When you find yourself on the green a long distance away from the hole, it’s very easy to start worrying about 3-putting. Good confident long putting is a great skill to have and with the right strategy, technique and practice, you can become a master of long putts. We asked 18 leading LPGA and PGA Instructors for their favorite advice for golfers on long putting and 3-putt prevention.
Long Putting Advice from the Women’s Golf Instructors
As you stare directly at the hole from behind the ball, “FEEL THE DISTANCE WITH YOUR EYES” by rehearsing the length and speed of your stroke before setting up to roll the ball. Less time in your routine is better.
To avoid 3-putts use a pendulum-style stroke, keeping the hands and wrists relatively quiet. The arms, shoulders, and putter move back and forth as a single unit while the head and lower body stay still. Any extra wrist action can cause your path and putter face to deviate sending the ball offline.
Karen Palacios-Jansen
To eliminate 3-putts, work on distance control by practicing long putts while looking at the hole only, not the ball. It will connect your eyes, body, and brain to calculate the distance while you take a smooth, rhythmic stroke. Try to ensure that the golf ball ends up no more than 1-putter length away from the hole.
Tension causes us to make a hitting motion instead of a putting stroke. So if you want to be better at lag putting a great drill is to make putting strokes with your thumbs raised. By doing this it allows for you to feel the putter head swing creating a consistent motion.
Carlos Brown
Place your feet shoulder-width apart on the practice green and putt to no specific target making the width of your stroke be the width of your feet. Each ball should go the same distance. Walk off the putts, counting your steps. That will be your key for the day. (Feet shoulder width, balls rolls five steps). On the course, walk off each putt you have. If the putt is three steps, you will make a shorter stroke. If the putt is 8 steps, you will make a bigger stroke.
Let your eyes be your guide! For good distance control a great way to get the “feel”, is to take your practice stroke with your eyes focused on the hole. It is your eyes that allow you to gauge distance.
Pay attention to the speed of the greens, this is the most important factor when lag putting. Image a 3-foot circle around the hole and leave your ball within that circle, this will lead to fewer 3-putts and lower scores.
Jamie Engelkemier
Develop solid putting fundamentals including a stroke with one power source (eliminating unnecessary wrist and body motion). Practice speed drills because speed is the most important factor and determines the line. Learn how to read and start your putt on your intended line.
Jane Schafer
I recommend walking the full length of your putt paying attention to what your feet are telling you. Is it uphill or down? Is gravity pushing you right or left? What are the final 5 feet of your putt doing?
Julie Wells
Too much wrist movement is the main causes of most 3-putts. Put a tee in the end of your grip then observe it on a practice stroke. Minimize any excessive rocking for less wrist action and better distance control.
More times than not, you’ll three-putt if you think you will, so STOP THAT! The world will keep turning whether you make it or not, so take a deep breath and go for it! When I played on the Symetra Tour right out of college, I was so stressed over putting and one of the girls I played with during a practice round would say over and over, “the world will keep on turning” before every putt. When I am nervous over a putt, that’s what I say to myself.
Kathy Nyman
Stress-free two putting or better is all about distance control. Stroke size controls distance and changing the length of your backstroke should be the only adjustment you need to make. Smaller strokes are naturally slower and longer strokes are naturally faster. Knock it close and tap it in.
In the great words of Jack Nicklaus “In my mind, I never miss a putt”. confidence is everything and believing you will make every putt, is more than half the battle. Then it is ensuring your tempo never changes and getting your stroke length to match the distance of putt.
Lizzy Freemantle
You ARE going to have 2 putts or less!
A = Assess. If you dumped water where would it go?
R = Rehearse. Practice stroke length for distance.
E = Execute. You know what to do. Let it roll!
1. Keep your arms connected to your body.
2. Find a grip pressure that allows you to roll the putt, not hit at it!
3. Hold your finish until the ball stops rolling.
These essentials will create a consistent feel to allow you to make a repeatable and balanced putting stroke every time.
Try not to make the first putt! Practice the stroke by looking at the hole. When you feel the stroke is enough it is time to pull the trigger. Make the practice stroke the real feel.
Instead of preventing 3-putts, I suggest focusing on a 1 or 2-putt possibility. Science shows being externally aware during a golf shot is best, so tune in to the target’s presence and have 3 green lights ready when putting… mind, heart, and gut!
Nicole Weller
On long putts, allow some rear hand wrist action on the backstroke as this will help with feel and reduce three putts. Feel the length of the backstroke and through stroke to achieve the needed distance.
