How many putts should you average

[mdhacker123]

Just curious what is an acceptable average putts per 18 holes. I’m a stat junkie and feel that I’m not a great putter but I get by. Last year for 47 rounds I average just over 32 putts. Now I’ve had some bad days 36 plus n I’ve been as low as 26 mainly do to short game getting it close. I think that’s y I consider myself average to slightly below. I’m a 9.6 hcp but I don’t hit a high percentage of greens and so my short game I think bails me out. Actually going to a putter fitting to see if I can get more confidence. I usuaLly just spend a lot of time of a course of days testing out putters but no real fitting

[Mudguard]

Unfortunately putts per round isn't a great metric. If you hit 13 greens a round you may have more putts than someone who hits three, yet we know who the better player is...

Speaking of which, we still have a competition here where the numbers keep a running tally of their total putts and award a prize for the least. I did ask them one day, what happens if someone uses a sand wedge instead of a putt, or misses every green, chips close and has something like 25 putts...

[jvincent]

Somewhere out there I've seen charts of putting stats based on handicap so that's as good a guideline as any if you can find it.

If you are really serious you can look at total putts per round, which is influenced by your chipping/iron play, putts per GIR, which is also influenced by your iron play, or if you really want to get technical you can track strokes gained putting.

[klebs01]

Putts per round is the most meaningless stat there is. If you are actually a stats nut you should track strokes gained. Pros are only 50% from 8 ft. and average 2 putts from about 30 ft. Unless you are correcting for length of put, you aren’t measuring putting performance.

[mdhacker123]

i Agree this is what I plan of keeping stats of this year;

1 putts made from 6ft plus

3 putts and from what distance estimated

1 putts from 6ft and in

any putts made 10ft or longer and for what score it gave me

fairways hit, missed and direction

greens hit and estimated distance from pin

up and downs

wasted shots(flubs or bonehead mistakes that I felt cost me)

seems like a lot but the sheet I have in my book is easy to mark and isn’t cumbersome.funny I always kept stats and looked at them but never took action to make a conscious effort to really try and improve on it

goal is to eventually shoot par but my goal every year is to shoot lower then my best round. Currently it’s 75 playing barefoot Norman myrtle beach.

 

 

[klebs01]

Why not just use one of the strokes gained spreadsheets already available? Only addition stat worth keeping is anyways shots. Those are shots where you don’t have confidence or something isn’t right but you hit the, anyways.

[REJ]

Definitely less than 36 putts if you are 2-putting, Of course the responses you receive have to be as difficult as calculating a handicap.

[Roody]

You should be looking at Putts per GIR. Because, as you said if you don't hit the GIR, and you chip it close a lot, you'll have a lot of one-putts.

I track that stat, as well as "first putt length". Gives you a little more view of the whole picture.

[disco111]

2 putts per hole equals 36 putts and with that stat, you can reflect on the rest of the round to see where you fail. I've had rounds of 27/28 putts and still shot 80/83. But knowing that I did not loose shots by 3 putting, one aspect of my game is in good shape. This affords the opportunity to focus on what's needed to improve, because confidence on the greens is high. This aspect can and will do wonders for your overall confidence with the rest of your game.

[MelloYello]

It really depends on what kind of greens you're playing. Some courses have greens that are flat and thus relatively easy to read, even if they're rolling fast. On those sorts of greens a statistical (i.e. strokes gained) approach can be easier to apply given the limited data available (for people who aren't playing 72 holes a week!).

 

Remember, statistical approaches are based on having massive data sets where individual factors like slope and speed all average out. But if you struggle to adjust for slope in a putt, that can be hard to extract. All you'll see is that you're 3-putting a lot on longer putts. Well, that may not be fixed by going to the practicing green and hitting a bunch of long, flat putts. In such a case, you'd need to hit long putts of wildly different distance and slope to really address the problem. So if you chose a metric, make sure it's a metric that actually tells you something useful.

 

Also keep in mind that while a pro might only convert "50%" from X-ft that's all based on 1st attempts. When standing on a practice green hitting that same putt over and over from X-ft they are capable of holing dozens in a row over and over once they know the appropriate line and speed. Their ability to actually execute on something is nearly flawless. But for you, it may be much harder, even if you "know" the right line/speed.

 

Finally, there are still those courses that have greens which are very undulating. And of course when those get fast, things can quickly get ugly stats-wise. Throw out the stats book entirely if that's the case. In those circumstances it's way more important to be putting from the correct position than anything else. A 10-ft putt straight uphill may literally be easier than a 5-ft putt coming back the other way.

