The Importance of Speed in Putting

Reality Check

When we watch the professionals on television it is easy to get a warped sense of reality, especially with putting.  We see a lot of “highlights” of what is happening on the golf course.  Because of this, we see a disproportionate amount of long putts going into the hole.  Here’s a reality check on putting at the professional level.  The best on the PGA tour from 3 to 5 feet in 2011 was Brian Gay at about 94%.  The pros have a really high percentage in this range of putting.  As we get farther away that changes.  Charl Schwartzel was the best on the tour from 10 to 15 feet in 2011 at 29%.  From 30 feet, Kevin Na was the leader with….get this, 2%.  The best in the world from 30 feet makes it 2% of the time!!

What the pros are really good at is speed control.  They may only make it 2% of the time from 30 feet, but their speed is phenomenal.  They will leave themselves a second putt of less than 3 feet most of the time, and they will make that second putt over 90% of the time.

Ideal Speed

The “ideal speed” for a putt is for the ball to have enough speed that if it misses the hole it would end up 18 inches past the hole. 

At this speed, the ball holds its line more true, the ball has a chance to go in the hole (100% of putts left short of the hole do not go in), if missed leaves an 18 inch putt coming back (a high percentage distance for any skill level) and gives you the advantage of seeing how the putt coming back will break.

Simplicity of movement equals consistency of results

The most consistent putters in the game are those who have a very simple and repeatable action in their putting stroke.  It is the same every time and does not have a lot of moving parts.  Most amateurs, however, have just the opposite going on.  You can notice this mostly in the hands.

The professional keeps the hands out of the putting stroke.  They use the big muscles in the shoulders and back to rotate instead of “hit”.  The poor putter has this “hit” in their stroke.  They tend to flip their hands at the ball.  That flipping action in the hands adds a large amount of acceleration into a small space of time and distance.  This leads to inconsistency of speed and distance control in putting…and far too many three putts.

Golfers sometimes describe a putt that went farther than expected as having “gone off in my hands”.  This gunshot metaphor points to that little flick of the hands in the putting stroke that causes so much inconsistency.  The small muscles of the hands and arms are inefficient and unreliable, especially when there are nerves involved during a pressure situation.

In the coming weeks I will be talking about the grip, posture, alignment, ball position and stance as it relates to putting.  We will look at how we can set up in order to produce this consistent, stable putting stroke that will produce more one putts and fewer three putts.