A big area that is often overlooked in golf when it comes to saving strokes is putting. This is true whether golfers can hit their golf ball a mile off the tee, whether they lack distance, accuracy, or whatever else happens between tee to green with their woods and irons. But we can all improve in golf if we diligently practice to improve our faults and build up our strengths from tee to green. But if you want a quick way to save a few strokes with your golf game take a few moments every day to focus on making short putts.
All of us, at one time or another, have missed putts from 3 feet and closer. Am I correct or what? I bet that in almost every round of golf played by amateurs that we miss at least 1 putt, if not more (and I'm guessing more, at least in my case), from short distances. It drives me crazy when I reach a green in regulation and have a great chance to make a par or better and end up with a bogey or worse simply because I missed a very short putt! It almost doesn't seem fair, does it? I can shoot into the high 80's from time to time, but I oftentimes hover around 93 to 95 with my score and a good reason for that is blamed on a few errant shots of course, but I'm willing to bet that it's because I missed a few short putts as well.
This became apparent to me when I received my newest Golf Magazine in the mail (Feb. 2012 edition) and I opened the section under 'Private Lessons'. It described a putting drill that can help with becoming more consistent with making 3-foot putts. A lot of putts missed from this range could be attributed to reading the break wrong, but I'm guessing it's more because the putt is not started online and/or the putter face is not square at impact. So to help groove our putts to be online and square they suggest getting a yardstick and putting it on the ground and place your ball down in the middle of it. Keep practicing until you can putt your ball down the middle of the yardstick and it falls off the end. If it falls off sooner then make some necessary adjustments.
I like this drill because it is easy to do and it can be practiced at any time. You can do it at home, on the practice green, or even at work (if you have a place to practice). All you need is a flat surface, your putter, your ball, and a yardstick. I'm going to give a try and maybe I can lower my golf score a bit more consistently by using this simple putting drill. Why don't you give it a try too!
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