Putting Drills to Lower Your Golf Score

Putting Drills

Developing putting drills that work is one of the fastest ways to lower your score. Many golfers lose a significant number of strokes once they get onto the green. By utilizing putting drills, you can learn to get the ball into the hole in fewer strokes.

Any seasoned golfer will tell you that the short game can be stroke-hungry, and that what happens on the green can wreak havoc on an otherwise good score. 3-putts, 4-putts, and even 5-putts are more common than you might think—but there is good news. Putting drills can dramatically help golfers hone their skills on the green, resulting in fewer total strokes.

When it comes to putting drills, spend time concentrating on the three essentials:

Keeping the face square

Maintaining a smooth swing

Achieving distance control

Keeping the Face Square:

If you are in the habit of hitting the ball with your blade open or closed, try this:

Place a ball on the practice green and put a tee in the ground about twelve inches behind the ball. Put a silver coin on the ground about six inches in front of the ball. Bring your putter back until it taps the tee and then swing it forward, watching to ensure that the face stays square as it passes over the coin.

Maintaining a Smooth Swing

Putting drills should have a specific purpose and specific goal. With this next tip, you can learn to swing the club smoothly, which is key to maintaining your tempo and striking the ball solidly.

Again, place a ball on the practice green and stick a tee into the ground about 12 inches behind the ball. Bring the club back until it just barely nicks the tee and then immediately go into your fore-swing.

Keep your arms moving in a pendulum fashion and keep your hands still.

Achieving distance control

One of the most crucial putting drills is learning distance control. The only way to master distance control is through your own touch or feel. Nothing else can replace hands-on practice time when it comes to honing your skills on the green.

There are dozens of practice exercises for distance control, but one of the best is to simply stake out five tees, four feet apart, with the last tee being 20 feet away. Then, concentrate on getting the ball to each of the tees consistently.

If the ball rolls a few inches past the tee, that’s fine. What you don’t want to see is the ball stopping short of or rolling well beyond the target tee.

Notice that you are not aiming at a flag or a cup with this exercise, as this could distract you and cause you to focus more on accuracy than distance. While it’s true that distance and accuracy must work together, there are times when they should not be learned together.

These are only a few of the many putting drills that are available from golf pros and golfing websites. To master your skill on the green, you will need to invest time and energy. Learn to read the green and how to lag a putt, but most of all, learn to love putting drills. They really do work.

Golf: Shooting in the 70’s

Article by Victor Aragon

I remember when I first attempted to play a round of golf, how frustrating it was and how much I disliked it. The only reason for my ill feelings were because I was very bad at it. I could not understand that, because I was very good in all other sports, like football, basketball and baseball. Why was I so bad at golf? So I decided to actually practice this sport and before long, I was getting better. I learned quickly that becoming frustrated when I hit a bad shot was a very big nono. So I then read a book and put these suggestions to practice.

7 Golf tips on how to improve your next round of golf!

1. PREPARE LIKE A PRO: Show up an hour before your tee time so you can check your golf equipment. Are your golf clubs, golf balls, golf shoes clean? STRETCH! Warm up, then check your golf swing mechanics. Hit the putting green,then head over to the Continue reading “Golf: Shooting in the 70’s”

Putting Drills – Lowers Your Golf Score

When it comes to putting drills, spend time concentrating on the three essentials:

Keeping the face square

Maintaining a smooth swing

Achieving distance control

Keeping the Face Square – putting drill:

If you are in the habit of hitting the ball with your blade open or closed, try this:

Maintaining a Smooth Swing

Putting drills should have a specific purpose and specific goal. With this next tip, you can learn to swing the club smoothly, which is key to maintaining your tempo and striking the ball solidly.

Keep your arms moving in a pendulum fashion and keep your hands still.

Achieving distance control – putting drill:

If the ball rolls a few inches past the tee, that’s fine. What you don’t want to see is the ball stopping short of or rolling well beyond the target tee.

For more tips on lowering your score read this post on how to learn to hit the golf ball straight.

Golf Short Game Tips – Chipping Practice Lowers Golf Scores

All golfers know the short game is important. Here are some great golf chipping tips to help you improve your short game.

Let’s begin with the disclaimer that there are many types of chips you can make when you get close to the green. In other words, there is no single approved method for getting the ball closer to the hole. The effectiveness of your chipping will depend on the lie you have, the length of the grass, how far you are from the hole, and the condition of the green.

Short Game Practice Drills for Chipping and Pitching:

This shot is played when you are close to green but not on it. Generally, you play it with either your nine-iron or any wedge you are comfortable using. The rule of thumb is that a good chip will fly about 1/3 of the way to the cup and then roll the rest of the way. This shot should be played in the center of your stance with your hands well ahead of the ball and the club face square.

As we proceed with our golf chipping tips, we’ll take a look at the soft shot. This type of shot allows the ball to fly farther and land softly close to (and hopefully rolling into) the cup. The most common club used for a soft chip shot is the lob wedge, but the sand wedge can also be used.

For the soft shot, you should address the ball with your club face open a bit. Play the ball forward and keep your hands behind it during the swing. It is imperative that you learn to accelerate the club head for this shot. When performed correctly, the ball will fly high for a short distance and then land softly and roll just a little.

When to hit a high chip shot or a low chip shot in your short game:

If there is a lot of green between you and the hole, you might try the low chip shot. This shot is normally done with a mid-iron, such as the six- or seven-iron. You must play the ball toward the back of your stance to get the descending type of impact you need. Again, keep your hands ahead of the club head and the club face square to the target.

This shot creates the most roll once the ball lands on the green, and is good to use when you can aim right at the hole but are worried about going too far past it. This can occur if a sand trap or water hazard is close to the rear side of the hole.

Above all, the best golf chipping tip you can get is to practice by regularly using all of your chip clubs, from mid-irons to wedges. Each requires its own setup and swing, and the only way to master all of these options is to get to the range and put them to work.

Start with the standard shot and move on to the soft shot, the two shots you will use the most on any given day. Once you have these mastered, move on to the low shot. This may take more time to learn than the others, but it is well worth the investment.

By putting these golf chipping tips to work for you, you can begin to master your short game and achieve a lower score, time after time. Be patient, and keep practicing.

Want to add yards to every golf shot, read this post.