Use this old-school trick for perfect speed on quick downhill putts
Play putts off the toe of your putter to make sure you don't blow the ball past the hole.
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Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you become a smarter, better golfer.
Picture this: You’ve just hit a laser at the flagstick and your ball has settled 15 feet beyond the cup. It’s the best look at birdie you’ve had all day and you are amped. You stalk around the cup, get your read and settle in over the ball. You bring the putterhead back and through and wait with anticipation as the ball rolls toward the cup. It just burns the edge and rolls past the cup. Then it keeps rolling … and rolling … and rolling.
By the time it stops, it’s 10 feet past the hole and you’ve got a heck of a comebacker just to save par. What was once a great look at birdie quickly turns into a three-putt bogey. You walk off the green with steam coming out of your ears as you bemoan the mental error and missed opportunity.
If you’re anything like me, this is a familiar scene. When you get a good look at birdie, it’s natural to get excited and feel your adrenaline increase. But when this happens, it becomes very easy to get too juiced up and hit the ball with too much pace.
Luckily, there’s an old-school trick you can use to make sure you have perfect speed on those downhill birdie looks so you don’t turn a possible birdie into a frustrating bogey.
Hit downhill putts off the toe
When you’ve got a slippery downhill putt, it’s absolutely essential that you hit the ball with proper pace. Hit it too hard and the ball will quickly get away from you. Hit it too soft and you’re looking at another slippery downhill look.
Obviously in this situation it’s much more common to hit the ball too hard. To guard against this, take a page out of the old-school playbook and line up with the ball off-center on the putterhead.
“We’re going to set this ball up off the toe,” instructor Kelan McDonaugh told me at our GOLF Top 100 Teacher Summit last fall at Cabot Citrus Farms. “What that’s going to do is it’s gonna reduce the ball speed and the ball is gonna come out a little bit deader and with a slower roll off the [face.]”
Much like with a full shot, when you hit the ball off the toe — and away from the sweet spot — the ball speed will be slower. Normally, you wouldn’t want this, but when you’ve got a slippery putt that can easily get away from you, keeping the ball speed down can be quite helpful.
Next time you face a slippery downhill putt, keep this trick in mind. Not only will it help you three-putt with less frequency, but it’ll also give you a better chance of holing the putt with the correct speed.
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