Is your putting a strength or a weakness? How do you know?

[acekun]

How do you know if you are a good putter or not?

 

How do you measure your progress? And what is your yardstick for what is considered good?

 

I've been working on my putting and I have improved, but it's difficult to tell how much. I considered myself a bad putter before -- now consider slightly below average/average?

 

I was at 34 putts per round. Now I'm at 32.2. Average 1.2 3-putts per round. GIR putt is 1.94 and non-GIR is 1.64. 

 

 

 

 

[Obee]

I have a willed myself to be a pretty darn good putter.

 

Edited November 30, 2020 by Obee

[Metro07]

I feel my putting is one of the strong points of my game. I rarely miss putts under 3-4 feet in rounds and hit lots of 5+ footers. When I practice on flat carpet at 6 feet I sink 75-80%. 

[hoselpalooza]

what's your average proximity to the hole? this can also have a major influence on your average number of putts. 

[acekun]

47 minutes ago, hoselpalooza said:

what's your average proximity to the hole? this can also have a major influence on your average number of putts. 

Yeah, that's a fair question. And one I don't really track. I was hoping that someone has an easier way to measure putting performance, lol.

 

I've been thinking I need to measure my putt distances. I did try it one round but found it a little distracting (one more thing to think about/remember while on the green). Shouldn't have been a big deal but I found it a little tiresome. Should probably try again. 

[hoselpalooza]

3 minutes ago, acekun said:

Yeah, that's a fair question. And one I don't really track. I was hoping that someone has an easier way to measure putting performance, lol.

 

I've been thinking I need to measure my putt distances. I did try it one round but found it a little distracting (one more thing to think about/remember while on the green). Shouldn't have been a big deal but I found it a little tiresome. Should probably try again. 

 

absolutely. 1.2 3-putts per round could be a red herring depending on your proximity. not saying this is you but there are people out there who could improve their putting stats by dialing in their wedges and not doing anything different with their putter 😂

[acekun]

 

1 minute ago, hoselpalooza said:

 

absolutely. 1.2 3-putts per round could be a red herring depending on your proximity. not saying this is you but there are people out there who could improve their putting stats by dialing in their wedges and not doing anything different with their putter 😂

For sure! My wedges are a strength but I actually feel like my 3-putts are often caused by my iron play. My course has fast greens with a lot of undulation. Put the ball in the wrong spot and two-putt is extremely challenging.

[acekun]

2 hours ago, Obee said:

I have a willed myself to be a pretty darn good putter.

 

 

That's impressive. 

[acekun]

2 hours ago, Obee said:

I have a willed myself to be a pretty darn good putter.

 

 

What stat do you look at most closely?

[nitram]

8 hours ago, acekun said:

What stat do you look at most closely?

 

Putts made % inside 8 ft.

[acekun]

4 minutes ago, nitram said:

 

Putts made % inside 8 ft.

What's your target %?

[ScottF]

I am not one to over analyze. Trying to quantify my putting so I can put a label on it is something I’d never consider. I don’t 3 putt very often unless I’m totally fooled when reading a break on a long putt. Putting is definitely not a weakness in my game. 

[nitram]

1 minute ago, acekun said:

What's your target %?

 

70%

While this is considerably higher than the current PGA average, it's still my goal. I have been able to reach this once in the past 5 years and currently sit at 63% for 2020.

[Hawkeye77]

9 hours ago, acekun said:

Yeah, that's a fair question. And one I don't really track. I was hoping that someone has an easier way to measure putting performance, lol.

 

I've been thinking I need to measure my putt distances. I did try it one round but found it a little distracting (one more thing to think about/remember while on the green). Shouldn't have been a big deal but I found it a little tiresome. Should probably try again. 

I find stat keeping tiresome as well, BUT especially with putting and proximity to the hole and up and downs, if I don't keep some then I'm just kidding myself as to where I'm at.  I mean, I know when I'm missing a lot of 3-4 footers, but easy to just sort of gloss over that.  I'm not good at keeping them, more likely to keep them when playing alone or keeping a card for myself (did that a lot this year with one person in a cart when riding, for example).  Short answer this summer - putting was pretty good, not great, but fairways hit in particular was more of an eye opener (in a negative way) than it should have been - again, easy to gloss over sometimes.

Edited November 30, 2020 by Hawkeye77

[SNIPERBBB]

one putt % inside 10ft

three putt avoidance

making clutch putts, you know the ones where your heart rate is about 300bpm.

 

Putting is probably the best part of my game.

[Obee]

Lots of guys/gals who are mediocre to bad putters (say it out loud, Acekun: "My name is Acekun and I'm a mediocre putter" 😉 ) Are almost afraid to take it seriously. It's weird. I watch them and it's like they can't wait to get it over with, if that makes sense. Like they think they are holding up the group by taking their time on a 4-footer to halve a hole or something. It's crazy.

 

Great putting starts with caring about putting. I dropped from 31.5ish putts a round to 28.9 over a 3 - 6 month period, and it all started with being disgusted that I was missing so many 3 - 4 foot putts and caring enough to start a regimen to fix it.

[Obee]

AK, you 3-putt far too often.  The problem with that being your problem is that we need to know more. Do you have any plus-cappers at your club or where you play most often?

[Sean2]

My short game, including putting, is pretty good. It's the full swing I have trouble with, lol. 

[acekun]

7 minutes ago, SNIPERBBB said:

one putt % inside 10ft

three putt avoidance

making clutch putts, you know the ones where your heart rate is about 300bpm.

 

Putting is probably the best part of my game.

What are your targets for % inside 10 feet and 3 putt avoidance?

[SNIPERBBB]

On boring greens Im hoping for 50% for GIR first putts.

