The putting enigma

More than any other part of the game of golf, putting seems to be an enigma. An “enigma” is defined as something mysterious and hard to understand – a riddle.

I see more instruction books and online pieces on putting, and I see more gadgets to help with putting than for all other aspects of the game. Oh yes, more new, different and crazy-looking putters too.

If driving the golf ball is like hitting a home run, making a critical 20-foot putt is like playing the violin as a virtuoso. Putting is truly “a game within a game.”

The difference is gross motor skills (driver) versus fine motor skills (putter). That’s where golf departs from other sports; golf requires strength and coordination for long clubs, yet it also requires the touch of a painter on the greens. And putting is realistically half the game.

Par 72 for a golf course is calculated by figuring two putts per green for each of the 18 holes – thus 36 of the 72 strokes are calculated as putts.

The beautiful thing about putting is that we all have the opportunity—yes, every one of us—to become an expert putter. Putting doesn’t demand brute strength; it’s mostly touch and feel.

Over my 25 years roaming around the Orange County Convention Center at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Florida, I was always astonished to see how many different putters are available and how many new ones are invented every year.

The lesson is that there isn’t one best putter design, nor one best putting technique or method. If you look at the top professional golfers on tour, each player has a slightly different style, system and process. Still, they all have some fundamentals in common. 

The fundamentals are those things that work for a player regardless of his or her putting procedure. It’s helpful to take a close look at how the best players do it, so you can learn and copy some of their expertise. As Yogi Berra said, “You can observe a lot by watching.” Tour pros, men and women, may play, um, a bit slowly, but they sure know how to putt.

The first thing you’ll notice is how pros manage speed. To putt well you need to acquire a good sense of distance control and pace with your putts. Most average golfers can look at a putt and tell whether it will break to the left or to the right; most can say whether it is uphill or downhill.

Yet most high handicappers struggle when it comes to consistently putting the ball 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50 feet as needed, for example. The best way to develop greater speed and distance control with your lag putting is to practice from intervals of five or 10 feet, so that you get a sense of how much of a stroke it takes for, say, 30 feet compared to 50 feet. 

I’m a believer in “feel” putting which means matching your stroke with what your eyes see and your hands feel. It doesn’t help me to know precisely the number of feet; you can’t consciously adjust your putting pace to a millimeter anyway.

You just need to feel it and notice if your practice strokes seem right for the distance your ball has to travel. Distance control is far more important than direction for most golfers.

When you have sufficiently practiced your putting method, including routine, to be confident from just about any distance, you can then take it to the course and simply trust it.

As to putting technique, there are countless versions, with some more conventional than others. The ingenuity of golfers coming up with new ways of putting, and inventiveness of entrepreneurs making new putter designs, all lend testimony to the often baffling and stupefying difficulty of rolling the ball into the cup.

Regardless, there are two facts to keep in mind: it’s critical to strike the ball in the center of the clubface; and  99.99% of putts that are short don’t go in.