The Mystery Of Putting

I watched a video about the mystery of putting the other day. In this presentation, the golf guy listed all the stats regarding how often amateurs and pros make putts over various distances. I have heard this before and the figures are reassuring to some degree, in that we all miss a lot of putts. Golf professionals on the tour are only sinking 66% of putts over 2 metres. On longer putts the percentage of made putts gets smaller. Amateurs are much worse, obviously. Putting, as many golfers know, is probably the most frustrating element of the game. That and looking for your golf ball are aggravating aspects of playing golf.

“According to research by Mark Broadie, a professor at Columbia University who is responsible for the ‘strokes gained” concept, on average PGA TOUR pros make 99% of 2-foot putts, 96% of 3-foot putts, 88% of 4-foot putts and 77% of 5-foot putts.

 From 10 feet, the pros’ one-putt percentage is 40%, 23% from 15 feet, 15% from 20 feet, 7% from 30 feet, 4% from 40 feet, 3% from 50 feet and 2% from 60 feet. Also, according to Broadie, putting from inside 10 feet is very different than putting from 10 feet. The PGA TOUR average is 88% inside 10 feet, and just 40% from 10 feet. Only in one of 10 rounds do tour pros hole 100 percent of their putts from inside 10 feet.”

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Making Putts Amid The Many Footprints On The Green

Anyway, this chap in the video went on to list statistics about how footprints from other golfers playing the green before you impact your ability to make putts. I had not really given this a lot of credence in the past. I do remember playing in a comp with a good A grade golfer who pulled me up for stepping on his line and proceeded to inform me that it takes some 15 minutes for the grass to recover from that golf shoe imprint. It was early on in my golfing career and I thought ‘wow this guy is seriously anal’. The upshot of the golf guy video spiel was that players in the afternoon get the rough end of the stick when it comes to masses of footprints negatively impacting their ability to sink putts. This, according to him, is why PGA players rotate morning and afternoon starts over the first 2 days of a tournament. Around the hole the traffic is worse because all players have to putt out to complete the hole.

That 1 metre circle around the hole we aim for is described by some as the lumpy doughnut.

Missing Short Putts No Mystery

So, yes, you can now feel better about all those short putts you miss. The mystery of putting is full of stuff most casual golfers rarely think about. This putting guy went on to share that golf balls are not perfectly spherical, especially the cheaper ones that many folk buy. Shelling out $7 per ball for a Pro V1 is not for everyone.  The truth about putting is that the greens are lumpy and the balls are not perfectly weighted to roll without bias.

So, we can all stop flagellating ourselves over missing putts. It is not always down to our own putting stroke and green reading failings.

Golf Instructors On YouTube

Putting coaches and golf instructors have a vested interest in only giving you half of the story when it comes to making and missing putts. This is because they are selling the fix. Yes, we can all become better green readers and better strokers of putts. Spending time practicing these skills is a very good idea. Beating yourself up over every putt you miss is, however, a dumb idea. You cannot control every element within the game of golf, if you could it would be a boring game. There is an element of chance within every putt due to a combination of inputs. Do your best and bring your A game as often as you can.

Timing Is Everything

Golf is not a game of perfect, to quote the title of a famous golf mental game book. Rather, scoring is about grinding a round out and getting over disappointments and bad breaks. The mystery of putting is a big part of that because it comes at the end of every hole and that means no opportunity to mitigate its effects.

Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer.

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