Putting expectations....

[Imurg]

Almost every day someone, including me come on here bemoaning missing putts that they think they should be sinking.
But are expectations too high?
Why do we expect to hole from 10 feet more often than not?
Who is currently touted as one of the best putters on the Pro circuit...?
I reckon Spieth might be a name that springs to many.
But, from 10 feet, he's shocking.
He's sunk 9 of 27 from 10 feet
33%
I suspect many of us would be unhappy with that number - but, in reality, if that's what the 2nd best player in the world does, what should we be doing on our less than perfect greens, with little or no practice and extremely dodgy putting strokes..?

 

[louise_a]

For me putting is very hit and miss and mostly a confidence thing, get a good putt in early and confidence soars and I tend to make several decent putts. Miss a short one on the first and its sets the trend for a bad round of putting.
From 10 feet I am happy to hole a couple a round.

 

[Duckster]

I know that from 5-10 feet the current PGA Tour leader is Troy Merritt with Jamie Donaldson close behind. They are round the 65% mark.

 

[UlyssesSky]

what should we be doing on our less than perfect greens

Actually, I think the greens we're putting on may be "less than perfect", but on the other hand they aren't as fast as tour greens and thus should be somewhat easier to play.


Put Jordan Spieth on a 'normal' putting green and I'm quite sure his percentage from 10 feet will go up significantly, while most of amateurs will struggle heavily on 'perfect' tour greens.

 

[Slab]

The difference is he's hitting his 10 footers for birdie/eagle when many of us need it for bogey/double, that's why we're more disappointed to miss

It matters more to us!
(relatively speaking of course)

 

[Paul77]

Nah my putting is hope for the best that I've read. Last night for instance. Felt the reading was good. Greens were stubly and hardly cut. I was annoyed. Our greens badly need rolled. It's like a council pitch and putt green.

The other course I played had lightning fast greens. I'm talking a tap downhill and the ball was off the front. Hard to judge what suits best really.

 

[CVG]

Actually, I think the greens we're putting on may be "less than perfect", but on the other hand they aren't as fast as tour greens and thus should be somewhat easier to play.


Put Jordan Spieth on a 'normal' putting green and I'm quite sure his percentage from 10 feet will go up significantly, while most of amateurs will struggle heavily on 'perfect' tour greens.

Sorry I don't agree with you. As IMurg will tell you my putting is very poor, but I have to say the better the greens I play on the better my putting gets. In my view the top pros will hate putting on poor greens, they expect the pace to be consistent and surfaces to be pure, Speith would struggle on the greens at my course! Just look at the comments at this year's US Open a high percentage of the players complained about the state of the greens. The pros need good greens to show off their skills, when the consistency goes then the number of putts goes up.

 

[ruff-driver]

The difference is he's hitting his 10 footers for birdie/eagle when many of us need it for bogey/double, that's why we're more disappointed to miss

It matters more to us!
(relatively speaking of course)

Agreed, if we are greenside in 3 or 4 , pressures on the putter.

For my last 7 rounds my average is 37 putts, had 67 birdie chances and made 7, never had a tap in, always 10-20ft, some of our greens are 40yds long, two putting feels great

 

[Deleted member 15717]

I think the tour average from 6ft is something like 50%. We shouldn't beat ourselves up!

 

[Spear-Chucker]

I don't think we've a right to expect to hole anything. We've all seen pro's miss 1ft putts so it's by definition a tough thing to attempt to master.

With practice we can learn about pace and borrow and become pretty accomplished but weather, grass conditions, wear etc. can all affect putts in so many ways that the best we should hope for is to read the putt and put the best stroke on it as possible. Then it comes down to how you deal with the outcome. The best putters I've seen (Faxon, Roberts, Jacobsen, Spieth) all try to make everything but hardly seem bothered if not as they take on the next shot.

 

[Hobbit]

I have a more simplistic approach. For me its about the overall number of putts. I know what I normally shoot, and if its significantly more than that I'm disappointed - there's been a lot of disappointment this year.

