tour average from 15 feet

What Percentage Of 10ft Putts Do PGA Tour Pros Make? Clue: It's Not As Many As You Think

Many amateur golfers would fancy their chances over a putt from 10ft, but how many do the pros make on the PGA Tour? We dig into the data to find out...

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For anyone who watches the PGA Tour , it may look slightly perplexing how many putts are missed from the 10ft range. Clearly, we aren't able to see the complex nuances of the greens or feel the pressure these players are under, but it does make you wonder... what percentage of 10ft putts do PGA Tour pros make? We analysed the data and were surprised with the findings.

What percentage of 10ft putts do PGA Tour pros make?

Fortunately, the PGA Tour website has a dedicated stats section dedicated to this very metric. Throughout the 2022/2023 season, the average was around 41% - with 91 players falling short of that mark.

One of the more notable names on the list is current World No.1 Scottie Scheffler , who ranked 190th out of 193 players for putting from 10ft. Interestingly, Scheffler made just 25% of his putts, outranking only the performance of Michael Gligic, Doc Redman and Sung Kang that season.

To further amplify the enormity of that stat, the latest Arcoss data revealed that the average tour pro makes 22% of putts from 10-14ft and a 20-handicapper makes 18% from the same distance. While it is difficult to compare the standard and difficulty of the greens, and the magnitude of the measured events, this stat further highlights how challenging this area of the game is for players of all abilities.

Still, with players like Collin Morikawa (31.43%) and Sam Burns (33.3%) making a third or less of all putts from 10ft last season, it clearly isn't just the former Masters champion who struggled from this range. In total, 101 players made the cut to post above average putting numbers from this distance, with only 29 achieving better than 50%.

At the other end of the stats table, 2023 US Ryder Cup Captain Zach Johnson led the way after making a staggering 69% of his putts. The top of the list is a who's-who of putting brilliance, with the likes of Denny McCarthy, Rickie Fowler , Webb Simpson and Patrick Cantlay securing their place in the top-5 for this measure.

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Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories. 

He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game. 

Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course. 

Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.

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• Instruction and Playing Tips

PGA Tour Putts Gained/Make Percentage Stats

By iacas , July 24, 2011 in Instruction and Playing Tips

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twilliams16

is this for pga players?

Originally Posted by twilliams16 is this for pga players?

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• 5 years later...

Have these numbers been updated for 2016?

From the land of perpetual cloudiness.   I'm Denny

They were updated last year. 8 feet is the 50% point.

Maybe someone can find a good chart. If not I'll try to remember to add it tomorrow.

http://www.pgatour.com/news/2016/05/31/strokes-gained-defined.html

• 1 year later...

I played with someone over the weekend that told me he needed to improve his 10 footers. He said he's not expecting to be PGA Tour level, but he wants to be closer to 50% because right now he's more like 40% and he needs to be better if he wants to make more birdies.

I asked him what he thought the make % from 10' is on tour and he said 70%. He didn't believe me when I told him tour players average 50% from 8'.

This guy is going to spend extra time working on his putting when his putting isn't the skill that's holding him back, all because of misinformation. And no, I don't believe he's 40% from 10', but that's not really the point. He's not going to get a good return on that investment.

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” - Confucius

My Swing Thread

22 minutes ago, billchao said: I asked him what he thought the make % from 10' is on tour and he said 70%. He didn't believe me when I told him tour players average 50% from 8'.

I asked my uncle once, "At what distance do you think PGA Tour players make or miss 50% of their putts?". He said, 15 FT or so. I told him it was 8-9'.

Matt Dougherty, P.E.  fasdfa dfdsaf 

I told the same thing to 20´s hadicapers at my club when they get really ungry after they miss a 10 footer.

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What Percentage of Putts Do Pros Make? TV Does Not Tell the Story

Written by Graeme Hay | Last Updated: 12/03/2024

Watch the TV coverage of the PGA Tour for any length of time and you would be forgiven for thinking that the top pros hardly ever miss a putt.

Player after player seems to be rolling the ball in from any distance you care to think of and certainly rarely if ever appears to miss the short putts which cause us regular amateurs countless sleepless nights.

But what is the reality when it comes to the percentages of putts that the pros make?

On average PGA Tour pros make 99% of 2-foot putts, 96% of 3-foot putts, 88% of 4-foot putts and 77% of 5-foot putts according to strokes gained pioneer, Mark Broadie. From 10 feet their one putt percentage is 40%, 23% from 15 feet, 15% from 20 feet, 7% from 30 feet, 4% from 40 feet, 3% from 50 feet and 2% from 60 feet.

But hang on a second I hear some of you say, and especially those of you who sometimes keep an eye on the putting statistics on the PGA Tour website.

PGA Tour stats show pros make almost 100% of putts from inside 3 feet.

Well that stat is also true but that’s the per cent of putts they make when the ball is 3 feet or less from the hole. So it includes all the tap ins from right next to the hole in addition to those which are exactly 3 feet away.

To get a better view of how good the pros are at putting from various distances it is a much better idea to see how they get on from specific distances and if you look closely you will find that although they are indeed great putters amateurs by comparison are not that bad at putting themselves.

Putting from inside 10 feet is very different than putting from 10 feet. The PGA Tour average is 88% inside 10 feet, and just 40% from 10 feet. In 1 of 10 rounds tour pros hole 100 percent of their putts from inside 10 feet. https://t.co/qUgY9oOt1a — Mark Broadie (@MarkBroadie) May 1, 2018

Pros Do Not Make As Many Putts As You May Think

The best golf pros in the world playing on the PGA Tour are great putters. There is no question about it.

But if you watch too much golf on TV you may think that they almost never miss a short putt and are regularly rolling in long putts from all over the green.

And as a result you could find yourself expecting to hole most of the 15-foot putts you face on your regular rounds and for certain all of your putts from 10 feet and under because that is what the pros seem to be doing every week.

A closer analysis of the stats of the percentage of putts the pros make from 2 feet all the way to 90 feet, shown in the table below, however will show that they do not hole quite as many as you may think they do.

This data, taken from the official PGA Tour stats and the book ‘Every Shot Counts’ (Amazon link) – written by the pioneer of the ‘strokes gained’ metrics first adopted by the PGA Tour in 2011, Columbia Business School Professor Mark Broadie – highlights clearly the pros do not one putt as often as TV coverage may suggest.

And if you look at a standard 72-hole PGA Tour tournament as a whole you will find that on average pros make only 4.4 putts from over 10 feet and 1.2 putts from over 20 feet per event .

So despite what impression the TV highlights give you that means the best players in the world are only in reality making 1 putt from over 10 feet a round and only 1 putt from 20 feet across the 72 holes of a complete tournament.

So the next time you start giving yourself a hard time for missing that third or fourth 10 to 15 foot putt just remember that the pros would likely have missed them too more often than not.

My buddy: ▶️"Man I had a bunch of 15 footers today that I should have made." Me: ▶️"PGA Tour pros average one made putt per round from 13'3" or longer." #ManageYourExpectations — Lou Stagner (Golf Stat Pro) (@LouStagner) December 18, 2021

[Editor’s note – If you are interested in what putting stats and others are really important to help you improve we would highly recommend the book ‘Every Shot Counts‘ (Amazon link) by Professor Mark Broadie.  Check out the review of it here .]

Pros Are Great Putters but Amateurs are Good Too

While all the data shows that the pros do not make as many putts as you may think they are clearly fantastic putters and the best putters in the world.

However traditional golf stats have often proved misleading in explaining why the pros are so much better than regular amateur players.

The old adage of “you drive for show but putt for dough” has been drummed into generations of amateur golfers and allowed the impression to build that it is the short game – chipping and putting – which explains the difference in capability between players.

The reality however – exposed by Professor Broadie and others – is that it is the long game that is more important and that simple fact is almost explained by itself when you look at how many putts the pros average compared to amateurs.

On average PGA Tour pros take 28.92 putts per round according to the official Shotlink data. By comparison typical 90 scoring golfers average 33.4 putts per round but this overstates the skill difference according to strokes gained pioneer, Mark Broadie, because amateur putts typically start further from the hole than pros.

And when you think also that pros are playing on the best putting surfaces in the world it again serves to highlight that putting is not the key thing that explains the mountainous gap in ability between pros and amateur golfers.

After all looking at the average putting stats per round shows it only explains less than 5 strokes of difference between a pros average score and an average 90 scoring golfer and I can’t imagine many regular amateurs accepting close to only 5 strokes for a matchplay game against a PGA Tour pro!

“A 90-golfer will beat a pro in almost 10% of rounds. An 80-golfer’s SGP (Strokes Gained Putting) will beat a pro’s almost 20% of the time. And a scratch golfer will putt better than a pro more than 30% of the time. Amateur golfers aren’t bad putters!” Mark Broadie, Columbia Business School professor and pioneer of the ‘strokes gained’ metrics adopted by the PGA Tour

In his fantastic book, Every Shot Counts, Professor Broadie again details the comparative percentages of how many putts the average 90 golfer makes to let us clearly see amateurs are actually not that bad when it comes to putting even when compared to the pros.

