5’ or so apart( like end zone lines on a football field). Putt from one “line” to the other, closest to line gets point , play to 10. Usually best on a slight slope so one way is down hill and the other is uphill. Vary distance accordingly. You can adjust rules accordingly- I.e points only count if within a grip legnth of line, or pints only count if past the line (to encourage not leaving short!)

This is super simple but has helped my son, again it is a competition.

[heavy_hitter]

Cam McCormick/Jordan Spieth putting drill. Love this drill as it works on spacial awareness.

Put an alignment stick 3 ft. behind a cup. Start balls in a line at 10ft, 15ft, 20ft, 25ft, 30ft, 35ft, 40ft, 45ft, 50ft. Player needs to call what the ball is going to do with their head down after the putt. Left long, right short, in the hole, etc. Through 25 ft the ball must go past the hole. Birdie if it goes in. Par if it is between the cup and stick. Bogey if it is short or past the stick. At 30 ft. you move the alignment stick to 4ft past the hole. Same rules apply through 50 ft but they get 1 ft in front of the cup as well. Goal is to be at +2 or better. Love this drill because it works on spacial awareness which I think is huge for teaching distance control.

[Palmetto Golfer]

The are lots of great drills out there. The ladder is great with the flag 3' behind the hole. Another is taking a step onto the green and placing a tee. Then put tees starting at 15', 18', 21', 25' and 28' away. The ball must come to a rest between the first tee and the edge of the green. When it does move back a tee. If it doesn't move up a tee. It is a tough drill. It also puts pressure on them on the last tee.

 

One quick thought...my son use to have the same problem with blowing the ball past the hole. I started to get on him about it so he stopped doing it. The problem was he started to leave them 3' short!!!! It took a long time to get my son to feel comfortable with putting the ball past the hole. If you think you are frustrated with him going long...what till he hits them short!!!

 

Have to thank Heavy for this but the Putt Out is a great gadget for putting. It has helped my son a lot.

[alfriday]

Set up a box with 4 tees, about 3 feet square. Put a marker on the front edge of the box as the hole location. Putt into the box, so the ball stops within the box, from varying distances. Now the hard part, have the golfer do it with eyes closed, calling out short, in or long before opening their eyes.

[hangontight]

Another one we’ve been using , I call it “7 putts”

 

Put 4 balls down at varying distances and spots on green - closest one one about 10’ , other three vary on how hard you want to make it. You have 7 putts to hole all balls out. Puts pressure on making at least 1, and others can be 2 putts. Lately this has been the last game we do to wrap up practice. My son has learned to save the close one for last.

[tdeutmeyer]

I just get set up, look at the line I want to start the ball on, close my eyes and make the stroke, concentrating on the putter weight in my hands. Roll a dozen putts at different distances this way with the focus on feeling the weight of the putter and not caring if the putt goes in or if you hit it the right distance. Then try it with eyes open. It works for me anyway.

[heavy_hitter]

A lot of poor putting is due to poor temp. Backstroke should always be .60 seconds and forward stroke .30 seconds. 2:1 ratio is what you are looking for. Blast Motion Golf is great to develop the tempo.

[jj9000]

Make 10 in a row inside the 3 foot circle.

 

Miss one, start back at zero.

 

After 10, move to different distance/slope.

 

Rinse and repeat.

 

Eat a Snickers.

 

 

[heavy_hitter]

Make 10 in a row inside the 3 foot circle.

 

Miss one, start back at zero.

 

After 10, move to different distance/slope.

 

Rinse and repeat.

 

Eat a Snickers.

 

 

Ehhhh.... do not like those rings.

[tiger1873]

Make 10 in a row inside the 3 foot circle.

 

Miss one, start back at zero.

 

After 10, move to different distance/slope.

 

Rinse and repeat.

 

Eat a Snickers.

 

 

Ehhhh.... do not like those rings.

 

Have to agree my daughter was practicing putting and watching a class who use the rings like those pictured and she told me that no wonder those kids never get it in and have a hard time figure out distance. I tend to agree the rings don't really help in the long run.

[BrianMcG]

Get some pelz teacher clips. You need to make sure you are hitting it solid to have good distance control.

[tiger1873]

Get some pelz teacher clips. You need to make sure you are hitting it solid to have good distance control.

