How To Fix Your Three-Putts And Help Lower Your Scores

Did you know that you probably take an average of eight more putts per round than a Tour golf player! That’s a lot of extra shots with one club!

But the main reason for this is that your first putt is farther away from the hole. From six feet and shorter your actually not that much worse than the Tour Golf player, but, it’s when it’s six feet and over that we really start to struggle. Did you know that you 3 putt on average six times more than the Tour golf players, so you need to concentrate on your lag putts to improve this stat and lower your scores.

For the next two months try this excercise before you practice or before your round. For a minimum of 15 minutes Putt only 40-footers to try and get a feel for round reckers! Once you get a feel for this distance other distances will become easier and the number of three-putts each round will drop quicker than you would have hoped.

Make Your Putting Routine And Watch Your Scores Drop

The use of preshot routines by professional athletes is not new. Look at a tennis player before he/she serves. They do they same routine every time and the reason for this is that it becomes a habit. We are creatures of habit and a good habitual putting routine helps us in two ways. The first is the physical side – holding the grip, taking your stance, making your practice swing etc. The second, and most important component is the mental side – reading the green, deciding on the line, clearing your mind, putting to hole the putt and to accept the outcome come what may.

Short Game Tips And Advice From Golf Geeks

Whether you are playing a bunker shot or trying to hold a vital putt in your monthly medal, we all need some short- game tips and advice when the pressure is on.

Here are a few to remember.

When you hit a flop shot over a bunker, focus your aim on the top of the pin to ensure that you avoid the sand.

Two great drills that give you feel both for your stroke and distance is 1. Putt with your eyes closed and 2. Putt with your eyes fixed on the hole not the ball.

Lastly, if you have been missing putts because you have pushed or pulled them, try and make sure that you are not strangling the club. Make sure that you keep a very light grip pressure. Imagine holding your knife and fork!

Short game expert Dave Pelz produced some great research saying that PGA Tour Pros on average leave their putts 2ft 5inches short from a 25ft putt, if they did not hole the putt.

The research also indicates that a golfer with a handicap of 20 is 6ft 5inches short and even more incredible is that the average for a beginner is 9ft short – ouch, those three putts really hurt!

If this sounds like you, then try to work more on the pace of the putt rather than concentrating on the line. (The pace has a big say on just how much break there is any way.)

A great speed drill is to place a shaft 3ft behind a practice hole. Then from 20 to 30 feet try to hole out, but monitor how often your ball finishes short of the hole, and then try to make it finish past the hole but short of the shaft. As your pace improves your line and green reading will become much more consistent.