Focus on the Number of 3 Putts Pros Make

When it comes to explaining the difference between the putting of the best putters in the world on the PGA Tour and that of us regular golfers it is best not to focus on the number of putts the pros make but rather on the number of putting mistakes they do not make.

And when we are talking about putting mistakes we are focusing exclusively on the dreaded 3-putt!

Whether you are a professional golfer or a weekend hacker 3-putts are scorecard killers and it is when we come to counting how often pros 3 putt compared to amateurs that we see where the real difference lies.

PGA Tour pros 3-putt only 0.51 times per round according to PGA Tour Shotlink stats. From 5 feet their 3-putt percentage is 0.4%, 0.7% from 10 feet, 1.3% from 15 feet and 2.2% from 20 feet. On longer putts of 30 feet that rises to 5%, 10% from 40 feet, 17% from 50 feet, 23% from 60 feet and 41% from 90 feet.

And the key difference when it comes to comparing the putting of the pros to the average 90 scoring golfer is almost lost when you look at the basic data.

For example if you take a quick look at the average number of putts per hole comparison between a PGA Tour player and an average 90-scoring golfer in the graph below there does not appear to be a lot in it from all distances.

That is true but the crucial thing to look at is when those lines start going over the vital regulation ‘2 putts per hole’ mark on average.

For the 90-scoring amateur the dreaded 3-putts start to happen more often to drive that average up over the regulation at just over 16 feet from the hole while for the PGA Tour pros the average 2-putt range is 35 feet.

Given the PGA Tour pros don’t start ending up further than 35 feet from the hole on average until their approach shots are measuring over 200 yards that just shows how often they will manage to avoid adding those highly damaging 3-putts to their scorecards.

So rather than focusing on the question of how many putts the pros make it is probably better for all recreational golfers to focus on the stat of how often pros 3-putt as it by trying to match them in the latter statistic that will most quickly make a difference in your scores.

Because even for the pros 3-putt avoidance is key compared to one putt success.

Three-wiggles are bad for business. pic.twitter.com/Mjxt9Z2ef6 — Lou Stagner (Golf Stat Pro) (@LouStagner) November 30, 2021

Final Thought

If you are looking to improve your golf, and looking at the stats of the pros for some guidance, it is absolutely vital that you are clear where pros’ gains are coming from and which parts of your game may benefit from you looking more closely at them.

And when it comes to putting if you only do one thing simply stop counting the number of putts you take per round and start counting the number of times you 3-putt instead.

For the average golfer reducing the number of times they three-putt is the quickest way to take strokes off their score and the best way to do that is to reduce the length of your second putt from those all important mid-range distances of 11 to 30 feet.

Speed control is one of the two fundamentals of putting and it is key to helping you to get the ball closer to the hole with that first putt and avoid those damaging 3 putts.

[Editor’s note – If you are interested in finding out the other best golf stats to measure to help you improve your game check our article the 10 best stats to keep track of here .]

[Note – Just so you know, and we are upfront as an affiliate program participant, Golfing Focus, at no cost to you, earns from qualifying purchases made through links on this page.]

Other top articles related to this post:

• What Putters do the Pros Use? Top 100 PGA Tour Player Guide
• How Often Do Pros Hit Driver? Not As Much As You Think!
• Is a Putter Fitting Worth it? It Removes a Variable or Three
• Good Putting Numbers – It’s About 3 Putts Not Putts per Round
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• What Is the Best Practice Putting Mat? An Owner of 7 Reviews
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Are the PGA Tour Putting Statistics Misleading

• 2018: Dustin Johnson and Phil Michelson, both with an average of 1.699 putts per green in regulation (GIR).
• 2019: Jordan Spieth, with an average of 1.694 putts per GIR.
• 2020: Webb Simpson, with an average of 1.691 putts per GIR.
• 2021: Cam Smith, with an average of 1.689 putts per GIR.
• 2022: Cam Smith, with an average of 1.679 putts per GIR.
• 2023: Christiaan Bezuidenhout, averaging 1.63 putts per GIR.

PGA Tour Putting Stats

Key Factors Affecting PGA Tour Putting Stats

• Green speed
• Weather conditions
• Putting surface (e.g., Bermuda grass, bentgrass, etc.)
• Putting technique
• Mental focus and confidence
• Number of holes played
• Approach distance

The Strange Case of Left-to-Right Putts

Putt Average

Pga tour putting stats by distance, pga tour putting stats from 10 feet, pga putting stats 2023, stroked gained putting pga tour, pga tour putting stats per round.

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Putting Statistics You Need To Know

Introduction.

If you have played golf for a decent amount of time you will have probably heard the saying “drive for show and putt for dough”. Despite this most amateurs tend to be obsessed with the latest drivers in an attempt to hit the ball further rather than working on a part of the game that could probably bring them greater dividends probably with less effort.

TV coverage does little to help since you tend to see players near the top of the leaderboard all the time who are therefore hitting the ball well and also holing lots of putts.

If you dig a little into the statistics you quickly find that the pros aren’t as good as you imagine. While you probably don’t have the time or the talents to reach their standards, understanding what can be achieved is a great way to start.

Putts Per Round

For many years this was the standard statistic used on tour to measure your putting performance. It’s also a very simple one for amateur players to work out as you merely need to add up all the putts you take in a round of golf. You should note that on the tour this statistic only counts putts actually on the green so if you used your putter as a Texas wedge it wouldn’t be included in the figures.

On a personal note when I used to look at this area of my performance I did tend to include putts from just off the green but obviously, that’s a decision you need to make yourself.

For the 2021 season, Cameron Smith topped the PGA Tour starts with 27.76 putts per round. The average for the season across all tour players was 29.01. Only Michael Gellerman failed to break 30 putts per round for the season. Over on the LPGA, the ladies are losing almost a stroke per round with the leader, Inbee Park taking 28.71 putts and the tour average being 30.24.

Unfortunately, the European Tour doesn’t seem to provide many useful stats anymore. So I am unable to compare the two biggest tours.

For a typical amateur, 28 putts per round sounds completely unachievable. However, don’t forget that even tour pros only hit around 60-70% of greens in regulation so they will have quite a few opportunities to chip and single putt for par. If you are able to avoid 3-putting then you should almost certainly be able to get your average down to 33 to 34. If you are able to improve your chipping, pitching and iron play then you could shave even more shots from that figure.

You do need to have realistic expectations though. If the best players in the world spend hours every day working on their game then you can’t be expected to match that performance and you shouldn’t get down on yourself when you don’t hole a putt.

The reason why other parts of your game will greatly affect your putts per round statistics is simply the fact that outside of 8 feet or so even the best putters in the world don’t hole that high a percentage.

Some years ago Dave Pelz studied PGA Tour players and came up with this concept of the “golden eight”. He found that there was a marked drop off in the percentage of putts holed once the distance got beyond the eight-foot mark. This is why it’s important to improve your chipping, pitching and iron play so you can get the ball close enough to the hole to give you a good chance of single putting as often as possible. Combine that with minimizing your number of three-putts and all of a sudden you can have very impressive putts per round statistics.

The putts per round statistic is actually not that great a way of measuring your performance. The more greens you tend to miss the lower your putts per round would tend to be. A better measure would be putts per green in regulation.

Putts Per GIR

Interestingly Cameron Smith also led this metric for 2021 with 1.689 putts per green in regulation. It makes a little more sense to use this rather than putts per round as you are eliminating the holes where you’ve missed the green and might get up and down with a single putt.

Another way of measuring performance that TV commentators have used increasingly is “footage holed”.

Footage Holed

This is merely a sum of the total amount of feet of putts someone has holed during their round. The bigger the number then the better they have done compared with everyone else. It’s a very simple concept to get your head around and therefore works very well on TV broadcasts.

A much better method of measuring the relative performance of professionals, at any rate, is strokes gained putting.

Strokes Gained Putting

When the PGA Tour introduced shot link a whole slew of new statistics became available compared with previous years. Strokes gained putting is a statistic that tries to quantify how well a particular player has done relative to the rest of the field. This is much more complicated than simply working out an average or total number of putts and is easiest where you have data like shot link available e.g. on the PGA Tour.

There is a website where you can enter details of your putting performance and it will calculate your strokes gained figure if you are prepared to record the length and number of putts you take. You might have to content yourself with using putts per round, putts per green in regulation and three-putts per round though.

Putts From 4 Feet

Even the top players on the PGA Tour manage to miss occasionally in the 3 to 4-foot range. Sam Burns topped the statistic with only one putt missed through the season. The tour average was 92.09% so that means every hundred times they were missing eight!

The lowest-ranked player on this stat was Aaron Wise who managed to miss 24 of 132 attempts for a season average of 82%!

While you and your friends are probably happy to give three and four-footers in friendly and even not-so-friendly games you shouldn’t forget that even tour pros can miss from this range surprisingly often. 

