How To Improve Your Distance Control On The Putting Green

Golf Monthly

In this video, PGA Professional Katie Dawkins explains how to improve your distance control on the greens.

Transcript

00:00 (golf club snaps)

00:02 Hi, I'm Katie Dawkins.

00:05 I am an advanced PGA professional,

00:07 and I'm here today at West Hill Golf Club

00:10 on the beautiful greens that they have here

00:12 to help you work out how to better judge distance

00:15 on the green.

00:16 So how do I get this ball close to that hole?

00:19 If you could guarantee that you never took any more

00:22 than two putts on every single green,

00:24 my goodness, how many shots would you save every round?

00:27 I would say a lot of golfers are creeping into

00:30 that double figures mark.

00:31 So if putting's gonna save you lots of shots,

00:34 and especially getting that first putt close,

00:37 then why is it that people turn up for lessons

00:38 and want to go on the range?

00:40 Everyone needs to put a little bit more time

00:42 into working on their putting game.

00:44 Here are a couple of tips just to help you

00:46 with that judging of distance on the greens.

00:48 So how do I get a ball from about here

00:50 on the edge of the green to there?

00:52 One of the easiest ways to get a feel

00:54 for how much stroke to give it

00:56 would be to roll it there.

00:57 So if I am gonna roll a ball to that flag,

01:00 say it was for a million pounds prize money,

01:03 I'm not gonna stand here and give it a thumb

01:05 like this with my arm.

01:06 I'm not gonna give it quite a jerky sort of shot.

01:09 Yet this is how some people putt.

01:11 Some people will stand here and smack the ball

01:15 to get it close to the hole.

01:16 It's very hard to know how much hit to give it.

01:19 You're better off taking the hit out

01:21 and working on different length strokes

01:23 for different length putts.

01:25 A really great way, especially if you have

01:27 a demon hole on the course that really bugs you,

01:29 perhaps you three or four putted,

01:31 heaven forbid, the last time you played it,

01:33 but a really good way is to stand on that green

01:36 out on the course when no one else is around,

01:38 roll a few balls to that hole

01:40 from different spots on the green.

01:42 (gentle music)

01:44 What you'll find from that is you start

01:53 to get a bit of an idea of how much swing

01:55 with the arm to give it, then drop a ball down there

01:58 and have a putt from that same spot.

02:01 What that's gonna do is it's gonna start

02:02 to give you a nice amount of feel

02:05 for how much stroke you need

02:07 for that particular length putt.

02:09 It'll also give you a feel for how the upslopes

02:11 and the downslopes and how the conditions

02:13 are gonna affect you that day.

02:16 If you were going to play a different course

02:18 and you were on the putting green, for example,

02:20 a really good drill will be to stand there

02:23 and have in your head, almost like a metronome,

02:25 a rhythm, a one, two, a tick, tock.

02:28 So if you're standing over the shot,

02:30 it's tick, tock, tick, tock.

02:34 If it's a little putt, it's little tick, tock,

02:37 and if it's a big putt, it's a bigger tick, tock.

02:40 But the rhythm stays the same.

02:42 That way you're working on length of stroke

02:44 to determine the distance your ball goes.

02:47 As with when I roll a ball with my arm,

02:49 there's always a little bit more follow through

02:51 than there is backswing.

02:53 So bear that in mind.

02:55 It's a smooth acceleration, and give it a go.

02:58 So this is a part of the game

02:59 that players just don't practise enough.

03:00 So all you need to do is go out

03:02 and work out how you control distance.

03:05 There's no textbook way of doing this.

03:07 It's just down to practise and putting some time in.

03:10 You put some work in on the greens,

03:12 and your game will thank you for it.

03:13 (upbeat music)

03:16 (upbeat music)

03:19 (gentle music)

03:21 ♪ Ooh ♪

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