Shocking Stats About Putting

I was digging through some boxes last week and came across a book on putting by Dave Pelz that I’ve owned for over 10 years but never read. Boy was that a big mistake. I opened this thing up and was shocked by some of the stats he recorded on putting. Dave was a great player in college but chose a career with Nasa as a physicist. He worked there for about 20 and then decided to leave and pursue his passion, golf.

He approached the skill of putting as a scientist would and what he found blew me away. It also changed my perspective and focus on the greens and I think it will have the same effect on you.

Here is the info that really changed my perspective. Dave built a contraption called the True Roller. The True Roller is basically two parallel metal rods that form a ramp. He then built a moveable clamp so he could consistently roll a golf ball on a green with the exact same speed and line every time. He took the True Roller to various courses, set it up and started recording data. Check this out. He rolled 100 putts from 12 feet on each of the 18 greens at 3 different courses and here is what he found.

 Course #1: Inexpensive country club – greens were slightly better than the average public course.
          48% of the putts go in!
 Course #2: Higher end counry club – greens were considerably better than average public courses.
          54% of the putts go in!
 Course #3: Exclusive country club – this course had held a US Open so the greens were near perfect.
          82% of the putts go in!

Guess where I play most of the time? Public courses, where only 48% of the putts go in from only 12 feet. This news was huge to my game. If I step up and hit a perfect putt on the perfect line, I have less than a 50% chance of making the putt. This is not to discourage any one, this is to help your perspective and here is how it applies. I realized I can’t practice like I used to. I would go to the putting green, hit a putt, watch the result and make assumptions about the stroke I just made. I was adjusting my putting stroke based on false information. Are you tracking here? Just because a putt misses to the left doesn’t necessarily mean I pulled it. Bumpy greens can move a ball any which way. The better way to practice is with a device that gives accurate feedback on the stroke. I started working just last week with alignment rods on the practice green. I set 2 of them down parallel to each other and hit putts in between them. This allows my eyes to see how the putter is tracking. And most of the time I’m not even putting towards a hole. The only goal now is to develop the best putting stroke possible.

Results are out of our control and that thought can set you free on the course. I tried this new technique two days ago and putted better than I have in the last few years. I simply picked the line I thought was correct, set up to the putt and made the best stroke I could. It moved my focus from results to process. If I make a good putt, it has a better chance of going in. My job is to hit the best putt I can.

For more information, read “Putt Like the Pros” by Dave Pelz. The book is awesome!

Thanks for stopping by today. Check back soon.

Mike Snyder

Twitter: @Mike_Snyder