Short putting is something you can practice at home even if you aren’t able to get to the course so work on lining up correctly. Try to develop a stroke that hits the sweet spot every time. This will make judging longer putts a lot easier and allow you to develop consistency. If you can consistently get long putts within 3 or 4 feet and hole out from there then you should see improvements in your scores.

I found practicing to a much smaller target helped my focus. Sometimes I would use a coin or even an upturned tee.

Putts From 8 Feet

Moving out to the 7-8 foot range there is as Dave Pelz found a massive drop-off in the number of holed putts. Shane Lowry was the leader for the 2021 season making just under 71% of his putts in this range but the tour average was 52.94% so only just over half of the rate they achieve from 4 feet.

It`s difficult when you`re in the middle of a round a golf but when you do miss putts from 8 feet and in you probably kick yourself mentally. You really shouldn`t since even the best players are missing almost half of their attempts from this range.

Putts From 10-15 Feet

Rhein Gibson managed to hole an impressive 41% of his putts during the 2021 season with the tour managing to average 30.19%. So if you`re able to hole 3 out of every 10 putts in this range you are doing just as well as the best players on the planet!

Don`t forget these guys are also playing on some of the best courses in the best condition. If you`re playing at a local municipal course then chances are you`re having to deal with putting surfaces that aren`t anywhere near as good.

Putts From More Than 25 Feet

The next time you spend five minutes lining up to putt from 30 feet or so just think about this statistic. The best player on the PGA Tour in 2021 managed to hole just 10% of his putts outside 25 feet. As a whole, the tour could manage just 5.48%. 

Let that sink in. The best players in the world managed to hole 1 out of every 20 putts from outside 25 feet! 

If you manage to hole even one long putt in a round then you are ahead of the game.

This just emphasizes to me the importance of making sure your first putt finishes close enough that you will make the next one. If the best players in the world are only holing 1 in every 20 then can you really expect to hole many putts from 25+ feet.

3 Putts Per Round

This is one of the stats that you probably don`t want to top! Ted Potter Jr. and Michael Kim were the unfortunate leaders in this category with 0.81 3-putts per round on average. Tyrrell Hatton managed just 15 three-putts in 63 rounds giving him the lowest average for 2021 of 0.27. Overall the PGA Tour players managed a season-long average of 0.53.

So if you can avoid 3-putting no more than once per round then you`re not going to be far behind the best players in the world.

3+ Putts Per Round

Another stat that you don`t want any part of no matter what your level of golf. Taking four or more putts on a regular basis is simply going to destroy your score and probably your confidence with it.

During the 2021 season, the tour average was to take four putts once every hundred rounds or so. The worst offender was Aaron Wise with four 3+ putts in 82 rounds!

Many tour players are fairly aggressive putters, particularly from short-range so if they get it wrong they may leave themself a longer putt coming back. This is why even the best players occasionally make a complete hash of it.

Looking at data from the Arccos website you can see the typical rate of 3-putting for amateurs . For higher handicappers, there’s definitely scope to save a shot or two per round just by reducing those 3-putts.

How Amateurs Should Measure Their Performance

In my opinion, the most important statistic for amateurs to keep a track of and try to improve is how often they take three or more putts. 

Keeping those three-putts to a minimum will help your scores and boost your confidence as there is little that irritates a golfer more than a three-putt.

If you are 3-putting more than you’d like then you need to try and work out whether it is because you are leaving yourself too much to do with your second putting or whether your short putting is at fault.

If you`re struggling to get your long putts close is it mainly because you don`t read the breaks correctly or more likely that you don`t get the speed correct.

Judging the speed is a lot easier if you are striking the ball consistently from the sweet spot. If you are sure your striking is correct then you need to look at drills to help you judge distance better.

If you aren`t able to judge distance consistently then it will be difficult to read the correct amount of break that will depend on how fast the ball is traveling during the putt.

Dealing With Pressure

I`ve certainly been guilty in the past of being too critical of my putting. One way I found to reduce the pressure is to change the definition of a successful putt. Most amateurs will define success or failure as holing or missing a putt. However, a better option might be to say:

• you hit the putt you wanted
• on the line you wanted
• at the speed you wanted

If you did that then irrespective of whether it went in you hit a good putt. A number of authors have talked about reducing performance anxiety by altering the definition of a “good” shot. Your mental game is often more important than your physical game.

Handling Expectations

The other thing you need to remember is you aren’t practicing anywhere near as much as the best players so it is unreasonable to expect the same levels of performance. I think the stats have already shown that even the best players aren’t infallible on the greens so there is no reason for you to expect you should be.

Don’t forget they are also playing on some of the best putting surfaces available and it’s quite likely that you aren’t.

Dave Pelz rightly pointed out that even “perfect” putts might miss due to imperfections in the green.

Putting Statistics You Need To Know: Conclusion

While it is very unlikely you will be able to emulate the best players in the world, putting is an area of the game that doesn`t require great strength or flexibility so improvements can be made by anyone.

Probably the two most important areas to work on are putting from inside 4 feet and making sure you can judge the distance of long putts so that you leave yourself inside 4 feet most of the time.

The other area that amateurs like to work on is their driving . While most tend to focus on driving distance they might be better off looking at their driving accuracy. Arguably the greatest effect on their scoring would be to improve their proximity to the hole with their approach shots though!

Middle aged golf nut, getting fatter by the year. The phrase 'too much golf' is not in my dictionary.

Golf and chocolate combined is my idea of heaven.

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Golf Stats: Take a lesson from PGA Tour putting averages

Golf stats: how understanding pga tour putting averages can improve your own game .

By  Sabrina Naccarato

Which, time and time again, one of these world-class players accomplishes successfully like they could do the job blindfolded.

For us fans out there watching, it’s an amazing sight to take in. Though it often leads to a frustrating question when thinking about our own games:

“How do these golfers make those snuggled-up-to-the-hole lag putts look so easy when my own are lucky to end up within 6 or 8 feet from the hole? “

For one, these guys are good.

So good that their average lag putts (the PGA Tour’s Approach Putt stat) come to rest just 2 feet, 4 inches from the hole. And since these players virtually NEVER miss from that distance (99.42 percent are made from 3 feet), you rarely see them suffer the dreaded three-putts the rest of us are all too familiar with.

All about those lags

Below we’ve noted some key PGA Tour putting averages, because  we love the facts here at GOLFTEC  and it can be beneficial to your game to understand what makes these players such great putters.

• PGA Tour Putting Average — makes from 3 feet: 99.42%
• PGA Tour Putting Average — makes from 6 feet: 70.98%
• PGA Tour Putting Average — 3-Putt Avoidance >25′: 91.71% (This means they three-putt 8.29 percent of the time outside of 25 feet.)

*All stats cited in this article are from the complete 2016 PGA Tour season 

Like I said, these guys are good. But, there’s a point so track with me for a minute …

PGA Tour players – THE BEST GOLFERS IN THE WORLD – make nearly 30 percent more putts from 3 feet compared to 6 feet.

That means if these players hit all 18 greens and lag each putt to 6 feet instead of 3 feet, they’ll basically three-putt five or six times instead of zero. (In other words, they’ll miss nearly one-third of their putts from 6 feet compared to virtually none from 3 feet.)

Of course they DON’T tend to lag it to 6 feet from the hole, which is illustrated with the 2-foot, 4-inch “approach putt” stat and the final stat listed above, 3-Putt Avoidance <25′, that shows just how deft their skill is at lagging it close from long distances.

The point is that even the world’s best would three-putt often if they didn’t lag it close, so we can see how vitally important solid lag putting is to keeping those extra putts at bay.

Dial in your speed on lag putts to eliminate three-putts

We’ve previously noted how important speed control is to your putting success. Especially on those long lag putts outside of 25 feet. So, take a lesson from these PGA Tour player putting averages and start focusing on how you can improve your speed on the greens.

Because once you’ve dialed in your lag putting, there won’t be any more questions come Sunday when comparing Jordan Spieth’s insane lag-putting skills to your own.

Driving accuracy, though? That’s another article.

VIDEO:   The No 3-Putt Game   for putting speed control

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Putting Statistics by Handicap: Which Stats to Track?

In this guide I’ll share recent data on putting statistics by handicap so you can see how well golfers like you are putting in different categories. Tracking putting stats is important to improving your short game so you can see where your weaknesses and strengths are and adjust strategy on the golf course.

One of the fun aspects about tracking your putting stats is you can compare them with the putting statistics of professional golfers to see how you fare. Putting is one area where amateur golfers can actually become as good as professionals.

In order for the amateur golfer to better understand how well the best players in the world actually putt, let’s take a look at the putting statistics on the PGA Tour.

Putting Stats

The following key putting statistics will give the amateur golfer perspective about how good or bad the pro’s actually putt in reality. Track these putting stats in your own golf game to see how you compare.

• Putts per round
• Putts from 3 feet
• Putts from 6 feet
• Putting from 10 feet
• Putts made from over 20 feet per event

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Putts Per Round

The PGA Tour keeps record of basically every putting stat that can be tracked via their Shotlink system. You can find a full page of putting stats here.

