By ED TRAVIS
Putting is totally different than the other parts of our game like smashing a long drive or striking a crisp iron shot and for sure, taking only one stroke to get out of a greenside bunker.
As all great putters know and Ben Hogan often talked about, putting is much more mental than physical. Sure, you should have a proper grip and be properly aligned but the number of stroke techniques to get the ball in the hole is about the same as the number of golfers.
Well maybe not quite the same but for sure there is not just one right way to putt as a smart senior player told me many times, “Remember, the object is to get the ball in the hole.”
Recently some information from Shot Scope about putting came across my desk. The Scottish company makes many high-quality products including shot tracking devices, and from the tracking data of over 200,000 golfers a couple of interesting points were revealed.
What jumped out at me was that while a scratch player makes 12% of putts in the 18-24ft range the typical weekend warrior 25 handicap makes only 6%. This is the distance most of us are starting to think about only taking one putt but in fact we aren’t even close to doing it.
By way of contrast the guys who do know what they are doing, PGA Tour pros, average 12.23% from 20 to 25ft and 18.96% from 15 to 20ft. In other words, not much better than a scratch amateur but up to triple the results of a 25 handicapper.
It gets even more eye opening at kick-in range, 3 feet or less. Tour pros make essentially all of these but a bogey golfer 20 handicap drops 90% in what Gary McCord called the “throw up” range. Still good and not leaving huge room for saving strokes.
So the lesson is clear for those of us who fall into the bogey-golfer category practice our lag putting to ensure our next effort is in the 90% range. The old saying is still true, from long distance lag it to within the size of a bushel basket, but since most of us don’t know how big that is settle for 3 feet.
