There's no good reason why you're so bad at putting.
You may lack the physical gifts required to launch a 350-yard drive, but there's nothing stopping you from rolling a ball into the hole from seven feet away. Yes, pros have better technique, but their separators aren't physical. They're mental. They're more adept at reading greens, controlling pace, and focusing.
So let's go putt by putt, to figure out how you can get there.
Some quick housekeeping: All the stats you see below are from Arccos, the official game-tracker of the PGA Tour.
1. The 'gimmie' putts
2 ft Tour Make %: 98%
How to get better: While it's tempting to scoop away these sub three-footers, resist the temptation. Take them seriously. Make tapping them out a habit—you'll get better at them than you think, and be less nervous when you're forced to putt one of these in a tight match.
2. The 'must make' putts
4 ft Tour Make %: 81%
How to get better: The mistake most golfers make on these putts is trying to ram these putts into the hole. But doing that actually makes the hole smaller, and the putt harder to make. Listen to the best short putter on tour: Don't commit to one speed. Let the slopes dictate the speed. Sometimes slow; sometimes firm.
3. The 'shouldn't miss' putts
7 ft Tour Make %: 53%
How to get better: The more-likely-to-miss-than-make line is somewhere about seven feet for pros, five feet for 10 handicaps. The key on these putts, Golf Digest Best Young Teacher Stephen Sweeney says, is rolling your ball on your intended start line. Here's a tour-approved drill that can help.
4. The 'need to make more' putts
9 ft Tour Make %: 41%
How to get better: 10 handicaps only make 29 percent of putts between six-and-nine feet. You'll never make all of these putts, but you'll always need to make more of these putts. The key here is matching the right line, with the right speed. As Golf Digest Top 50 coach Jason Baile explains, the simplest way is to practice hitting these putts at different speeds. Go higher and softer, then lower and more firm.
5. The 'want to make' putts
14 ft Tour Make %: 24%
How to get better: You've hit a nice approach shot, and now you've got a really solid look at birdie—perhaps your best of the day. 10 handicaps have a make rate of about 15 percent from this range. Point is, you'll make some of these, but can't count on them. About one in four. So remember that. Stick to your routine, focus on the process, and let the odds shake themselves out. Don't go chasing.
6. The 'nice to make' putts
19 ft Tour Make %: 19%
How to get better: Similar to the last category, but now you're creeping into three-putt zone. The best way of avoiding doing something stupid while giving yourself a chance is to focus on what's happening around the hole. A great way to do this is to practice AimPoint techniques. Take a moment to straddle the line of your putt close to the hole, and feel the slope with your feet. It helps!
7. The 'don't do something stupid' putts
25 ft Tour Make %: 10%
How to get better: 10 handicaps three-putt putts from 25-to-30 feet 22 percent of the time. Yet, conversely, you'll also drop these occasionally. Regardless, this is the point where speed control becomes much more important than line. A common mistake is golfers being so afraid of decelerating through the ball that they overly accelerate through, which makes good distance control difficult.. Take a note from Cam Smith, and feel like you're dropping your putter head into the ball.
8. The 'focus on the next one' putts
33 ft Tour Make %: ~6%
How to get better: These putts are so long that they're starting to get complicated, so the task becomes simplifying them. A common piece of advice is to break putts into thirds. Treat them as three different 10 foot putts. What would the first one do? Then the second? Then the third? Chunk up your green reading, understand each piece, then putt the puzzle back together.
9. The 'definitely don't think about making it' putts
45 ft Tour Make %: ~3%
How to get better: Speed control isn't just important here, it's king. That's because from this range preventing three-putts should be your first, second, and third goal. As we explain in this video, on putts like these you'll be punished under-reading putts. So remember the golden rule: Go high, and soft. Your ball should be crawling by the time it gets to the hole.
10. The 'why are you over here' putts
60 ft Tour Make %: ~2%
How to get better: I'm not going to lie, I ran out of putting things to say at this point. But you're basically never going to make putts from this distance, and you'll three-putt them pretty often through no fault of your own. If you're putting from this far away, it's a ball striking issue. Work on your iron shots.