I expect to sink the odd very long putt and miss the odd short one, but its 3 putts that are doing my head in + the odd very short one missed i.e. inside a foot.

As for beating yourself up - never whilst out on the course, think of the next shot, not the last one. Analyse it afterwards and then go and practice.

 

[woody69]

People are far too hard on themselves when it comes to putting. The PGA stat for 1 putts inside 5 feet is only 50% holed. If the pros only sink 1 in 2 inside 5 feet we shouldn't get upset when we probably only manage 1 in 3 (or more!)

 

[pokerjoke]

Something I have noticed recently is where im actually putting from.

If I had 5 putts of 5ft downhill with a massive break I would expect and hope I got 1 or 2 of them.

If I had 5 putts flat and straight I would hope to get 3 or 4.

On my home course I actually do look at where I want to be on the green,ok im not always going to leave a perfect putt but actually thinking about it more has helped.

The other way to look at the difference between a pro and an amateur is the number of birdies or birdie putts.

Pros make 5 and upwards in some rounds when 2 or 3 would be good for us.

 

[garyinderry]

I think the pro are falsely represented on the TV. we watch the leaders a lot of the time playing well who hardly seem to miss inside 10 feet.

They are on a great run to be at the top of the leaderboad. Putting keeps their momentum going for the round.

We don't see as many pros further down the leaderboard missing many shorter putts.

 

[JustOne]

^
^
Pokerjoke I sent you a PM yesterday.



Knowing the 'missed stats' by the pros really changed my outlook on putting.... I actually don't mind if I miss but I HATE IT if I feel like I put a bad stroke on it.

Coming up short annoys me but I have to ask myself did I hit it too softly OR misread the required pace.

 

[pokerjoke]

^
^
Pokerjoke I sent you a PM yesterday.



Yes sorry James I forgot to reply washing my hair.
PM you now

 

[Backache]

People are far too hard on themselves when it comes to putting. The PGA stat for 1 putts inside 5 feet is only 50% holed. If the pros only sink 1 in 2 inside 5 feet we shouldn't get upset when we probably only manage 1 in 3 (or more!)

You are not analysing the correct statistic, that stat looks at how many of their single putts are from 5 foot which is more a reflection of their play to the green.
The median stat for putts made from five foot (which is actually between four and five feet is 82% rounded)
From 10 feet the average PGA pro is hoping 40%.
They are very very good though and have very true greens.

 

[UlyssesSky]

Sorry I don't agree with you. As IMurg will tell you my putting is very poor, but I have to say the better the greens I play on the better my putting gets. In my view the top pros will hate putting on poor greens, they expect the pace to be consistent and surfaces to be pure, Speith would struggle on the greens at my course! Just look at the comments at this year's US Open a high percentage of the players complained about the state of the greens. The pros need good greens to show off their skills, when the consistency goes then the number of putts goes up.

And I'm quite sure if somebody was to put you on a tour green, as perfect as it may be, you wouldn't hole many putts due to the speed of the greens. Remember during The Open, when people were arguing that, in a time of long hitters, the speed of the greens was the only defense left to the course?
Greens are made faster for tournaments to make it harder for the pros, thus you can't compare the putt percentage of pros and amateurs.

Also, slower greens tend to be more consistent than fast greens. If you don't believe me try putting on a carpet and on a wooden floor and tell me which of the putts holds the line better.

 

[el marko]

In my opinion i think putting on fast greens is easier. I absolutely hate slow greens. Surely the further you move the putter back in the stroke the more chance youll mis hit it. So hence on faster greens you dont need to bring the putter back too much? A stimp of about 10.5 for me is perfect.

I get disappointed on not holing out from 6ft and in, but don't really expect anything from more than 10ft. For me pace is more important than line and cant stand leaving a putt short which at the moment i seem to be doing 5+ times a round!

 

[ScienceBoy]

As long as you get the one coming back the first is nothing to worry about.

Putting is just picking a line, feeling the weight and hitting the middle of the putter face.

I try to never linger on a missed putt, a brick wall follows me around the course