One of the most common stats that most golfers, even high handicap amateur golfers, know about are putts per round.

This tracks how many total putts a golfer has during a round of golf. If you are giving yourself 2-putts per hole as a goal and you play 18 holes, then that would calculate out to 36 putts per round you’d expect to hit.

The leader on the PGA Tour each year has usually averaged around 28 putts per round, so 8 shots lower than the 36 putt goal.

Looking at this stat will make the average golfer realize that having 30 putts or less per round is a very solid goal to strive towards instead of setting the goal at 36.

Putts per round by handicap:

• Professional golfer = 28-32 putts
• Scratch golfer = 30-34 putts
• Average golfer = 36-40 putts
• High handicap = 45+ putts

Putts from 3 Feet – Make Percentage

Normally during a round with friends most amateurs are very quick to give each other 3 and 4 foot putts, calling them good and letting the putt be picked up, rather than putted out to finish the hole.

If your playing partner is Patrick Cantlay then yes you can go ahead and give those putts to him, but on average social golfers don’t make nearly as many short putts as they should.

Patrick Cantlay made every single 3 footer that he had on the PGA Tour season. That’s over 700 3-footers made in a row to be exact!

You don’t have to make every single 3 footer that you have, but it will definitely improve your golf score if you can at least make 80% of your 3 footers on average.

Before you give yourself that 3 footer, ask yourself, is this going to benefit me by skipping the putt or will it help me get extra practice under pressure by making myself putt out?

3 Foot Putts by Handicap:

• Professional golfer = 99% (10 out of 10)
• Scratch golfer = 95% (9 out of 10)
• Average golfer = 60% (6 out of 10)
• High handicap = 40% (4 out of 10)

Putts from 6 feet – Make Percentage

Patrick Cantlay making a 100% of his 3 footers during a golf season is very impressive, but the human aspect in putting begins to show from the 6 foot mark.

Brian Harman was the leader in this recent PGA season with a 6 foot make percentage rate of 91%, which is still an incredible feat to achieve.

6 foot putts are your money range. They’re going to help you save pars and set you apart from the average golfer. Spend a lot of your putting practice time on this distance.

If professionals are averaging 80-90% from 6 feet, then set a goal for your game to achieve a 75% or better make rate at 6 feet. This will take 1000’s of reps to build skill but it’s a great goal to aim for and impress your opponents on the golf course.

6 Foot Putts by Handicap:

• Professional golfer = 85% (8 out of 10)
• Scratch golfer = 75% (7 out of 10)
• Average golfer = 20% (2 out of 10)
• High handicap = 10% (1 out of 10)

Putts from 10 Feet – Make Percentage

At the 10 foot mark, the percentage of putts made decreases considerably.

Zach Johnson held the top spot this recent season with a 70% make rate at 10 feet on the PGA Tour, and the last place player was at just 23%

Amateur golfers can learn a lot by looking at this statistic, having perspective about what realistic expectations are to have of yourself is a great start.

If a PGA Player only makes 3 out of 10 of his 10 foot putts for a 30% make rate then you definitely can’t get mad at yourself for missing them out on the course.

The average make percentage at 10 feet for the PGA Tour fell around 40%. Anyone above 50% was top 20 in the league.

10 Foot Putts by Handicap:

• Professional golfer = 40% (4 out of 10)
• Scratch golfer = 20% (2 out of 10)
• Average golfer = 0-5% (0 out of 10)
• High handicap = 0-1% (0 out of 10)

Green in Regulation Made Putts from 10-15 Feet

This putting stat tracks your birdie make percentage. When a professional golfer hits the green in regulation, what are the chances he makes the putt.

In this stat we chose to highlight the 10-15 foot birdie putt, and the leader on the PGA Tour was Adam Scott at 42% conversion.

Therefore, if he can hit his approach shots inside of 15 feet, Scott has a good chance of making 1 out of every 2 putts for birdie.

Putts made from over 20 feet per round

We all remember that long putt we made to save par or better yet that 30 foot birdie putt to win the money game against your friends.

No surprise that Jordan Spieth is right up there at the top of the leaderboard in this statistic.

Patrick Cantlay is technically the leader in this category with 2.3 putts made over 20 foot per round.

Spieth ranked 2nd in this category with 2.2 putts made over 20 foot per round.

Justin Rose is also high on the leaderboard for make percentage from 20 feet or beyond. He sank 10% of his 20 foot putts overall, and when he was on the green in regulation that stat jumps to 28%.

How to Track Your Putting Statistics

Start by giving yourself a couple blank lines on the scorecard for writing in putting stats. Then transfer these stats over to a spreadsheet or an app like 18Birdies so you can keep data digitally on your smart phone.

During practice I like to pull up notes on my phone and log putting stats for different drills I complete.

For example, if I do the make 100 putts from 3 feet drill, I’ll write down “99/100 – 3 feet” and then “70/100 – 6 feet” so I can compare my stats later on in future practices.

Golf Round Stats to Track on Scorecard

• Putts made at various distances
• Total putts per round
• Total 3 putts
• Birdie putt conversion rate

To some these putting stats might sound confusing, but if you take the time to read through it and process what they are portraying then they might actually give you perspective to use with your own putting skill level.

It is important to have realistic goals and expectations of your golf game, as having unrealistic expectations will only add pressure and anxiety to your mental game, causing worse performance.

These statistics can also add value to your practice regime. Knowing how many putts the best players in the world make from a certain distance can provide you with a good goal to work towards.

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The Truth about Greens in Regulation

If you’re like most amateur golfers, chances are you want to hit more greens and have more birdie putts. And I’m all for that strategy. But before teaching you strategies to do that, it’s important to understand your “benchmark” of greens number based on your handicap.

Because here’s the thing, so many golfers get mad when they miss a green or only have 5-6 birdie putts per round. But depending on your handicap, that might be equal or above the average number per round. 

Don’t believe me? Check out the PGA Tour averages first to better understand what’s realistic and what is a pipe dream. I’ll also help you understand your benchmark and five ways to find the putting surface more often. 

Green in Regulation Definition

Before we dive in, you might be thinking… so what is a green in regulation (also abbreviated GIR) anyways?

This is a popular statistic to track for professional golfers and amateur golfers alike. Regulation means hitting in the number required (or less). You get a GIR as a regulation statistic if you hit:

• A par 3 in one shot (or a hole in one).
• A par 4 in two shots or less. Yes, driving the green in one counts too!
• A par 5 in three shots or less.
• A par 6 in four or fewer strokes. Believe it or not, but there are some golf courses with par 6’s.

Then, if you have two strokes on the green after hitting on in regulation, you’ll be making par. Or, drain the putt for a birdie or eagle. 

As you will learn in this post, this statistical category is so important in shooting lower scores.

Tour Averages For Greens in Regulation

When researching this article, it’s pretty incredible to learn the PGA Tour averages for greens in regulation. Because if you’re like me, you probably think they average 70% or more, regardless of distance.

But it’s just not the case… 

The Tours rank golfers based on all sorts of stats from fairways, putting, scrambling, sand saves and more.

Here’s the thing…

These are the best players in the world and yet, they still miss a lot more greens than the casual viewer might realize.

Let’s break it down by distances first. 

PGA Tour Approach Shot Statistics (GIR Percentage)

This information is gathered from the PGA Tour : 

• 200+ yards = 40% of greens. When they do hit the green from 200 plus yards, the average proximity to the hole is 54 feet from 225-250 yards. And 43 feet from the hole between 200-225 yards. For most golfers, this should be a big eye-opener. If you’re over 200 yards and hit the green, good for you because less than half of professional players do! 
• 175-200 yards = 53% of greens. From under 200 yards, PGA Tour players hit just a little more than half of the greens and when they do, they average 34 feet from the hole.
• 150-175 yards = 63% of greens. From this range, players hit the green 10% more the last category, but still average 27 feet from the hole.  
• 125-150 yards = 69% of greens. And when they do hit the green, they are still 23 feet away from the hole. This is a surprising proximity number to me since most players have a wedge or 9 iron (at most) from this range.
• 100-125 yards = 74 % of greens. This is another crazy stat as the pros only have a wedge of sorts from this distance and only hit the green 3 or 4 times! Not to mention, the average distance to the hole is still 20 feet. 
• Less than 100 yards = 81% of greens. Finally, players from short range on the course average 17 feet from the pin between 75-100 yards and 15 feet from 50-75 yards. 

The GIR percentage for each distance from the pros should make even the worst golfer have a little hope. If guys on the major tours can’t get the golf ball on the green constantly, then recreational golfers won’t either. And that’s okay!

As long as you keep working on your short game and have mostly two putts on the putting green, you can score well.

Let’s break down the average green in regulation numbers for amateurs next. 

Why Your GIR is Crucial to Your Score

Greg “the Shark” Norman once said, “Happiness is a long walk with a putter.” And he’s 100% right.

