This ‘baseline’ putting drill will help you dial in your speed on the green

If dialing in your speed on the green tends to give you a problem, GOLF Teacher to Watch Dr. Alison Curdt has a simple solution.

In a video posted to the LPGA Professionals YouTube page, Curdt suggests establishing a “baseline” putting stroke — a stroke that is essentially the same length on the backswing as it is on follow-through.

“All too often, amateurs will tend to vary the length of their backswing and their forward swing, creating off-speed putts,” Curdt says. Creating a baseline putting stroke helps to eliminate this problem.

How long should your baseline stroke be? Curdt suggests measuring one putter-grip length on each side of the ball. Use tees to mark where the stroke should start, where it should end on the backswing, and where it should end on the follow-through.

The key here is to make a comfortable stroke with even tempo, trying to stay within the parameters you set with your tees. This comfortable putting stroke is now your baseline stroke.

Gear

Once you feel as though you can make a consistent, even-tempo stroke consistently, measure how far the ball goes. For Curdt, it’s approximately seven feet.

“I now know that if I’m on the golf course for this speed of green, if I take my putter back, one grip length, I’m gonna hit about a seven-foot putt,” Curdt says.

This is useful knowledge when you get on the course, because once you hone in on your baseline distance, you can adjust accordingly for putts that are longer and shorter. And if you happen to play a course with different green speeds or severe undulations, all you have to do is spend a few minutes on the practice green to establish the new baseline distance for your baseline stroke ahead of each round.

Give Curdt’s baseline putting drill a try, and let misjudged speed become a thing of the past.