A good putter - what does it mean

[inc0gnito]

Do you consider yourself a good putter?

I hear people saying this a lot but what does it actually mean to you. No 3 putts? 10 one putts a round? Getting close every time? Or is it just a feeling of a confident stroke without too much concern for scores?

For me, I feel like I’m getting better at putting but wouldn’t call myself a good putter until I feel very confident on short puts and can feel confident getting in <3 ft when lag putting consistently.

 

[Imurg]

Everyone 3 putts now and again - hell, some even 4 or 5 putt.
For me, to be a good putter, you need to
A. Be confident on the 3-4 footers
B. Be able to lag close from distance
C. Have control of pace and line
D. Be able to read the greens because without this all of the above become redundant

 

[clubchamp98]

I am a decent putter but I would be cat1 if I holed as many as my mate.
I just don’t hole the birdie chances I give myself.
I don’t 3 putt often but to be good you need to hole the 10/12 footers.

 

[User20204]

I am a decent putter but I would be cat1 if I holed as many as my mate.
I just don’t hole the birdie chances I give myself.
I don’t 3 putt often but to be good you need to hole the 10/12 footers.

You sound like me. last week I gave myself chance after chance after chance, 4 holes on the trot I had birdie putts from around 10/12, then, possibly for the first time in decades, everything went in, I had 7 putts in 6 greens round the turn, very bizarre. Once they start dropping you start to feel like you can't miss.

 

[clubchamp98]

You sound like me. last week I gave myself chance after chance after chance, 4 holes on the trot I had birdie putts from around 10/12, then, possibly for the first time in decades, everything went in, I had 7 putts in 6 greens round the turn, very bizarre. Once they start dropping you start to feel like you can't miss.

Have you heard of the bobble theory?

 

[clubchamp98]

The bobble theory .
A good putter who gets it online 9/10 times ,if it bobbles left or right it will miss.
A mediocre putter who gets it online 2/10 times will hole the bobbles if it bobs towards the correct line.

I had so many burn the hole Saturday that I just laughed.
In winter I just hit it at the hole and two putt.

 

[cliveb]

Once they start dropping you start to feel like you can't miss.

The opposite also applies, of course.
A few weeks back I missed 8 sub 3-footers in a round. Eight!
After the first few slipped by I no longer expected any of them to drop.

 

[User20204]

The opposite also applies, of course.
A few weeks back I missed 8 sub 3-footers in a round. Eight!
After the first few slipped by I no longer expected any of them to drop.

Absolutely, there are days when you just can't find the hole at all.

 

[jim8flog]

There was a time when I would have called myself an excellent putter (but I view a good short game as part of that) with a personal best of 23 putts for a round and any round with more than 30 putts being seen as not good enough.

These days however my eyesight is not as good as it was and I do not seem to be able to read the lines as well as I used to get it down the hole in one as often as I used to.

I would certainly never consider myself as a poor putter and it a major factor of how I manage to keep my single figure handicap (or thereabouts)

 

[Jacko_G]

A good putter is one you like the look of, suits your eye and feels good.

👍

 

[RangeMonkey]

A good putter is one you like the look of, suits your eye and feels good.

👍

Like Jessica Korda?

 

[Orikoru]

Sometimes I'm a good putter, sometimes I'm not. Probably about average really.

Last round I had 30 putts with only one three-putt, I consider that a very good putting round. If my number of putts is nearer 36 or higher, or more than 3 three-putts, I'd say that's not so good. Less than 30 putts would be exceptional considering at my level I'm often just on the edge of a green rather than hitting the middle consistently.

 

[Parsaregood]

Sam Snead had a good way of finding out how good a putter or not someone is. The next time you play, after you finish out every hole, throw your ball in the middle of the green and count how many putts you have if youd have hit your ball there in regulation. Do this a few times and get a basic average, it's a good way to see if it's as much a weakness as you think. Yes I do consider myself a good putter, some days I can be very good and other days just average but you cant and wont putt well every time you play.

 

[Tashyboy]

For me it's not a straightforward answer.

Our greens in the middle of summer are just brutal. I don't just mean the speed but the breaks. Lordy flippin Lordy. I remember reading once where the length is more important than the line. You can be 3ft short or long but never 3ft left or right. Well whoever said that never putted on our greens. On our greens, am not bad. When I am on it am excellent, when I am not. My tyrets kicks in. On some of our holes, in the summer you can put it 15-20ft past the pin if putting downhill. On our pit day, lads who have played for years have come off and said they have five putted.

But when I have played away from our course, it's a joy. Greens are nowhere near as fast and hardly any breaks. Sometimes I find myself looking for breaks that are not there.

