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Putting distance control

arwin

arwin

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I've been practicing my putting and I notice that my back swing for 6 foot putts takes the club head back to about 7:30 on the clock. If the putt was further away, I'd bring the club had back even further with the same tempo. However, at some point, I can't bring the club had further back to get the additional distance without increasing the tempo.

What do you normally do to increase the ciders distance on putts yet still maintain good lag distance control?

I usually struggle on lag putts of 25+ feet because at that point, I have to speed up the tempo.

I also noticed that many pros don't have a big back swing with their putters even if they are super far.

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I don't know. I putt by feel and never really think about it.
 
HoosierGolfer said:
I don't know. I putt by feel and never really think about it.
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Same here....and why it's likely the toughest thing to teach. Practice practice practice is all I can recommend. I would be very cautious about trying to determine a back through distance and jacking with tempo....gets over complicated really fast.
 
My backswing is the same for a 10 footer as it is for a 30 footer all comes down to feel for the tempo.
 
Faster follow through but as others said it comes down to feel and practice.
 
It does come down to feel and practice. One tip I got from a cool Canadian guy last year was using the stance to help with how far to take putter back and through for 5,10,15 foot putts and used that to work on the feel
 
emart2173 said:
It does come down to feel and practice. One tip I got from a cool Canadian guy last year was using the stance to help with how far to take putter back and through for 5,10,15 foot putts and used that to work on the feel
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That is a good idea for a certain range of putts. I use things like halfway back to right foot, big toe, little toe, etc. The OP us talking about putts that fall beyond the normal range. Not sure how fast your greens are, but taking the putter back to 7:30 seems pretty far for a six footer. Would you say that you have a slow tempo? I would suggest maybe considering a little faster tempo for all your putts.
 
arwin said:
I also noticed that many pros don't have a big back swing with their putters even if they are super far.
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Keep in mind that that the pros are putting on greens that are MUCH faster than the greens that you are typically playing on.

cnosil said:
I would suggest maybe considering a little faster tempo for all your putts.
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I agree. Try slowly increasing your tempo until it still feels comfortable, but you are gaining the necessary distance that you need. Then its is simple matter of practice, practice, and more practice.
 
emart2173 said:
It does come down to feel and practice. One tip I got from a cool Canadian guy last year was using the stance to help with how far to take putter back and through for 5,10,15 foot putts and used that to work on the feel
Click to expand...

I just recently start practicing this with 5,10,15, and 20 paces (I'm roughly 2.5ft/step). On the green, I'm just counting paces anyway.

At 20+ I'd probably start breaking my wrists at the end of my backswing to get the extra distance. I'm a terrible at lagging though, so take anything from me with a grain of salt. :)
 
#Cookie said:
Same here....and why it's likely the toughest thing to teach. Practice practice practice is all I can recommend. I would be very cautious about trying to determine a back through distance and jacking with tempo....gets over complicated really fast.
Click to expand...


Not to mention green speeds can really play a huge part.....if you start saying "take the club back to here and it goes X number of feet and then get on a course with really fast or really slow greens then it all goes out the window.

Lag putting is all about feel
 
The biggest flaw in my putting seems to be feel/distance control. So I'm not qualified to answer. I did read an article in the most recent golf magazine about Jordan Spieth looking at the hole sometimes when he putts. The article talked about a study and said that people who at least practiced some putting while looking at the hole saw some improvement in distance from the cup. They didn't necessarily suggest looking at the hole during your round though.

To me, it's like throwing a ball somewhere. Most people don't actively think about how far their arm needs to move, they just throw the ball to where they are looking. So it's probably worth a try to look at the hole some of the time when you are practicing putting and see if it helps with developing feel.
 
7:30 seems far to me for only a 6 foot putt. Makes me wonder. How do you power your putts? With your wrist and hands? Your shoulders? A mix? You said your backswing is 7:30, where on the dial does your forward swing finish? How long is your putter? Is it a blade or a mallet? When you strike your putt does it usually: Skid then roll? Hop and roll? Rolls end over end immediately?

To answer in part your observation about what the pros do. They play on greens that run 10-12 on the Stimpmeter. Most public courses run between a 6-8 (there are exceptions). The point is the greens the pros play are generally MUCH faster than the ones most of us play.
 
TripleBogieTim said:
Not to mention green speeds can really play a huge part.....if you start saying "take the club back to here and it goes X number of feet and then get on a course with really fast or really slow greens then it all goes out the window.

Lag putting is all about feel
Click to expand...


Not really. You go to the practice green before the round and putt a few with a set stroke to see if the ball is rolling more or less than your normal distance. You can then use that to adjust your distances. This really isn't any different that a player that says they "Feel" how far to putt the ball because you still have to adjust for green speed.
 
cnosil said:
That is a good idea for a certain range of putts. I use things like halfway back to right foot, big toe, little toe, etc. The OP us talking about putts that fall beyond the normal range. Not sure how fast your greens are, but taking the putter back to 7:30 seems pretty far for a six footer. Would you say that you have a slow tempo? I would suggest maybe considering a little faster tempo for all your putts.
Click to expand...

i would say 7:30 is a long takeaway for a 6'. I would be going to the inside of my right foot on takeaway(RH golfer). If greens were slow I may go a little further. I don't think I have a slow tempo, more of a controlled tempo. If I have a long putt I will just increase speed of swing and use my 15' swing.

tanker337 said:
I just recently start practicing this with 5,10,15, and 20 paces (I'm roughly 2.5ft/step). On the green, I'm just counting paces anyway.