 

Something I learned is training aids are usually not worth your time. I brought lots of them over the years but never really seen any improvement and they all cause other issues.

 

If you want to be a better putter first you need to learn how to read greens and then you simply need to practice which is the hardest part and understand why your ball rolls and does what it does. Once you have basic control a slow motion video camera on your phone will tell you the rest and allow you fix what you need.

[heavy_hitter]

Get some pelz teacher clips. You need to make sure you are hitting it solid to have good distance control.

 

Something I learned is training aids are usually not worth your time. I brought lots of them over the years but never really seen any improvement and they all cause other issues.

 

If you want to be a better putter first you need to learn how to read greens and then you simply need to practice which is the hardest part and understand why your ball rolls and does what it does. Once you have basic control a slow motion video camera on your phone will tell you the rest and allow you fix what you need.

 

To be a better putter you need to have great tempo. The Putt Out training aid works on this. Great device. Blast Motion is great as well. If you don't have a consistent tempo it doesn't matter how great of a green reader you are.

[jj9000]

Make 10 in a row inside the 3 foot circle.

 

Miss one, start back at zero.

 

After 10, move to different distance/slope.

 

Rinse and repeat.

 

Eat a Snickers.

 

 

Ehhhh.... do not like those rings.

 

Have to agree my daughter was practicing putting and watching a class who use the rings like those pictured and she told me that no wonder those kids never get it in and have a hard time figure out distance. I tend to agree the rings don't really help in the long run.

 

The rings worked for us...if for nothing else than spacial awareness...and how far to take the putter back for different distances and slopes.

 

They're really nothing different than the tee around the cup drill.

 

Distance control on the green has been the thorn in our side all season.

 

Last weekend we took 15 putts through 9 holes.

 

I wouldn't have posted a picture of them if they didn't work.

[JBake]

solid contact and putting with the body (shoulder rocking from spine) and not the hands is the best distance control advice I can give.

[heavy_hitter]

Make 10 in a row inside the 3 foot circle.

 

Miss one, start back at zero.

 

After 10, move to different distance/slope.

 

Rinse and repeat.

 

Eat a Snickers.

 

 

Ehhhh.... do not like those rings.

 

Have to agree my daughter was practicing putting and watching a class who use the rings like those pictured and she told me that no wonder those kids never get it in and have a hard time figure out distance. I tend to agree the rings don't really help in the long run.

 

 

Distance control on the green has been the thorn in our side all season.

 

Last weekend we took 15 putts through 9 holes.

 

I wouldn't have posted a picture of them if they didn't work.

 

This is Tempo related more than spacial awareness.

 

15 putts through 9 holes is good if you hit 5 or more greens.

[tiger1873]

Make 10 in a row inside the 3 foot circle.

 

Miss one, start back at zero.

 

After 10, move to different distance/slope.

 

Rinse and repeat.

 

Eat a Snickers.

 

 

Ehhhh.... do not like those rings.

 

Have to agree my daughter was practicing putting and watching a class who use the rings like those pictured and she told me that no wonder those kids never get it in and have a hard time figure out distance. I tend to agree the rings don't really help in the long run.

 

The rings worked for us...if for nothing else than spacial awareness...and how far to take the putter back for different distances and slopes.

 

They're really nothing different than the tee around the cup drill.

 

Distance control on the green has been the thorn in our side all season.

 

Last weekend we took 15 putts through 9 holes.

 

I wouldn't have posted a picture of them if they didn't work.

 

If you talking about younger kids or someone new to putting they will help but once they can get it close you don’t want to use the rings it cause them to miss a lot putts.

 

Had a huge issue at one time that only went away when the rings went away in practice.

 

There are two reasons for this the first is mental that they can’t make a long putt the second one is speed plus the brain is happy with close and not in. Tap ins are still a stroke in golf so you need to train that close is not good enough.

[KotLC]

One great drill for little kids is what we call the rainbow drill. Take a ball for each color of the rainbow and set them about one to two feet apart from each other. Take a crazy ball (one with a stripe, colored with stars, etc.) or a normal ball and putt it between the first two balls from about 6 inches away. Continue to do this until the ball has been in each space. Then put a towel or something at the end just to hit. Super fun and colorful for all kids!