 

So just try and get a feel for where you play and what a "good day" putting actually looks like. I know for me at my course, I have to deal with undulations everywhere and because the greens are fast there are a lot of places where you're just dead. Unfortunately, the guys who set the pins also like to put them on slopes which are really tricky. Nobody at my course ever gets an easy tap-in 3-footer. They just don't seem to exist. So it's rare to see someone play a full round and not come off 18 feeling like the "left a few out there."

 

So knowing your course is important. If it's a tough course, cut yourself some slack and approach it with the right attitude of "I'll do my best and accept what happens." If it's an easy course, then maybe you can elevate the expectations and press a little.

[sharkiesj]

It has been said that averaging 29 putts is analogous to shooting even par with your putter. I agree with the others that this stat is kinda wonky because hitting more greens can actually lead to higher putts stats. Greens in Regulation is also a great stat to track your game according to your handicap.

[dmecca2]

Where can I find one of these spreadsheets? I've seen a couple old threads on them but the spreadsheets themselves are always unavailable.

[crapula]

Another issue would be tracking the difficulty of a putt. Difficulty is subjective too. I think a 3ft putt straight downhill is easier than a straight 3 ft putt uphill. Is a putt from 8 ft that has 2ft of break the same difficulty as a straight 10ft putt? Is a put breaking left to right more difficult than right to left?

Say you had a round where every single putt was the kind that is most difficult for you, as in 8 ft downhill and 2 ft of break left to right and say you finish with 32 putts. The next round every putt is 15ft straight uphill and you finish with 32 putts. Are the rounds equal? Surely one of those rounds was a better putting round, but which one? What if you do this again but one round is on slow bumpy greens and the next round is on fast smooth greens? That 15ft uphill on slow greens is now effectively a 25ft putt, isn't that harder than a putt downhill on fast greens from 15ft, the fast green downhill putt you only have to hit 2 feet.

But how do you use all this info to determine if you had a good putting round? How do you include difficulty in the equation?

I have no idea.

[naval2006]

Back when statistics did not exist in golf we used to keep track of putts per hole on the card. For a 15 capper or lower 29 putts granted a decent score most of the times.

[davep043]

Here's a free one for putting: Strokes Gained Calculator

[dmecca2]

Thanks this one's pretty neat and simple

[SNIPERBBB]

30 or less. More GIRs you're allowed more putts. More greens you miss, you'll need to be one putting more.

[Barnabus89]

I've heard people discuss total footage of putts. So tap ins don't count for the footage. The higher footage of one one putts you have over a round the better you are at putting. This then takes away the factor of how close you hit your approach to the hole, and focuses just on putting performance.

[SNIPERBBB]

(18-GIR)+2*GIR = most putts allowwd

[oikos1]

I still do that, along with FIR, GIR and up and downs. That's about all the info I want.

[Krt22]

A 15 wouldnt be a 15 for long with that few putts per round given that is PGA tour caliber putting.

 

I will say putts per round isn't 100% an indicator of putting skill, but there are some clear correlations. Generally speaking, the better the player, the closer to the hole they consistently hit it (via approach shots or via short game) and thus statistically typically have fewer putts per round. But if you track strokes gained putting, you can get a better idea of where you stand.

[LCGALBERTA]

Bro putting is so 2018, it is all about chipping in. haha

[Barfolomew]

Putting stats are way too complicated.... just look at the above posts!

 

Here's an easy putting stat to keep...... how many times you 3 putt cause that's never acceptable lol! If you never 3 putt you'll make a lot of pars as long as you dont suck to the green...

[Krt22]

That thought alone really isn't helpful either, even PGA tour pros 3-putt (heck tiger 4-putted). The length of the first putt you give yourself factors into 3-putt probability. My course has pretty large greens (most multi-tiered), if you mishit one to a back pin and have a 50 footer over a ridge, a 3-putt really isn't unacceptable IMO. If you 3 putt from 20 ft on an uphill putt, well that is an issue. Conversely, if you miss a lot of greens and consistently have 15+ footers for par, the issue may not be your putter.

[Barfolomew]

Dont try and complicate a simple idea..... no 3 putts. If you 3 putted you sucked. Own it and get better.

[Krt22]

No you suck.

[farmer]

As a useful reference point, David Frost won at Harbour Town in 2005 with 92 putts for the week. THAT is some good putting.

[Krt22]

Another useful reference. Vijay Singh won 5 times while putting worse than the field average (significantly worse in the 2008 WGC bridgestone). That is some sub-par putting.

[farmer]

Belly, broomstick or standard?

[DaveLeeNC]

Using that formula, no GIR's requires perfect putting (or some chip ins). OTOH, 18 GIR's allows for some pretty average putting (2 per hole). The formula is simpler stated as 18 + GIR. Basically 2 putts if you hit a green and 1 putt if you miss.

dave