This challenging drill will quickly make you a better putter

Welcome to Shaving Strokes, a GOLF.com series where the game’s brightest minds share their tips to help you, well, shave strokes! Today, GOLF Top 100 Teacher Trent Wearner explains a challenging putting game for your practice on the greens.

Practice can get a little monotonous at times, so it’s important you keep things interesting to stay engaged. One of the best ways to do this is by incorporating games into your practice routine.

If you’re looking for a great game to play on the putting green, you’re in luck. Below, Top 100 Teacher Trent Wearner shared a great game you can use to dial in your stoke under pressure. Check it out.

‘Drawback’ putting game

If you have to play just one putting game during your practice, this is it. One of the most common things all golf coaches hear their students complain about is that they can’t take their game to the course. I wrote a book on this subject containing competitive practice games years ago. This game, which I call “Drawback” is the best putting game I have ever seen—plus you can play it by yourself or against any number of friends. 

The setup and rules for the game are as follows:

—Select nine holes to putt to on the practice green. You can use two tees if there aren’t enough cups
—The distance of your first putt must be 25-40 feet
—Hit your first putt, and if it isn’t holed, pull it back from the hole one putter length

For instance, let’s pretend the first hole is a 20-foot put.  You roll your first putt only to have it miss by about two feet to the right of the hole. Instead of putting out from two feet, you must draw it back in line with the hole one putter length (which is nearly an additional three feet) making your second putt turn into a five-foot putt.

If you make the five-footer, you score a two on the hole. If you fail to make it, you draw it back another putter length from where it stops. Continue to draw it back after any missed putt until it is holed. 

As you can imagine, this is a challenging game — but it comes with some great benefits, including:

1. Mindset: Your mindset changes on the first putt of each hole from simply trying to lag it close to trying to make it.  Keep in mind, trying to make a putt from 20 to 45 feet doesn’t mean rolling it past the hole three or four feet. Instead, it means trying to get the ball to just drop over the edge so that if you miss, it might be only one foot past the hole. Trying to make every putt you hit, regardless of length, is a champion’s mindset.

2. Pressure: It’s inevitable that you won’t make very many putts from 20 to 45 feet, which means you’re going to have lots of pressure-packed short putts.  You’ll be grinding on a lot of three-to-six footers, and that’s a great thing to practice. After all, how do you think you’ll do under pressure on the course, if you never put yourself under pressure in practice?

3. Take it to the course: When you’re drawing every missed putt back in practice, it’ll make those lag putts feel even easier to two-putt during your round. When you don’t have to draw back every miss, it’ll make normal lags feel like a breeze.

While it’s likely you’ll three-putt (and maybe even four-putt at times), the benefits you get from playing this game will help you take your game to the course with more success. Just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean it’s bad for you. As a matter of fact, it’s the opposite. You must make practice as difficult, or even more challenging, than what you experience on the course. Drawback is perfect for that.