It’s a great feeling when you hit your ball on the green as you eye the birdie or eagle putt from the fairway. Generally speaking, when you hit the green, it should mean a lower score and as important, less stress.

Because if you miss the green, all kinds of bad things can happen.  Thick rough, deep bunkers, and all kinds of other obstacles the golf Gods throw at us.

But the numbers for amateurs for average green in regulation on the course might surprise you too:

• 25-29 handicap = 3 greens
• 20-24 handicap – 3.5 greens
• 15-19 handicap: 5.1 greens
• 10-14 handicap: 6.9 greens
• 6-9 handicap: 8.5 greens
• 3-5 handicap: 10.2 greens
• 0-2 handicap: 11.8 greens
• +3 to +1 handicap: 12.6 greens
• Tour average: 11.7 greens

Essentially, if you shoot over a 100, you will only hit a few greens. If you shoot in the 90s, you will average less than five greens. If you shoot it in the 80s, you will average about seven greens. And if you shoot in the 70s, you will average about 10 greens.

Also, don’t let the Tour average green in regulation number fool you either. Those guys are playing much longer courses in high stakes environments… often needing birdies to win or make the weekend.

How to Hit More Greens in Golf – 5 Strategies For More GIR

Hitting greens typically means less stress and in general, an average lower stroker average. Even if you’re a world-class putter, your putting can’t make up for poor iron play on a consistent basis. The key is to increase your GIR stroke as much as possible to set yourself up for success.

Now that you have a better understanding of how many greens the pros hit and why they’re crucial to your score… let’s get into some tips. I’m confident that when you use all five of these tips, you’ll hit additional greens in regulation than ever before. 

1.  Hit More Fairways (Improve Your Tee Shot Game)

If you want to hit more greens in regulation, you need to give yourself the best opportunity to do so with quality tee shots. Because if you’re constantly playing from the thick stuff or behind trees, improving your GIR number is nearly impossible. 

Especially for everyday amateur players, who aren’t as skilled with recovery shots as low handicap or scratch golfers. For skilled players, hitting fairways isn’t as important because they usually have a consistent enough swing to get on or near the green from the rough. 

But for the everyday golfer, a solid tee ball will help a ton. It will usually mean an easier next shot to the putting green by avoiding fairway bunkers and other trouble off the tee. Because remember, if you hit in a hazard or out of bounds, you won’t be able to hit the GIR.

Plus, when you’re in the fairway, club selection is much easier too. Not having to worry about thick rough or flier lie will increase your chances of selecting the right club and finding the dance floor. 

Here are a few tee box strategies to help you out.

Commit to a Shot

One of the reasons that a lot of players miss fairways is because they don’t commit to a shot off the tee. Instead, they hit and hope it finds the short grass. When in reality, you should have a clear starting point and end point for your golf ball before making a practice swing. 

Imagine the shot for a second and feel a high draw , a low cut , or a straight shot you want to hit. Whether you pull it off or not, at least you had a high percentage shot in mind. This will help you on the course and commit in your mind the shot you want to play.

Have a Fairway Finder

I always suggest having some sort of “fairway finder” shot and/or club. This could either be a specific shot you play or a certain club that tends to find the short grass. 

For some players, this might be a choke down, controlled driver swing. For others, it might be hitting a fairway wood or hybrid to find the fairway instead. Practice your fairway finder on the range so you have more consistency and confidence on the course.

Even Tiger Woods had a fairway finder, he called it the stinger and here is how to hit the stinger shot .

Plan Your Third Shot

Another tip to help you get on in regulation and have an easy two putts (or less) is to plan your third shot on Par 5s better. Sometimes that means going for it so you can get a short chip, while other times it means laying back and going for it in three. 

Par 5s, despite being the longest holes, are the best chances for birdies. Set yourself up by thinking one shot ahead, so your third shot gives you the best opportunity. 

2. Nail Your Pre-Shot Routine

Hitting fairways will generally help you hit more greens. But once you’re in the fairway, it’s important to have a solid pre-shot routine to lock in your approach shot . Otherwise, you’re more likely to waste epic drives and feel like you didn’t take advantage of a great tee shot. 

Plus, your pre-shot routine will help you:

• Find the right distances.
• Evaluate weather conditions.
• Choose the right golf club to hit.
• Create a solid approach shot strategy. 
• Pick an ideal target and best place(s) to miss.
• Stay calm under pressure and give yourself the best chance to putt for birdie. 

A pre-shot routine will help with every single club in the bag. The more automatic you can make your routine, the easier it will be to go “unconscious” and into a flow state. 

Just like training your swing, make sure that you practice your pre-shot routine as well. 

3. Know Your Distances For Your Second Shot

Another huge part of hitting more greens every round is knowing your distances for each golf club. Because you could hit a great tee ball and have an awesome routine, but miss the green if you leave your second shot short or long. Then you’re scrambling to get it up and down and save par. 

Sure, we’re all humans and bound to hit some shots thin or fat and miss the putting surface. But there is nothing worse than hitting a good shot and missing the GIR because you didn’t know your distances for each club. 

Make sure to minimize this mistake by spending time on the range and during casual rounds getting to know your distances. The easiest way to do this is with a launch monitor , as it will tell you total distance and a lot more for each shot you hit. You can also use your rangefinder to hit targets on the range to better understand your distances. 

As you become more advanced, try to have several distances with each club too. This will help you hit more greens because you’ll have more shots in the bag. Whether you’re uphill/downhill , playing in wind , or cold temperatures , you will have a shot for it. 

4. Aim for the Fat Part of the Green

The PGA Tour stats showed one thing to me above all else – when players hit the green, they’re not that close! Think about the GIR percentage… 

• From 200+ yards they only less than 50% of the greens and still have 40 plus feet on average! 
• From 150 yards, they hit a little over 60% of the greens and still have 20 plus feet.
• And from inside 100 yards, they still don’t average inside 10 feet. 

So what’s the point?

If the best players in the world don’t throw darts all day (and they get paid millions of dollars to play golf), why should you?  

The easiest way to hit more greens is to forget the flag entirely. Aim for the widest part of the green and I bet you will be astounded by your green in regulation numbers. 

Will your playing buddies give you grief from time to time? Probably, but I bet you will also be the guy who takes their money at the end of the round too. 

By aiming at the fat part of the green, you will not only hit more greens, but also short side yourself less often. So even if you miss the green, you will have an easier up and down too and not need your short game on fire every round. Not to mention, hitting greens at or above regulation percentage can help your confidence from tee to green.

As you get into wedges and short irons, then you can maybe aim more towards the flag. But for anything longer than a short iron, aim for the middle, accept a 20-30 foot putt, and keep the momentum going.

5. Track Your Stats 

Finally, to hit more greens, it’s super important to track your stats . This way you can learn more about your game and figure out how to practice more efficiently. Since most of us only have so much time to work on our game , it’s important to spend it on your weaknesses.

When you track your stats, you will learn if you need to improve on the putting surface, work on your short game , long irons or hit more fairways. When tracking your round on the course, make sure to:

• Include a statistical category for fairways hit, greens in regulation, up/down percentage, and number of putts.
• Track consistently so you can get averages and practice more efficiently between rounds.
• Notate your common miss-hit as it can be used to manage your miss and quickly improve your score.

Bonus Tip: Get Better on the Putting Surface

The bonus tip isn’t about hitting greens, as the first five tips will help with that a ton. But this tip is preaching the importance of putting when you get on the dance floor. 

Because there is not much more frustrating than hitting a bunch of greens and scoring poorly due to bad putting. Trust me, I’ve been there myself more times than I can count. 

Putting is the not so secret part about scoring well. But I think a misunderstanding that so many golfers have is how many putts they “should” make. 

PGA Tour Putting Averages

The PGA Tour average is 28.95 putts per round. 

Basically, if you can keep it under 30 putts, it is usually going to be a good scoring day for most golfers. 

But proximity to the hole plays a huge role in making sure you avoid three putts. Check out the 2021 putting averages too for the average professional golfer:

• 35+ Feet: .32% make percentage 
• 30-35 Feet: .60% make percentage 
• 25-30 Feet: .88% make percentage 
• 20-25 Feet: 12% make percentage 
• 15-20 Feet: 18% make percentage 
• 10-15 Feet: 29% make percentage 
• 5-10 Feet: 53% make percentage  
• 3-5 Feet: 87% make percentage

When you hit it closer, the odds of a putt dropping are more in your favor. And the best way to give yourself more quality looks is to use the five tips from above. 

Also, here are a few more additional stats that might surprise you: 

• 1 Putts Per Round = 7.15
• 2 Putts Per Round = 10.08 
• 3 Putts Per Round = .54 (less than one 3-putt per round)
• Avg Distance of Birdies = 9.4 feet
• Avg Distance of Eagles = 16.8 feet

FAQs About Greens in Regulation 

Do you have more questions about hitting greens so you can shoot lower scores? If so, hopefully our questions and answers below can help you out even more. 