 

[Parsaregood]

I'd say speed is more important than line for distance putting, simply for the reasoning that most peoples judgments of line is reasonable if not good so if the pace is correct and they can start the ball close to their intended line the putt should actually work out decent enough if not go in. If your more than 18 feet away you can only reasonably expect to give a good effort, it's a bonus if it goes in.

 

[inc0gnito]

Everyone 3 putts now and again - hell, some even 4 or 5 putt.
For me, to be a good putter, you need to
A. Be confident on the 3-4 footers
B. Be able to lag close from distance
C. Have control of pace and line
D. Be able to read the greens because without this all of the above become redundant

Fair assessment.

Sam Snead had a good way of finding out how good a putter or not someone is. The next time you play, after you finish out every hole, throw your ball in the middle of the green and count how many putts you have if youd have hit your ball there in regulation. Do this a few times and get a basic average, it's a good way to see if it's as much a weakness as you think. Yes I do consider myself a good putter, some days I can be very good and other days just average but you cant and wont putt well every time you play.

The course would have to be quiet to try that!

 

[Hobbit]

Although in a little bit of a doldrum lately, I consider myself to be a very good putter. Thankfully a couple of weeks back normal service resumed. Anything within 6 feet is usually a given, and the odd 30 footer in a round usually drops. "Clutch putts" coming down the stretch is something I've always thrived on, and if I get on a streak - wow.

My average, until this year, has been in the 20's for... since forever.

I've just had a look on the stats website I use at 3 rounds I remember. A level par round with 26 putts. A 2 under par round with 22 putts and a 1 under par round with 33 putts. The first two obviously had a lot of up and down scrambles, whilst the 3rd round had what looked like a cold putter. Also remember a round at one of the Cooden Bay outings organised by Smiffy several years back. A level par round that included 7 birdies, inc 26 putts - not the best for FIR...

 

[harpo_72]

I don't think putting is given the respect for how important it is.
I know I didn't, I don't have stats for then but put it like this I was rubbish. My iron game was immaculate, I would hit a very high percentage of GIRs and close but still 2 putt and when I wasn't close I was definitely going to 3 putt. This wasn't a mental thing, this was poor technique and not practicing it.
I basically bought myself a more suitable putter, the mallet face balance type suits me. Then spent 2 weeks practicing every day for 20 minutes, I practice the swing path, aiming, and distance putts.
This work paid off as I came out and shot 66 in the next competition, I was holing out regularly inside 6 ft and I was dustbin lidding the long ones and I had the occasional long putt go down.
I think now I make more birdies than I did previously.
I don't practice my putting as much, but I do just have a check on my path.
I am am now restoring the rest of my game, but my putting has been pretty stable. My current stats are 1.9 putts, which isn't great at the moment but I think as my accuracy with my irons kicks back in and I use the same type of ball consistently we will see a drop.
I think a good average is 1.6 putts per hole - lower than that reflects your iron play and short game accuracy so you will see as low as 1.2 putts per hole.

 

[Parsaregood]

The problem most have with putting is they complicate it too much. Yes there are a few basics you need to sort and know like, get your setup position good, use a putter which suits whether its face balanced or has lots of toe flow, youl also want a grip which allows you to make the type of stroke you need whether it's on a straighter arc or a more in to square to in arc.
Once you have these fundamentals pretty much nailed it's really a case of doing a few drills to maintain these but more importantly I'd say to putt with your imagination. I mean this as in pick the longest most difficult putts on the putting green and just putt, it's amazing how good you can become at something with intuition, you will learn an awful lot about how you putt and what your tendencies are, you may for example realise your not very good at downhill left to righters or whatever. Once someone starts using their imagination and intuition to putt you will be surprised at how good they become. I really dont know how people can think about how far they take the putter back and if the line on the ball is lined up correctly with the line they want to hit it on, thus to me just breeds doubt. If you practice your putting you just develop an uncanny knack for the feel of your putter and how much effort makes the ball travel x amount of distance.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

A good putter threatens the hole from 10ft and in. They don't have to sink them every time, being a good putter means that they will sink a good few, but they have to be close. It is a pleasure to watch someone putt well like this.

Pacing will be top notch from a distance. I've played in a few pro ams and the pro will get the pace dead right. The second putt, if required is always a tap in.

Maybe one round a season I will be a demon from 10ft, it is magical. The rest of the time I am bang average. Pacing is generally okay but I don't threaten enough. Not next year though. Next year I will have my new putter from the very beginning so finally the magic will happen every round .