PUTT FOR DOUGH: Here’s how to get stingy on “putts per round”

TIPS FROM THE PRO

By Scott Barrow, Head Club Pro at Roddy Ranch

How many putts do you have per round? Are 3-putts a little too common in your game? Reducing the number of putts missed in your round is easier than it sounds, but it does take practice. Here are a couple of tips to help reduce the extra number of strokes per round this February so you can be tuned in for this year’s golf season.

Let’s first begin with a quick exercise. Put your hand directly in front of your eyes (palm facing your eyes). Now count the lines on your hand. Kind of tough right? Now move your hand as far from your eyes as you can and count the lines. Pretty easy. The purpose of this exercise to give a better understanding of how difficult it is to read a green when you’re right on top of it opposed to reading it from the collar of the green, or even further out for that matter. 

Now you’re ready to begin reading the green from 50 yards out with a better understanding of why. Don’t worry so much about the precision of your read this far out, but rather the contours of the green in relation to where your ball has landed on it. This will give you a clearer picture of which direction the subtle, unreadable breaks are going to turn to. Instead of riding to the green in the cart, grab your putter and walk to the green from 30-50 yards out. As you approach the green get more precise with your read by looking for ridge tapers either on or near your line, seeing if your putt is uphill or downhill, and how much slope you have to tend to for speed control. Finally, narrow your margin for error even more through a precision read over any trouble spots you noticed during your approach. 

This type of approach will help tremendously as it will allow you to understand more of the green’s challenging breaks long before you get there. Combine this with the practice of 3-6 foot putts and your score will begin coming down. May all your putts be short and sweet!