What is a good percentage of greens in regulation?

It depends on your handicap and skill level more than anything else. Some players might average a few greens in regulation. While others might have a green in regulation number between 6-9 and highly skilled players will be 10 or more. 

Who has the best greens in regulation on the PGA Tour?

If you’ve ever wondered “Who hits the most greens on tour” it’s a great question. The list is constantly changing on a weekly basis, but the 2021 Tour average is 64%. 

That means that PGA Tour players average roughly 11 of 18 greens per round (the European Tour is about the same too). But the breakdown by distances above are a much better way to understand. Since overall distance to the pin has a much bigger impact on total score. 

Click here to check out the latest stats and tournaments for GIR averages.

What’s the PGA Tour record for greens hit?

There have been tons of times when players on the Tour, LPGA Tour, and European Tour have 18/18 greens per round. This is an incredible feat in itself and obviously requires tremendous ball striking. 

And the four round tournament record is 69 of 72 greens according to the Tour’s website ! Here is what they said about this crazy good performance… “As for greens in regulation, the record is 69 of 72 greens for a four-round event. The record belongs to Peter Jacobson (1995 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am) and Jerry Kelly (1996 Walt Disney World Oldsmobile Classic).”

How impressive is that GIR stat? Imagine only having three attempts for saving par and 69 birdie attempts in four days.

But another amazing record is Tiger Woods from his historical season in 2000. What many have dubbed the greatest golf of his career, during that year he found 75.15% of all greens .

This is the highest GIR in regulation percentage ever since the tour began tracking GIR. His average score was also a tour record as well! Needless to say, Tiger Woods’ golf game that year was something we’ll likely never see again.

Does fringe count as a green in regulation?

No, the fringe does not count as green in regulation. Even though you can (and should) putt a majority of your fringe balls, they technically don’t count as a green on your stat sheet.  But in general, putt the ball from the fringe to shoot better scores.

Final Thoughts on Greens in Regulation

Hopefully these stats will show that whenever you’re watching golf on TV, it’s basically the highlight reel. Sure, you will see the occasional bad shot on the big stage (like Ian Poulter hitting shanks) but it’s not often with pro golfers. Instead, they’re showing you the longest drives, the tightest approach shots, and the best putts.

In reality though, the majority of Tour players (both PGA and LPGA Tour) do not get it as close as you think, if they do even find the green. Which should be pretty eye-opening for the casual golfer. And if anything, it should make you feel better about your game by creating realistic expectations about your GIR number for the round. 

So instead of going flag hunting 18 holes in a row, use the five tips to set yourself up for success:

• Hit more fairways by getting a go-to “fairway finder” shot and solid tee box strategy.
• Create a solid pre-shot routine to help you pick the right club and focus on the target. 
• Know your distances as if you were Justin Rose or some other pro you love. A launch monitor is the easiest way to learn your distances for each club and get the ball on the green more often than not.
• Aim for the fat part of the green 90% of the time (or more). Unless you have a wedge or short iron, opt for the middle part of the largest area of the green.
• Tracks your stats so you can learn to improve your first shot and practice efficiently.

The higher your green in regulation number, the less stress you will have and likely much fewer strokes every round too.

Golf Science – Putting Numbers that Might Surprise You

The one golf shot everyone can make, and make successfully, is, of course, the putt. As the putter never rises very far from the ground, all a golfer needs to do is make a small movement back and a small movement through, and plonk, the ball is in the hole!

Perhaps that is why golfers, from rank beginners to the best of the professionals, feel and look very, very disappointed when they miss the hole by a thread. One case in point is Jordan Spieth, who looks disappointed whenever he misses any putt at all, even a long, sidehill, downhill putt.  

While putts-missed frustration is based on golfers’ expectations, the reality of what they should expect is quite different. What, really, are the odds of making a putt?  

According to research by Mark Broadie, a professor at Columbia University who is responsible for the ‘strokes gained” concept, on average PGA TOUR pros make 99% of 2-foot putts, 96% of 3-foot putts, 88% of 4-foot putts and 77% of 5-foot putts.

  From 10 feet, the pros’ one-putt percentage is 40%, 23% from 15 feet, 15% from 20 feet, 7% from 30 feet, 4% from 40 feet, 3% from 50 feet and 2% from 60 feet. Also, according to Broadie, putting from inside 10 feet is very different than putting from 10 feet. The PGA TOUR average is 88% inside 10 feet, and just 40% from 10 feet. Only in one of 10 rounds do tour pros hole 100 percent of their putts from inside 10 feet.

And most recently, in 2021/22, Tour pros made an average 99% of putts that were 3ft or less. The number dropped slightly for 4ft putts, to 92%, while 81% of 5ft putts were successful, and 70% of 6ft putts were holed. That falls to around 61% of 7ft putts, 54% of 8ft putts and 45% from 9 feet.

So what should an average golfer do to improve their odds of holing more putts? The main difference comes from more practice. Good practice, naturally. Golfers should not just practice short putts but long putts, too – those that are often referred to as “lag” putts. In general, to improve putting, it is easier and makes more sense to reduce the number of three putts than to increase the number of single putts.  

The three aspects to good putting are – a good and repeating stroke, good distance control and good direction judgment or green-reading skills.  

Information abounds about how to read greens, from plumb-bobbing (which Dave Pelz of Putting Bible says does not work) to using AimPoint concepts to understand slope on a putt.  

With respect to the stroke itself, the main requirements are for putter-ball contact to be centered, with a square face, no deceleration through impact and a slight rise angle (club face moving upwards by about 2° or so). This is something that a golfer must work to improve, and there are two camps with regard to the best stroke to deliver consistent results – an in-to-out-to-in stroke or a straight back and through one. Ideally, golfers should experiment with a couple of styles (as recommended by famous putting gurus like Dave Pelz, Geoff Magnum and Craig Farnsworth).

The concept of speed or distance control is perhaps the most important and yet one that can only be learned from practice, which would improve hand-eye coordination. There are many phrases that tell golfers to never leave a putt short, such as “never over never in,” but how to know how hard and how fast to hit a putt?

Literally, the only thing that can improve this most important aspect of putting is putting in the reps. And making sure the stroke is a repeating one.

One very comforting point that Dave Pelz makes is that great putters are made, not born. Of the 15 aspects or building blocks that he believes matter for the execution of good putts, he says that most golfers are usually good at many of them. The 15 aspects (building blocks) that together result in good putting, are aim, path, touch, rhythm, ritual, feel, face angle, stability, attitude, routine, putter fitting, power source, impact pattern, flow lines and green-reading.  

Pelz also says that putting is both an art and a science. So, golfers, the best way to improve your putting – the one part of everyone’s game that can be on par with everyone else’s – is by … putting!

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Inbee park explains why she’s the world’s best putter from 10-15 feet.

• Max Schreiber ,
• Max Schreiber

WEST CALDWELL, N.J. – Inbee Park is holing putts at a higher rate than nearly anyone in the world and for her, the further out, the better.

Park, the world No. 3, is making putts from 10-15 feet a remarkable 64% of the time, according to LPGA stats compiled through KMPG Performance Insights.

For context, the rest of the LPGA averages 28% from that range, while on the PGA Tour it’s about 30%. The statistical leaders from 10-15 feet on the PGA Tour was around 41% and Park is converting putts from that distance better than the Tour average from 5-10 feet.

That’s because the longer the putt, the more relaxed and confident Park is with the flatstick.

“I heard about the stats and I wasn’t surprised, because I always kind of felt a lot more comfortable putting 10 to 15 feet than like 6 to 8 feet or 5 to 7 feet,” Park said Wednesday at the Cognizant Founders Cup. “I heard the percentage is higher to make the 10- to 15-footer. I think this really comes down to the mind. I feel a lot more relaxed doing 10- to 15-footer where I don’t have to make the putt, right? It’s usually less than half of the percentage that I’m going to miss.

Full-field scores from the Cognizant Founders Cup

“So, but like 3 to 5, 7 feet, you know, I think I’m putting too much pressure on myself, so maybe that’s why the percentages are lower. That’s the game I’m trying to get.”

Fellow South Korean So Yeon Ryu said last week that Park isn’t as focused on the result of her putts compared to the process, which is hitting the line with the correct speed. And if the 33-year-old, seven-time major winner trusts the process, the longer distance doesn’t necessarily matter.

“Yeah, I think [Ryu’s] pretty dead correct on that one,” Park said. “On the greens, there are some many variables that you have to take into account. It’s just hard to think about everything. There are so many things happening on the way to the hole. ... [after] the ball goes off the clubface there is nothing I can do.

“I’m just trying to put the right speed, the right line, and that’s pretty much all I can do.”

Park is coming off a T-2 finish last week at the 54-hole ShopRite LPGA Classic, roughly two hours south of the Founders Cup’s new venue, Mountain Ridge Country Club. The tournament has been played in Scottsdale, Arizona, since its inception in 2011.

