We all know the saying, “drive for show and putt for dough,” and it is such an accurate phrase in my opinion. The reality is you can’t achieve your lowest rounds without putting well. On many occasions, I have hit close to every green in regulation but struggled to shoot under par due to my putter being cold.
In the past, when I sat back and evaluated my putting in general, there is one aspect that is vital if you are to hole putts—and that is achieving good pace. It wasn’t until I put all my focus on the pace of my putts that I started to hole more putts and three-putt a lot less.
When I looked at why I was struggling so much on the greens, I realised my pace was just inconsistent. I was either lagging the ball short of the hole or else racing it by. I really struggled to attack the hole with a constant pace.
Firstly, I was using quite a long and heavy putter that did a lot of the work for me. What I mean is the weight on my putter was so heavy that I had to just stroke the ball and it would easily get to the hole. I thought it was great until I played courses with faster greens, and my pace was just terrible. I also noticed all my short putts were ramming into the hole, which also makes the hole smaller—because any putt that caught the edge often didn’t go into the cup.
It wasn’t until I decided to go away from this heavy putter and move towards a lighter mallet with a softer medal that I got my pace and feel back. Now, a few weeks later with my new lighter putter, my pace has much improved—so now I can just focus on getting the ball started on the right line towards my target.
The other night I dropped four golf balls onto the putting green and chose to putt to four different flags. All were between 10ft to 45ft away from me, and I managed, with one glance, to leave all of the balls within 2ft of each flag I aimed at. This is a great drill to see if your putter’s weight and feel really do suit you. Dropping a ball on the green and taking one glance at the hole, then stroking the ball to the hole at random lengths, will very quickly show you how good your pace putting is with your current putter.
If you look at all the best putters over the years—including Tiger Woods at the pinnacle of his career—the pace the ball reached the hole with was consistent, regardless of how long a putt they were faced with. Another technique that also helps me achieve better pace is to always give my ball a hit. I take a longer backstroke and a very short follow-through. It feels like I give the ball a little pop at impact. In fact, sometimes I say “pop” in my head as I strike the ball with my putter. This also helps to take my attention away from my putting stroke, and the technique helps me accelerate through the ball at impact rather than decelerating.
One of the most important reasons to accelerate is to make sure your ball stays on your intended target line as it travels towards its target. Golfers who decelerate in their putting stroke will struggle to keep their ball tracking on the intended line—especially if the putt has a slope between the ball and the hole.
So, if you want to become a better putter, start to pay attention to the pace of your own putts. In practice, test yourself to see if your pace is consistent regardless of the length of the putt. If it is inconsistent, then it’s possible:
A. The weight of your putter does not suit you; it may be too heavy or it can also be too light.
B. Your putter grip size may be too small or possibly too large.
C. The putter’s face insert may not simply give you enough feel.
D. Your putting stroke might need to change to a longer backstroke and less of a follow-through.
Whatever the case, I urge you to just focus on the pace of your putts for a while. It is the fastest way for you to improve your putting, and if you do improve your pace, you will rarely—if ever—have three-putts again.
The biggest contributor to three-putting or worse is poor pace on the greens, and it’s the No.1 reason in my opinion why golfers are either good or bad around the greens with their putters. Just look at Rory McIlroy: when he holes putts, his pace is always great. It’s when his pace is poor that he really struggles to hole putts.
