An easy drill to start making more crucial putts

Few things are more frustrating than repeatedly rolling good putts that keep burning the edges of the hole and refuse to drop in. It’s a common theme for amateur and pro golfers, but there’s also a effective way to practice those pesky putts.

A good way to save strokes is by converting more from 5 to 10 feet, and making (or missing) a handful in one round can have a major impact on your score.

But before we get to a drill to drain more of these bad boys, remember that putting from this distance is not as easy as you think. In fact, the PGA Tour average on putts made from 5-10 feet this season is just 56 percent, and from 10 feet it’s 43 percent. That’s right, the best players in the world are only making roughly 4 of 10 from 10 feet. (Unless you are David Lipsky, who is somehow converting 81.82 percent from that range.)

Short Game

So how do you get better from that crucial distance? Make the hole smaller, says Mike Bury.

Bury runs the Mike Bury Golf school in the Dallas area and founded Eight Under Golf, and he was recently named one of GOLF’s 2021-22 Teachers to Watch. He was on site for this week’s GOLF Top 100 Teachers Summit at Talking Stick Resort and offered up his favorite drill to make more key putts.

“Holing more 10-footers is really about learning to use less of the hole,” he says. “Kind of like the sharp-shooter mentality.”

Bury says he takes two tees and puts them just in front of the hole and inside the edges, essentially eliminating the lips of the cup. This shrinks the hole and only allows putts rolled right down the middle to fall into the cup.

He’ll start this drill from about three feet, then move back to 5, 8 and 10 feet. The goal is try and make five in a row without hitting a tee.

“It’s a good drill to learn getting your ball started more on line,” Bury says. “As you extend that out 6 feet, 8 feet, 10 feet, when you learn to use less of the hole, you are going to make more putts from that range.”

You can follow Bury on Instagram here.

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Josh Berhow

Golf.com Editor

As GOLF.com’s managing editor, Berhow handles the day-to-day and long-term planning of one of the sport’s most-read news and service websites. He spends most of his days writing, editing, planning and wondering if he’ll ever break 80. Before joining GOLF.com in 2015, he worked at newspapers in Minnesota and Iowa. A graduate of Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minn., he resides in the Twin Cities with his wife and two kids. You can reach him at joshua_berhow@golf.com.

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