Park held the 36-hole ShopRite lead, but a final-round 69 allowed France’s Celine Boutier to overtake her with a closing 63. But despite Park not playing in an event since the AIG Women’s Open, where she finished T-52 in late August, Park was content with her result and looks to build off of it this week.

“The last day (last week) was not the day I was really, really looking forward to it, but I gave it all I got,” she said. “Just came up a little short. That’s it. Definitely gave me some confidence coming to this week.”

With four events remaining in the LPGA season, Park will have a few weeks off before the BMW Ladies Championship in Korea, which she said will be her final tournament this year.

Putting Probabilities: How does YOUR putting stack up against PGA Tour players?

Check out the latest PGA Tour ShotLink data, and see how it compares to your own golf game...

Fed up of missing putts from inside of 10 feet all the time? Well don't beat yourself up too much as PGA Tour players have a tough time from the same distance, too. 

Okay, they do drain 56% of their putts from seven feet, but they only hole out from 10 feet 38% of the time on average. 

They also hole out 96% of the time from three feet, so not even the world's best players convert the shorties. 

So perhaps gimmes should be scrapped after all? 

The next time you miss from close range, by all means tut and slap the leg, but don't get too down about it. 

Even Rory McIlroy misses them. 

We picked up this cool graphic from PGA Tour putting coach Marcus Potter earlier today, with stats from the PGA Tour's ShotLink data. 

The graph below highlights the putting probabilities of a one-putt, two-putt and dreaded three-jab + from one to 60 feet. 

It also gives you the expected putts from each of those distances. 

The biggest difference between PGA Tour players and amateur hacks, at least in our view, is the fact the best players limit their three-jabs compared to the rest of us who typically make a few every round. 

Maybe I'm just an average putter, but I can't remember the last time I went a round without at least a trio of three-putts. 

Perhaps my iron play has something to answer for there, too. 

Check out the data below and see how it compares to your own game on the greens: 

        View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Marcus Potter (@potters_putting)

How does your putting stack up against the PGA Tour average? Share your thoughts and comments over on the GolfMagic social media channels.

Next Page: Everyone is saying the same thing after watching Tiger Woods's latest video clip

How does your putting stack up against players on the PGA Tour? Check out that 3-putt percentage! via @Potters_Putting pic.twitter.com/Pe5Z6WIPJO — GolfMagic (@GolfMagic) November 1, 2022

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The putting 'make percentage' is the stat we don’t need

“Expectation management” is a popular phrase in golf these days, and it applies to every segment of the game.

It means that a 15 handicap shouldn’t be cursing when he misses the green with a 7-iron (their average proximity from 150 yards is 67 feet, according to Arccos), nor should he be surprised when his 10-foot birdie putt slides by the hole (it has a 12 percent chance of going in, realistically).

Every golfer is a certain degree of delusional, but the ones who manage their expectations are the ones better equipped to take assorted setbacks in stride.

RELATED: The average golfer driving distance

Tour players are no different. Their entire existence revolves around gauging performance through a prism of reasonable expectations. A tour event has 156 players but only one winner. They play 72 holes every week, but on average only about 15 of those holes result in a birdie.

We even need to manage our expectations when watching golf. A familiar scenario: a pro has a wedge in his hand, sends an approach to 12 feet, and the TV announcer laments the disappointing result. In fact, the shot was inside the tour average by 8 feet.

By one theory, the better we can recognize the difficulty of golf, the better we can manage expectations of ourselves and of others, the easier it is to appreciate the little successes along the way.

RELATED: The harsh truth about 5-irons

Which I fully believe, with maybe one exception.

Thanks to Shotlink and other analytics, we’re now able to quantify the likelihood of pretty much any shot we see on TV. The graphics are ever-present during a broadcast—average proximity to the hole from here, and from there—all of it helping to contextualize what we’re seeing, which should add to the entertainment.

For some reason when it comes to putting, I prefer ignorance. I’m not sure I’m able to explain it, but at least let me try.

During the U.S. Open, nearly every putt featured an accompanying graphic showing either the putt’s “make percentage” or the likelihood of a three-putt. I’ve decided this is the one time I’d like to be divorced from reality. When a golfer is standing over a putt from 25 feet away, I don’t need to know that ball only has a 12 percent chance of actually going in. If expectation management is ensuring logic overrides emotion, here logic should just keep quiet.

It’d be like the first time your child makes square contact with the ball, someone pops out of the bushes to tell you they have a 1 in 51,346 chance of making it as a professional (actual odds). Or being told when you stand on the tee of a par 3, that your chances of making a hole in one is roughly the same as being struck by lightning. That all of this is true doesn’t mean I want a reminder in the moment.

Yes, golf is hard, and there’s a need to accept as much nearly every step of the way. But there are also times we like to know some people are way better at it than we are, and one of those times is when we watch a ball tracking towards the hole.

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Pros v. amateurs: shots from 100 yards and 150 yards.

I read a great article on a golf blog recently about what distance people think they hit their drivers versus how far they  actually do, and it made me think… what is the reality of the 100- and 150-yard shots for the average player? How does this compare to a Tour Professional hitting from the same distance, with the same target, under the same conditions?

So I enlisted the help of a buddy of mine, William McGirt, who finished 85 th  on the 2014 PGA Tour’s Money List making just over $1.25 million (Hey, William, can you throw me a few bones, pards!?).

For the test, I asked three golfers to hit 100- and 150-yard shots, then charted their CARRY distance results. I know this is a very small sampling of players, but I just wanted to show you the basic idea of what I see on a daily basis with amateur golfers.

Below is the Trackman Analysis of the four players:

• William McGirt, PGA Tour Player
• Tom Stickney, Teaching Professional/Scratch Player
• John, 10-Handicap
• Howard, 15-Handicap

William McGirt (100.6, 98.6, and 103.6 yards)

The Tour Player was much more consistent with his average shot at 100.9 yards, and his “big miss” was only off 3.6 yards. This puts William next to the hole and on the correct tier more often than not, unless he gets unlucky or spins the ball too much once it lands.

Tom Stickney (100.0, 101.2, and 94.2 yards)

The teaching professional did fine, but his “big miss” was off 5.8 yards. This is what we tend to see with the single-digit players. They can hit all the shots, however, their consistency lacks when compared to the Tour Professional.

Howard (93.5, 104.3, and 100.2 yards), and  John (102.1, 102.9, and 107.7 yards)

As your handicap goes up, so will the variance of the shots hit from this distance. Both Howard and John hit the ball around 100 yards, but not consistently. Howard had an average of 99.3 yards and John had an average of 104.2 yards. But it’s not the average that is the issue here; it’s the lack of distance control with both short and long shots by both.

Howard’s shortest shot went 93.5 yards and longest went 104.4 yards, giving us a gap of 10.9 yards or 32.7 feet!

John’s shortest shot was 102.1 and his longest was 107.7 giving us a gap of 5.6 yards or 16.8 feet.

Now if the pin was always in the middle of the green, it would not be that big of an issue. But when the pins are in the front or back, which shot is going to show up? This is the difference between chipping on and having a long two putt for par.

For the single-digit player, you must not lose your focus when you have the feel. If you lose your focus, you have the big miss potentially taking away a good birdie chance. For the average player, grooving solid contact is the key. Hitting the ball solid will help you to accurately predict what shot you’ll hit and how far it will go.

Now let’s examine the 150-yard shot from each group of players.

William McGirt  (151.4, 149.9, and 151.0)

As a PGA Tour Professional, you would assume that the yardages would again be perfect — and they’re close, with an average of 150.8 yards. But one thing I want to point out is how TIGHT the dispersion is from this distance. You can see his blue dots are clustered very tightly around the 150-yard target. Once again, this gives him the best chance to be around the pin with the most accuracy. Also look at what club he hit versus the other players.

Tom Stickney (151.9, 150.7, and 149.8 yards)

As a scratch player, the talent is there to hit the shots but the dispersion is not even in the same ballpark as the Tour Player. This shows us once again why I should teach golf for a living! I get strokes from the pro, but never enough.

Howard (141.5, 141.3, and 145.9 yards), and  John (143.2, 151.9, and 139.6 yards)

With the handicap golfers, we saw a large difference between the shortest and longest shot. However, as the distances get longer, you will see that most players base their 150-yard shot on the one out of “X” that they hit that yardage, not their average!

Howard’s closest was 145.9, but the actual average was around 141, if you took out the last shot. John indeed hit his best one 151.9, but his other two were around 141 as well.

Now let’s look at carry vs. total yardage for these two players. 

Howard’s TOTAL distance was 147.4 yards while John’s TOTAL was 152.7. And these are what most average golfers depend on — the total yardage to get the ball to the distance they want it to go. Sometimes this works, but other times it does not. I will say that it is very difficult to judge what is going to happen once the ball hits the ground and it’s best to understand your carry distances. Sadly, most amateurs do not.

So what do I want you to take from this article?