 

Three putt avoidance the goal is always 100%. Might have one every other round or two.

[naval2006]

Something to start with in amateur golf: count your putts and if it’s less than 30 you’re on the right track. This is far from the more refined statistical approach but you can measure it without much ado. 

 

You can check Obee’s chart to see how the below 30 rule works. 

[Obee]

10 minutes ago, SNIPERBBB said:

On boring greens Im hoping for 50% for GIR first putts.

 

Three putt avoidance the goal is always 100%. Might have one every other round or two.

I thought I would average one every three rounds, turned out it was one every two rounds -- still pretty good and would put me in the middle of the pack on the PGA Tour. Put me on Tour greens and I'd be a bit better.

[Obee]

6 minutes ago, naval2006 said:

Something to start with in amateur golf: count your putts and if it’s less than 30 you’re on the right track. This is far from the more refined statistical approach but you can measure it without much ado. 

 

You can check Obee’s chart to see how the below 30 rule works. 

 

Glad someone said this. It's totally true. Under 30 and you're fine. If your goal is to be a scratch or below player, you need to be 30 or below. Now, if you are above 30, the problem is very likely a combination of both your short game and your putting, but that's actually okay. It simply means you need to improve both. LOL

[acekun]

3 minutes ago, Obee said:

AK, you 3-putt far too often.  The problem with that being your problem is that we need to know more. Do you have any plus-cappers at your club or where you play most often?

"My name is Acekun and I'm a mediocre putter". I feel better already! lol

 

I play with a buddy who is scratch. He rarely 3-putts. 

 

I just looked at last couple months and it's a little worse than I thought. I'm averaging 1.4 3-putts on my home course and 1.0 3-putts on other courses. The last 5 rounds or so, I've mentally reviewed my 3-putts on my home course. I'd say slightly more than half of them, I definitely shouldn't 3-putt (poor speed control on first putt both short and long -- I rarely 3-putt because I'm missing a 3-footer). The rest are due to poor starting position -- (typically longer, downhill putts with sidebreak). I can 2-putt those but it's not a given. We have fast greens with a lot of break. All of my 3-putts are GIRs.

[Obee]

2 minutes ago, acekun said:

"My name is Acekun and I'm a mediocre putter". I feel better already! lol

 

I play with a buddy who is scratch. He rarely 3-putts. 

 

I just looked at last couple months and it's a little worse than I thought. I'm averaging 1.4 3-putts on my home course and 1.0 3-putts on other courses. The last 5 rounds or so, I've mentally reviewed my 3-putts on my home course. I'd say slightly more than half of them, I definitely shouldn't 3-putt (poor speed control on first putt both short and long -- I rarely 3-putt because I'm missing a 3-footer). The rest are due to poor starting position -- (typically longer, downhill putts with sidebreak). I can 2-putt those but it's not a given. We have fast greens with a lot of break. All of my 3-putts are GIRs.

 

Where do you play most of your golf?

[me05501]

Tracking your putts is the first step toward analyzing your putting. Otherwise you're just guessing. 

 

I have a little system I use on the course to grade each hole. I just use one of the extra lines on the card and it goes something like this:

• I grade each drive on a scale of 1-10. That number is written in the middle of the box just like a score. 10 is as good as I can possibly hit it, and 1 is a re-tee. Obviously subjective but it's where my game needs the most attention. 
• If I hit the green in regulation, I put a circle around the number to represent the green. 
• I add dots around the corners of each square to represent how many putts I needed on the hole. 

When I'm done with the round I can easily add up greens hit and putts and calculate an average for my subjective driving efficiency. 

[acekun]

2 minutes ago, Obee said:

 

Where do you play most of your golf?

Twin Creeks Golf Club in Allen, TX. It's a public course.

 

I backed into your non-GIR putts, too, to compare myself using my GIR %.

 

Your GIR is 1.82 vs. my 1.94 -- that ends up being 1 stroke better per round (primary difference is my 3-putts).

Your non-GIR is 1.32 vs. my 1.64 -- that is 3 strokes better per round! Massive! So like you said, combination of short game and putting.

[Obee]

1 minute ago, acekun said:

Twin Creeks Golf Club in Allen, TX. It's a public course.

 

I backed into your non-GIR putts, too, to compare myself using my GIR %.

 

Your GIR is 1.82 vs. my 1.94 -- that ends up being 1 stroke better per round (primary difference is my 3-putts).

Your non-GIR is 1.32 vs. my 1.64 -- that is 3 strokes better per round! Massive! So like you said, combination of short game and putting.

Yeah, I chip/pitch it inside a 4(?)-foot circle frequently -- even from some tough spots. Short game is so, so key to playing your best golf. Yes, driving it long and straight is even more important for sure, as is great mid-iron play, but boy does a solid short game make the game a lot easier and less stressful.

[Obee]

10 minutes ago, acekun said:

Twin Creeks Golf Club in Allen, TX. It's a public course.

 

I backed into your non-GIR putts, too, to compare myself using my GIR %.

 

Your GIR is 1.82 vs. my 1.94 -- that ends up being 1 stroke better per round (primary difference is my 3-putts).

Your non-GIR is 1.32 vs. my 1.64 -- that is 3 strokes better per round! Massive! So like you said, combination of short game and putting.

 

Keep in mind, also, that when I'm missing greens, I'm generally missing them by small amounts, and often in decent places, leaving me reasonable up and downs. If you miss greens by many yards and are then chipping from well off greens even a couple times a round, that is going to hurt your putting stats, for sure.

[CP_Circa62]

I calculate strokes gained inside 10’, 10’-20’ and beyond 20’.  It quickly identifies strengths/weakness and solutions.