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What Constitutes Good Putting?

v.man

v.man

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I've been pondering this for awhile, so thought I'd get some other opinions. I've always judged my own putting on average putts per round. I regularly keep that Stat along with a few others, like fws hit and GIR, like a lot of others do. If I'm averaging 30 or fewer putts per round, I feel like I'm doing well. My Sky Caddy keeps average putts per hole, but I've never related well to that. Are there other measures that you use? Does 30 or less putts per round equate to "good putting"? I'd love to hear some other views.
 
I think anything under 30 is good
 
To me it goes hand in hand with gir's. 29 putts and 15 gir's is impressive to me but 29 putts and 3 gir's is not. By missing the green it probably means you have a chip to get it close and 1 putt.
 
30 putts is good whether or not it is a GIR. Getting up and down in 2 consistently is great and nothing to dismiss. JMHO FYI, Jorden Spieth is currently the top pro with 27.7 putts per round.
 
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I use Skycaddie as well v.man and it used to display the average putts per hole for all users. It was 1.9. I'm at 1.8. I think 1.6 putts per hole would be good putting. 1.4 or under would be outstanding putting.
 
Assuming I play my typical game and have 8-10 GIR it takes about 29 putts or less for me to call it a good putting performance.
 
To me, it's a combination of distance of putts made, and putts to par.

If you're missing a lot of greens and one putting most greens, your putts per round will be low.
 
I think anytime you putt 30 times or less you are doing good regardless of how you got there or how many GIRs you hit. The name of the game is to get the ball in the hole in the least amount of strokes. The scorecard doesn't care how you got there, just that you get there with as few strokes as you can.

One thing I've always wondered is how you count putting. Is it anytime you use your putter whether or not you are on the green? Or exclusively counts putts that are attempted on the and not on the fringe?
 
For me, good putting is all about how many you make that you should make, a lack of 3-putting, and leaving yourself in a good spot for those you don't make. While I firmly believe putts per round is a great stat, on its own, it isn't an indication on how well someone putts.

A good putter will make the 6 footers and have an easy clean up on the 30 footers. It more about how you handle each individual putt.
 
For me it's 30 putts a round or less,not 3 putting

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What Constitutes Good Putting?

30 putts a round or lower could be pretty skewed. If you're hitting a lot of GiR, but they are all 30 feet away, your putt count could be pretty high even though you make one or two and lag the rest to tap in range (which I would consider a very good day putting). For me it's based on putts missed. If I had some short putts missed, maybe even including a 3 putt or two, then it's not a good day putting. If I have made all of putts I feel I could have, then the number (IMO) means nothing.
 
I count my putts because it's easy, but number of putts is not that big a deal unless it's over 37 or 38 for me. You just KNOW when you've putted well, whether they were dropping or not. You could have hit every green but be so far away you miss every first putt, but not by much. But close enough you have tap ins for the two putt. Good effing day putting even with 36 putts. You can also have a lot less putts because you were missing every green but was chipping pretty good that day and left yourself five or six tap in pars for 30 putts.

Look at your score more than anything. If I finish with a score that starts with a "7" I did dang good that day with most if not all of my game.
 
mikeg_74 said:
I think anytime you putt 30 times or less you are doing good regardless of how you got there or how many GIRs you hit. The name of the game is to get the ball in the hole in the least amount of strokes. The scorecard doesn't care how you got there, just that you get there with as few strokes as you can.

One thing I've always wondered is how you count putting. Is it anytime you use your putter whether or not you are on the green? Or exclusively counts putts that are attempted on the and not on the fringe?
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Good question on how one counts putts. I know technically a putt from off the green doesn't count as a putt. But, I include putts from the fringe as putts in my stats. I want to know how many times I'm truly putting. I don't include chutting, however.
 
Putt count is like passing yards. Was it a 40yd. pass because you threw it that far, or because he ran 39yds. after he caught it? A two putt from 30ft. is good, not so good from three feet.
 
Putts per GIR is a good stat and one that golf shot keeps. 1.85 or less is good imo. That's how I know I've been putting well over time (as long as avg putts is also good).

As for any single round, stats don't matter. I either putted well or I didn't.
 
Thanks for this thread, I've been wondering the same thing for a while now.

I have tended to think of sub 30 as great, 30 to about 34 with no 3 jacks as solid/good and 35 and over as crap.
 
putts per gir is a nice way of indicating weather I am putting well or not. total putts can be a good indicator if I am chipping well.
 
What Constitutes Good Putting?

For me I feel looking just at the number of putts per round can be skewed. Taking GIR's into account factors highly into what one considers a good putting day.


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mikeg_74 said:
One thing I've always wondered is how you count putting. Is it anytime you use your putter whether or not you are on the green? Or exclusively counts putts that are attempted on the and not on the fringe?
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PGA does not count the fringe as the green, so a shot with a putter from the fringe is a chip, not a putt.

USGA says once you've putted from the green, all subsequent shots count as putts (presumably if you putt right off the green and chip back on, that chip counts as a putt) but I can't find what they count as the green.

Personally, I count anything with my putter in my hand as a putt.

mmaynard11 said:
For me I feel looking at the number of putts per round can be skewed
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I agree. I also count shots inside 100yds, to see how my short game as a whole is doing. 1 SIH + 1 putt = up & down. Anything else needs work.
 
I don't include putts off the green, but that's just me. If I make more than half of 'makeable' putts, which to me is about 10ft and in, and don't have any 3-putts I consider it to be a good round.
 
Smallville said:
This is an old thread, but still holds true: http://www.thehackersparadise.com/forum/showthread.php?15605-Putts-Per-Round-Overrated-Number
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Thanks for posting the link. It predates me here, but is the same struggle I was having in my mind that led to my OP here. My game is such that I don't hit all that many GIR, but am usually very close around the green. If I'm chipping well, my ppr will really be skewed. Of course, given my normal game, more than 30 putts definitely indicates a really bad day putting. Lol. Putts per GIR might be a more meaningful measure, IDK. I've also heard them talk about "strokes gained by putting" when referring to pros during a tournament. I'm not sure how that is measured, but, think I'll Google it and see what comes up.

Good to know I'm not the only one struggling with this.
 
cpljohnst said:
I use Skycaddie as well v.man and it used to display the average putts per hole for all users. It was 1.9. I'm at 1.8. I think 1.6 putts per hole would be good putting. 1.4 or under would be outstanding putting.
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APPH stats when Inbee was killing was about 1.65 and lowest men got was 1.73 by Luke Donald. So I say anything below a 1.9 is excellent. I think a more important stat is length of putts made and number of 3 putts.
 
The pros have an intersting stat, something like distance of putts made per round . I know it's a little arbitrary as it can go with gir also...

I would like to see a stat from the opposite view for myself "distance of putts missed" although that might be better on a per hole basis... I would think no misses inside of 6 feet would lead to a pretty good day

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