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Practice Putting Before Round

If I have time before a round, or the need to warm up, i usually don't roll putts before that round.

I have found over the years the practice greens are not quite that representative of the on course greens. This because of the increased amount of foot traffic the practice green receives.

I just let the first couple of on course greens tell me what I need to know going forward.

I have also found over the years that even the on course green don't play the same from green to green. They are some what close to each other, but I constantly still have to adjust my putting stroke a little from green, to green.

I became more of an aggressive putter because of these little differences. .
 
I'm about 50/50 to even go over to a practice green before we tee off. I really should make it a must for several reasons. I play a lot of different courses, almost never the same course twice in a row, and I'm not a good putter. When I do hit the practice green it's mostly to get a sense for speed and break and roll some 3-6 footers with different breaks. Depending upon who I'm with the practice green can also provide some additional pre-round 'action' especially if at a new to all of course.
 
I’m always hitting a few to gauge the speed of the greens (hopefully they are the same as the course) then I’ll get into hitting some longer ones to work on my lag putting, the. I move over to some putts that break a little.

nothing scientific about it other than paying attention to speed and break and to make sure what I’m seeing is there.
 
I practice just before teeing off to get the speed for the day and try and groove the short ones.
 
OGputtnfool said:
It can be after you putt out. Just don't hold up the group behind.
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Oh no, no holding people up but, my usual is to 3 putt the first hole. After that I pretty well have the speed down. :cool:
 
2 balls and putt to the fringe first, then start about 3 feet from the cup and work my way out.
 
I always try to roll a few before I hit the course. I do think it directly impacts my putting early in the round. Usually I drop 3-4 balls and roll putts from 3-5 feet. Then I’ll move out to 10 feet and then 20 before finishing up with a few shorties.
 
Most of the time I just head to the first tee. If I do have some time to spare I like to roll a few on the putting green just to work on speed.
 
I always have time to roll a few on the practice green. I usually take 3-5 balls depending on how much time I have. I'll start out chipping/pitching them from short distance to help find a rhythm for the day, then putt a few from short distance, then some longer distances around 20' or so, then a few 3' or so putts to build some confidence going to the first tee.
 
I usually like to at least hit some lag putts just to get an idea how the greens are rolling on that particular day.
 
No real routine by have found lately that if I spend even just 5 minutes getting the speed down I put much better during the round.
 
I do about 50% of the time. I really work on my line. Outside of that, the practice area has little to nothing in common with the greens at my course. If I can get my ball on my line I seem to putt well.
 
Today was a good example being able to spend time on the putting green prior to the round. The greens where much faster than what I normally play on and it was a big help to be able to get the speed down before the round started.
 
On my home course I rarely ever putt before a round. On courses I'm not familiar with, I like to at least roll a few lag putts to get the feel for speed, and then hit a few 3 footers. If I have more time than that, I'll work my way around the practice green trying to 1 or 2 putt each hole.
 
If I do I will roll a few 3-5’ where hopefully a few go in then hit a few 20-30’ just to check speed.
 
I generally roll 20-40 footers trying to get a feel for speed then finish up by hitting some 5 footers to get. Sense of the ball going in the hole.
 
Mostly getting a feel for speed and usually putt for 5-10 minutes before we tee off
 
I’ll start with a few short ones then work on medium and long lengths. Finish the practice with going back to 3-5 footers and always leave on a made putt dead center that hits the back of the cup.
 
Always make time for the practice green. To many strokes with the putter not to figure out how they role.

Usually start at 5 feet and put fromall 4 directions around the hole. That usually gets me up/down/side hill breaking putts. Then I move out to 10 feet and do the same thing. Ill put a few longer putts 20+ feet just to get the lag feel. Then I hits 3 footers to make sure I can knock down the short ones.
 
all about the speed for me. In fact I dont at all care for practice greens that dont have much flat areas. I dont really get the ideology behind pre round sloped practice greens especially ones that have little or no flat areas.

My logic pre round is to get a good feel for relatively flat speed and from that I can always adjust for slopes. When practice greens have little to no flat areas they just dont offer (IMO) much for gauging speed because there is no flat to use as a base from which to then adjust from.

will always look for a flat area and if no pins on any flat area? I will just putt to a shade of green or some sort of grass marking on the flat area. Or I often will putt a ball and then try to putt the other 2 to hit that ball.

I also like to putt from about 5 feet at first and then from there only after I got the speed do I then do some lag putting. Over all I dont spend a whole tin of time on the practice green but i do "need" to spend some or it may cost a few holes to get use to.

Unless is early am and there is dew on the greens. Then it becomes a pain cause as the sun rises they begin to dry up and the speed changes accordingly. thats always a pain imo. Then sometimes you adjust for the drying of the greens as the sun rises an d they start to speed up but then the next one was shaded but you didnt think of that and is slow again. Overall those real early am rounds can get a bit tricky putting wise.
 
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I go to the putting green and me and my putter commune. I chant "No 3 putts today, no 3 putts today, no 3 putts today". I then hit a couple with that mantra in my head.
 
Hopefully I've learned a few things in the over 40 years I've been playing golf. (You be the judge.)

It helps me to think of it as preparation, not practice.

I take the two balls I'm going to put in play and start with 3-4 foot putts to a semi flat hole. My focus is getting my setup, face alignment and stroke exactly right. I'm looking at the quality of the roll and I want it to drop in center cut. If it doesn't from that close, I'm looking for what is off. I'm rolling 6-18 putts from this distance depending on whether I'm locked in right off the bat or not.

Next I'm stroking some lag putts focusing on quality of roll, distance and starting the ball on the intended line. Usually 4-6 putts.

After that I'm stroking a variety of 6-20 foot putts. I want to see lots of balls go in the hole and those that don't come close and end up 12-18 inches beyond the cup.
 
I use three balls because I want get a feel for my distance on long putts. Then I putt for 10-15 footers and then 3-5 footers. Our practice green has a lot of undulation as do our regular greens so almost all the putts will be breaking and that helps when we are out on the course.
 
I try and spend 15-20 minutes on the putting green. First working on speed from 10-20-30 footers. Then I start with 2 golf balls work from 2 feet out and try to make all putts if I progress I move another foot back for each two I rolled in
 
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