At 20+ I'd probably start breaking my wrists at the end of my backswing to get the extra distance. I'm a terrible at lagging though, so take anything from me with a grain of salt. :)
Click to expand...

breaking wrist is no good. From 20' I am using about the same swing length as my 15' with just a tad more speed
 
You could try practicing just a 3" takeaway on a 6' putt. It'll help keep you accelerating through your stroke and there's less opportunity of getting out of alignment. Then when you're lag putting the 7:30 takeaway will be enough. it will also help you not decel on putts. This is just something I practice sometimes to help with feel and putting through the ball.
 
Longer putt, larger shoulder rock. Shorter putt, shorter shoulder rock.
 
arwin said:
I've been practicing my putting and I notice that my back swing for 6 foot putts takes the club head back to about 7:30 on the clock. If the putt was further away, I'd bring the club had back even further with the same tempo. However, at some point, I can't bring the club had further back to get the additional distance without increasing the tempo.

What do you normally do to increase the ciders distance on putts yet still maintain good lag distance control?

I usually struggle on lag putts of 25+ feet because at that point, I have to speed up the tempo.

I also noticed that many pros don't have a big back swing with their putters even if they are super far.

Sent from my SM-G928W8 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


HoosierGolfer said:
I don't know. I putt by feel and never really think about it.
Click to expand...

This is me too. I do nothing "mechanical" when I putt. I couldn't tell you how far back I take the putter for any putt. The reason being that it's always different. Uphill, downhill, sidehill, and on rare occasions, even level. Faster greens, slower greens, wind, morning or evening, rain - too many things affect how the ball rolls. The only way to be a really good putter is to practice on different greens until you get a feel for it. Developing a good putting stroke is science, but becoming a good putter is an art.

I've been a fairly decent putter for a long time, and I've probably hit my limit considering that I don't really practice any more. I've usually been able to go to a new course and with a few minutes on the practice green, I can get a feel for what I'll need to do on the course. I try to hit putts uphill, downhill, and sidehill in my warmup routine. Once I'm out on the course, I just let my "feel" take over.

I focus on the ball, not the putter. The last thing I do in my setup routine is look once at the hole, then track my intended line all the way back to the ball, then pull the trigger. That seems to plug into my head the power I need for the putt. It's not always right - on an occasional long putt it might be pretty far off, but I don't change it because it works most of the time. My eyes stay on the ball until the putter hits it, then they stay on the spot of grass where it lay for a second or so to ensure that I don't move my head early. I focus on making a complete, smooth follow through - no jabbing.
 
I'm in the camp that doesn't calculate how hard I need to hit a putt. Instead, I allow my super computer(brain) to translate the data that I give it (ie. distance, slope and break). I think this is a variation of what Spieth does, he views the information and then allows his body to complete the picture naturally.
 
I try to visualize and feel that I am just going to role the ball underhanded to the hole, and then replicate it with a putting stroke. But like others have said, I am a Jedi putter, I just use the force and hope that I am not on the dark side.
 
UVaWahoo said:
I try to visualize and feel that I am just going to role the ball underhanded to the hole, and then replicate it with a putting stroke.
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Seen this many places as a good way to teach speed, just imagine you have a ball in your right hand instead on the putter and move at the same speed you would roll the ball to the hole if you were to let it go at the point of contact.

I also flip-flop between looking at my target or at the ball. For the long putts in question, I'll typically look at the spot where I want the ball to leave the target line and swing like I'm rolling a ball along that line. The result is i very rarely leave a long putt short, but do occasionally to hit it too far past the hole, especially if the putt is downhill.
 
emart2173 said:
i would say 7:30 is a long takeaway for a 6'. I would be going to the inside of my right foot on takeaway(RH golfer). If greens were slow I may go a little further. I don't think I have a slow tempo, more of a controlled tempo. If I have a long putt I will just increase speed of swing and use my 15' swing.



breaking wrist is no good. From 20' I am using about the same swing length as my 15' with just a tad more speed
Click to expand...

I'm not breaking my wrists on a 20 footer. :)
I meant to be talking in terms of paces. 20 paces for me is somewhere in the 45'-50' range.
 
cnosil said:
Not sure how fast your greens are, but taking the putter back to 7:30 seems pretty far for a six footer. Would you say that you have a slow tempo? I would suggest maybe considering a little faster tempo for all your putts.
Click to expand...

I think this is the answer. I had sped my tempo up last year. It did work out better with longish putts and did not hurt my 5-10' stroke. The trick is not to get jerky on the short ones. I went from 60 BPM to 70 BPM & it seem to help me out. I worked with a metronome and no ball to get the timing down. Not having to go as far back on the short putts improved the strike as well.
 
Cant say i have ever really thought about it. I just go by how I feel it should be and have had pretty good results.
 
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