Tried this for the first time the other day. Sunk my first 11 from 3 feet before missing. My thought process the whole time was "there's no way I'll make 25, I'm going to miss one of these" lol. The more I practice the sooner this mentality will go away though, which is kinda the point.

Then I started over and missed #7, then some dad came on the green with 3 kids under age 5 who were loud so I gave up and tried lag putting and seemed to do better at this. I think I made 12 in a row then my 13th I hit way too soft and it went maybe 12 feet lol. Kids were still running around the place so I gave up and went and hit balls.

I, too, was only missing my short putts to the left so I probably am using too strong of a right hand. Also I may need to hit the ball a bit harder and some of these left turns at the end might not have a chance of happening.

On a 3'-0" putt, how far past the hole should you aim for? 6"-12" ? I want to hit them firm enough.

Am playing 18 today in 90 minutes at one of the nicest public courses in the area. Super excited, will be playing with my 60 year old dad. I wish I wasn't a hack.

Yep, soon it will be - I can't believe I missed one!

Yeah, check the face, to make sure it's not closing too fast. Another good drill is to hit some putts from inside 2 feet without taking a backswing - if you're closing the face too fast you'll definitely see & feel it! Try to roll the ball into the hole keeping the face square. Don't go beyond 2 - 2 1/2 feet though.

Try to get it to hit the back of the cup & fall in on an uphill putt - on a downhill putt, try to roll it over the front edge - don't think about how far past - that means you're thinking about missing - not making it!

You're so lucky! I'd give anything in the world to play one more round w/my Dad. He died when I was in college, and never got to see me turn pro. I think about our rounds together everyday. I'd probably shoot 150 & take 6 1/2 hours to play just to make it last. Enjoy a great day w/your dad & I hope you play great!

played at ole miss.
First met Mike when he was at Tupelo CC, then Old Waverly.
Went over to visit him at Montgomery CC, and he showed me what he was doing with putting fitting. Haven't seen him in long time.
Great guy, and he helped me out many times when I was in H.S., college, and afterward.

I was afraid you were going to say Ole Miss - what years? I did time in Starkville '92-94. I teach a very talented girl who just committed to Ole Miss. I'm excited for her, but I joke that I won't wear the hat she gave me until she wins an AJGA or a college event - & then I'll only wear it for a very short time!

I'll tell Mike you said "Hello" - btw, what's your name?

Lan Gooch, class of '88

Nice - just missed you. I'm assuming you were there w/Chip Sullivan? I see him at some Taylormade events each year, and I know he was a Rebel around the same time.

Tried the 3 footers 2 more times and hit about 200 each time. Was making 22-23/25 but never was able to string 20+ together. I stepped way closer to the ball after reading that the ball placement should be under the left eye and I think it definitely helped with alignments for short putts. The lag putts weren't too bad for me since I was hitting from the same spot but the chippng was a whole different story

That's some great improvement in a short time! I believe you said you just picked up the game recently, so getting 22/25 putts will really help lower your score! Spend a little time on the chipping next time you practice, and if you need any advice/help with the technique, let me know! I can't wait to see your post with a new career low score soon!

Golf is cruel....

Went back for more punishment sat and picked up where I left off with the 45 foot lagtards...

MADE 4 out of the first 15 hahahahaha...Then bricked the 16th 10 feet short, but gave myself extra credit for the 4 makes and considered it completed. (cheater tho!).

Forgot the order so I went to the bunker...10/10 out no problem, but 6/10 inside flag stick wasnt happening...so I called it a day....

and the golf gods speak....it has been snowing all morning hahahahahah.

Hey, anyone you can recommend around Boston?

When you do these drills do you guys just goto the practice area of whatever your home course is and lock up a cup to yourself? I'd guess so but I'm dumb so I thought I'd ask.

Also, marking 3-feet, do you do it like Mickelson and use your putter shaft to measure, marking the spots with some tees? Is it cool to just stab tees into these practice greens?

Thanks, I can't wait to work on my short game like the pros and get super frustrated. I was also thinking of tailoring it to my noob-like skill by doing something like, make ten three-footers in a row, and do that 3 times. Rather than 25/25 or 20/25. This way I can still have that "make or break" moment at the end of each string.

I'm very interested in trying this, but the quoted post encapsulates the problem I have achieving anything away from the putting green. I have the exact same problems as prohornblower. Now of course I could just go onto the golf course and try this, but I doubt my fellow members are going to be too happy with me holding the whole place up nor will the ground staff be happy with me digging up the fairways or making loads of pitchmarks on the greens, lol

I'm in the same boat as you guys.. As a public golfer I am at the mercy of my nearest driving range and/or limited to the practice facilities at whatever courses I am playing.

The putting drills aren't an issue, almost everywhere I practice and play has a suitable putting green. However, working on 50/60/70 yard pitching was practically impossible for me. There is one driving range that I go to that has an amazing short-game area, but they charge an hourly rate for it. Most of the other courses I play at have a "no chipping/pitching" sign on their greens. I did find one of the high-end public courses up here with two greens that are for short-game practice only, but as a corporate golf facility it gets really busy and I have a hard enough time hitting greens from far out, never mind greens that have moving targets around them . There's nothing worse than driving 35 minutes to get there on a weeknight only to find out I don't have the room I want to practice.

My solution last year was to work my short-game practice into my weekend rounds, either before or after the round. I'd find out if the course I was playing at had a suitable short-game practice area and then I would either show up unreasonably early (sometimes as early as 2 hours before my round) and get in an entire putting, short-game and range practice or I would wait until the round was over to practice again. This sometimes had a negative effect as I would tire myself out before or during the round, however, my game got better than ever last year as I really worked hard on short-game.

Most courses or practice facilities won't have an issue with someone putting tees into the putting surface. The surface is designed to act like a sponge and the holes won't be noticeable after you take the tees out. If any of the staff at the facility make a fuss over it, let them know that you intend to repair the holes with a divot tool. However, just make sure you don't forget the tees as they could damage the ground if someone walked into one or a cutting machine rode over it.

I don't see why you would want/have to stick tees in the putting green. That seems totally unnecessary. I just laid my putter down and set a ball there, and had a bunch of balls next to it in a cluster (like 10) so I could just grab one and get at it. Once you hit enough of them it's easy to eyeball. It should also be 3 shoe lengths (though I wouldn't walk it off from the hole). Just eyeball it using your shoe as a 1'-0" marker.

Tees are great though, I use 8 of them to make a circle and then move around it for the putting, so I don't hit the same putt twice in a row. Also a standard 56* wedge is 3 feet long so that is a good way to measure