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If You Want to Become a Great Putter, STOP Doing This

Plus, in Trivia: The longest putt ever holed on Tour!

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Wild Golf
March 21, 2025

Happy Friday! Putting practice can sometimes be a drag, we get it. Throwing down a few balls and hitting putt after putt, hoping that your stroke will improve by the time you get out on the course can be… BORING. Unfortunately, this routine just doesn’t cut it.  If you want to improve ASAP, you need to focus exclusively on 2 areas: distance control and consistency within 5 feet.

Let’s jump in and figure out why!

STOP Practicing 15-Footers
Based on the stats, this length of putt is simply a waste of time

Spending a 30 minutes trying to hole a bunch of mid-range putts is not only maddening, but it’s not helping your putting, and it largely boils down to statistics. On the PGA Tour, the make rate from 15-20 feet is 19% - meaning the guys on TV are only making less than 1 in every 5 putts from this range!  Why in the world would you spend your time practicing there when you are expected to miss the vast majority of the time?!!

Don’t be that guy hitting 15 footer after 15 footer on the practice green, only to storm off in a fit of rage! Here’s a breakdown of the make rate based on overall ability. Notice anything? Obviously as the distance increases, the make rate decreases, but let’s identify two areas of this chart that you should be practicing more than anywhere else for improvement - short putts and long putts.

Putting Distances You SHOULD Practice Instead
You’ll feel much better about putting after this, we promise

Instead of banging your head against the wall trying to make a ton of mid-range putts, bring it in closer and work on putts inside of 5 feet. On the PGA Tour, the make rate from inside 5 feet is more than 96%!

If you can become above average from close range (note, we said “above average,” not even “elite” in this example), you’ll not only see your scores start to drop, you’ll walk through the rest of the round with infinitely more confidence. There’s nothing better than walking to the next tee after you’ve holed your third straight knee-knocker from 5 feet to dash your competitor’s hopes.

And if you don’t believe us, even the greats practice from inside 5 feet. Here’s Tiger… be like Tiger!

Another area where you must be working on consistently is your lag putting. All of us will have multiple long putts per round, so the importance of controlling your pace and getting it close to the hole is massive to avoid 3-putts. On the PGA Tour, the rate at which a player 3-putts from outside of 25 feet is less than 3% - so basically never!

Taking it a step further, here’s a video from Fredrik Lindblom which shows exactly how you should be approaching your lag putts.

Let’s face it - we all need putting practice. Nothing is more frustrating than hitting the ball well all day only to miss everything on the greens. So get out there and focus your putting practice on A. short putts inside 5 feet and B. lag putts of 25+ feet and you’ll be set up for success this season! 

PRO TIP: If you’re looking for a go-to warmup before your round, try this- First, make ten 5-footers in a row, and then try to 2-putt from 35+ feet from the hole five times in a row across a variety of breaks and angles. Do this and you’ll be dialed in ahead of your round!

TODAY’S TRIVIA
Answer to Win a Rypstick Speed Training & Radar Package
(1 winner chosen on 3/31/25 across all February trivia entries, 1,000 correct respondents minimum)

How long was the longest putt ever made on the PGA Tour?

Hint: It was an eagle putt made by Craig Barlow in the 2008 Buick Open!

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

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