Golf instruction is ever-evolving, but the best advice stands the test of time. In GOLF.com’s new series, Timeless Tips, we’re highlighting some of the greatest advice teachers and players have dispensed in the pages of GOLF Magazine. Today, we have a thought-provoking article from our August 1987 issue about how to define a “good” putt.
When it comes to teaching short game, Dave Pelz is the king. Over the course of his life, Pelz worked with numerous Tour pros and major champs, and (quite literally) wrote the Bible on short game.
GOLF Magazine was lucky enough to work with the legendary short-game coach, too, and in the late 80s he penned an article outlining what constitutes a “good” putt. Check it out below if you want to enhance your own putting — and to see if you agree with the original principles of the short-game king himself.
What’s a ‘good’ putt?
“Never up, never in.” An old saying, but still words to putt by. After years of working with pros and amateurs, I’ve determined that the key to sinking more putts is to charge the cup the way Arnold Palmer did in his prime. In fact, my studies show that the speed that gives a putt the greatest chance of dropping would send the ball approximately 17 inches past the cup if missed.
A good putt, therefore, has to be hit hard enough to have a chance of dropping. But just hitting the ball hard enough to get it hole-high doesn’t always qualify it as a good putt. In other words, you may not have stroked the ball firmly enough to give it the best chance of dropping because of the effect variables such as break, grain, spike marks, footprints and even wind have on roll.
The influence of outside variables became evident in a series of tests with Tour pros Ben Crenshaw, Peter Jacobsen, Tom Kite and Tom Purtzer.
Under perfect (what I call “pool table”) conditions, where the ground is flat and the surface smooth, these pros holed on average 99 percent of 3 footers, 85 percent of 6 footers and 70 percent of 10 footers. Under real conditions (an “average” putt subject to the variabilities of slope and surface irregularities), these Tour pros made on average 85 to 95 percent of 3 footers, 45 to 55 percent of 6 footers, and 15 to 30 percent of 10 footers. (The chart running down the side of the opposite page lists a more complete run-down of the pros’ “make” probability under “real” conditions.)
The players’ success rate shows large differences between perfect and real conditions, due to the unpredictability of the outside variables. Again, the best way to beat them is by stroking a putt hard enough to minimize their influence.
When was the last time you babied the ball, and it took too much break or was knocked off line by a spike mark? Or, faced with a three footer, have you ever ignored possible breaks and simply banged the ball into the back of the cup? You probably thought, “Even if I miss, the ball won’t finish too far past the hole.” That’s the attitude you should have on every putt.
Looking at the chart, notice that the pros’ percentage on putts of more than 10 feet is nothing spectacular. But their ability to can putts jumps for 10 feet and less; this is the range that separates the pros from the amateurs. Tour players usually putt on manicured greens in tiptop condition, where any outside variables are least likely to come into play. If the pros putt best on greens almost free of these variables, it makes sense for you to putt as if those variables didn’t exist, even if they do. And my studies prove that the way to do that is to hit the ball firmly to the cup.
Try worrying less about direction of your putts and more about pace. Trust your senses to align your body and putterhead on the target line and devote your attention to stroking the putt at the proper speed. Remember, the best way to override those variables on the green’s surface that are beyond your control is to roll the ball right through them. Hit a “good putt” by charging it to the cup and you’ll sink more of them.