• Tour Professionals carry the ball the same distance every time with the same club within reason.
• Tour Professionals have tighter dispersion patterns than all of us with each club.
• Single-digit players can have flashes of brilliance as it pertains to distance and dispersion control, but the “big miss” is always lurking. It could be due to a lack of focus or a swing flaw that creeps up. It’s your job to figure out what it is so you can be better in the end.
• Average players are OK with shorter clubs in regard to carry distances, but once they get outside 100 yards they focus only on total distance.
• Average players based their overall distances on the one perfect shot they hit out of “X” number of shots instead of the real averages.
• Average players have huge swings in distance due to unsolid shots (fat and thin) that can hamper their distances.
• Average players try and hit the same club as the Pros with little success. Both Howard and John needed one more club to actually carry the ball 150 yards in the air, but never did so on average.

Failure is crucial: Make your practice sessions more difficult

Dr. Gupta: The Secret To Finding YOUR GAME

Tom F. Stickney II, is a specialist in Biomechanics for Golf, Physiology, and 3d Motion Analysis. He has a degree in Exercise and Fitness and has been a Director of Instruction for almost 30 years at resorts and clubs such as- The Four Seasons Punta Mita, BIGHORN Golf Club, The Club at Cordillera, The Promontory Club, and the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort. His past and present instructional awards include the following: Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher, Golf Digest Top 50 International Instructor, Golf Tips Top 25 Instructor, Best in State (Florida, Colorado, and California,) Top 20 Teachers Under 40, Best Young Teachers and many more. Tom is a Trackman University Master/Partner, a distinction held by less than 25 people in the world. Tom is TPI Certified- Level 1, Golf Level 2, Level 2- Power, and Level 2- Fitness and believes that you cannot reach your maximum potential as a player with out some focus on your physiology. You can reach him at [email protected] and he welcomes any questions you may have.

75 Comments

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Feb 12, 2015 at 4:24 pm

Let me share with you my numbers tested on TrackMan this Saturday 7 Feb 2015 and my hcp is 14:

Dispersion on 140 yards was 33 yards (min:114 – max:147) or a score of 67 on the Trackman Combine, equivalent of a 5 Hcp .

Dispersion on 160 yards was 24 yards (min: 148 – max:172) or a score of 67 on the Trackman Combine, equivalent of a 5 Hcp.

I believe that the scores of Howard and John in your example are still pretty good as the dispersion is lower than 10 yards, right ?

Feb 11, 2015 at 11:22 am

I’m missing one thing from this. How does the carry actually matter? I always hear that phrase “no photos on the scorecard.” In this case, it actually seems as if the higher handicappers understood what their rollout was, therefore they understood their carry.

Your point was they didn’t account for carry. I’m trying to square that still…

Barry Martin

Feb 4, 2015 at 12:27 pm

Great article Tom and many useful takeaways. I have only one point of contention…

The point you make about amateurs consistently under-clubbing isn’t quite the whole picture in my experience. As a a regular Joe, there is NOTHING more tragic than saying “gee, I’m going to be smart, club up, and put a nice smooth swing on this one.” You know what happens next – my tension free swing makes great contact and airmails the green by 10 yards. And on most courses I play, I am penalized FAR more harshly for being long than short.

As a mid-80s guy I hit very few perfect shots, and I’ve been burned so many times with this “Humble Long” miss I can’t tell you. It’s why I’ll keep hitting 8i from 150, even if I do it only 5 out of 10 times. With a short miss, I’ll usually have a fair chance at bogey (and a fighting chance to get up and down for par), where the longer club I am just asking for a particularly cruel double (or worse).

Kit Alexander

Jan 30, 2015 at 8:14 am

A nice read but I do have one issue. It states at the beginning that you asked the players to hit 150-yards shots and judged them on carry. This seems a little unfair, given you say the handicap players consistently under-clubbed even though their total distances were both around 150 yards. Either you asked them to carry the ball 150 yards – in which case you need to re-word the introduction to the article. Or they were asked to hit 150-yard total distances and did exactly that (more or less) but were unfairly judged on their carry distances. This may seem a bit pernickety but it’s pretty essential to the results and conclusions.

Feb 2, 2015 at 5:33 pm

no problem with the article and the test: it is accuracy test where you have specific targets. would like to pull a driver to increase your average distance? it is actually funny that you think your club 7 carry 150yrds but you can hit it only 1:3 and the rest is club shorter.

random dude

Feb 4, 2015 at 4:24 pm

Kit, what you’re referring to is IOA (Inter Observer Agreement), in that, was your data and Toms data similar. The problem is, Kit, you weren’t involved in the experiment, and there for, had no say in clearly defining what YOU though would be acceptable range for the dependent variable (the behavior, or in this case, what people hit their shots to) for the experiment. Tom could go out and do this experiment over and over and it would likely (predictability) yield very similar data, meaning this was both accurate, valid and reliable. To be fair to you, Kit, if you and Tom together conducted the experiment, then you could hash out and define a different scale for the dependent variable.

tom stickney

Jan 29, 2015 at 6:57 pm

Al– I feel you pain sir

Jan 29, 2015 at 6:55 pm

Dave and Drew…thank you for your comments

Jan 29, 2015 at 4:41 pm

you’re

Jan 28, 2015 at 8:14 pm

Try the same tests, with range balls the amateur hits most. I’m a hack, but I’ll find 2 (or more) shots I never saw in the sun with 1 or 3 yards between them. I amaze myself all the time with my consistency of terribleness. It’s a putrid swing, but I seem to duplicate it pretty close with practically no effort.

Jan 28, 2015 at 2:04 pm

Great article Tom! This motivates me to chart my own data and adjust my practice plans.

Jan 28, 2015 at 12:41 pm

Enjoyed the read, even if it basically told us what we already knew to be true. I don’t think a person can truly appreciate just HOW good Tour players are until they see it in person. As a 13 hcp, I’ve hit some shots that a TP would be happy with, but the difference is I do it about 1/100 swings… they do it about 90/100 swings. The talent gap is just incredible. I’ve played rounds with a few guys who are run-of-the-mill mini-tour grinders and they will mop the floor with a typical weekend warrior… but they’re not even CLOSE to the talent level of a PGA Tour Pro. And then think about guys in the top 10 – the Rory’s/Scotts of the world – they are worlds above the average Joe.

Jan 27, 2015 at 10:13 pm

Do you have record of what club each of them hit from each yardage ?

Jan 27, 2015 at 8:51 pm

I tend to be shorter on my carry with irons. That’s by design. As an intermediate player with an index of about 14, I play for par. My goal is fairways and greens in regulation. two putt and move on. I go for the middle of the green. Safest place to be for a chance at par. If I get it close and have a opp for birdie, so be it. Where as my regular playing partners are trying to muscle an 8 iron to a back pin from 155 yds to the middle, I will pull my 7, make a smooth move through the ball and have a much better chance at being on the green in regulation. I don’t normally play distance. I hit shots. If the distance calls for a 6 but the shot calls for a 5, I hit the 5…I have no ego. Far is fun. Scoring low is better.

Jan 29, 2015 at 4:40 pm

sounds like your not scoring that low

Jan 27, 2015 at 8:19 pm

Vintage and Scott…wish I had time to do more shots but this article was just meant to be a sampling of sorts

Scott Fawcett

Jan 28, 2015 at 6:20 pm

Tom, I certainly knew you weren’t representing it as iron clad fact. I was simply letting the other reader know that their point was likely lost due to the sample size.

Jan 27, 2015 at 5:55 pm

http://www.thecaddiecard.com Here’s a handy little tool I use to keep my distances on hand. It really works will all the different wedge distances I have…half swing, quarter swing and choke downs.

vintage1976

Jan 27, 2015 at 1:39 pm

Am I the only one who finds it interesting that the Tour guy had better dispersion from 150 than he did from 100?

I wonder when he was last fitted for his wedges?

Jan 27, 2015 at 2:04 pm

With three trials per shot I’d hardly say those results are definitive. If the results were proven to be valid it would likely be the result of 150 being “perfect 9” vs the 100 being a 3/4 56* or something.

Jan 27, 2015 at 1:00 pm

Jamie– couldn’t agree more!

Jan 27, 2015 at 12:59 pm

Super– Brandon is a great guy for sure…William is a ole good county-boy

Jan 27, 2015 at 12:09 pm

The golf course is the one place that perception is not reality

superfido25

Jan 27, 2015 at 11:12 am

Pretty interesting (but not surprising) results. Classy of William to partake in this study. My cousin is his caddy, and says he is one of the most down to earth pro’s he has ever worked for.

Jan 27, 2015 at 10:52 am

Jan 27, 2015 at 10:51 am

The– good call on how to find your yardages

Low– Both…but on the course is the real test!

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Jan 27, 2015 at 8:19 am

Awesome article. As a single digit player, you hit the nail on the head. As I get into my wedge play my yardages become more solid as was your example. You are correct again as with my 8 iron, the yardages are consistent but my dispersion becomes greater. As I get into my longer irons, both my distance and dispersion suffer a little more. I think the fact that many a times, we are left not hitting the mid to longer irons that frequently where we are as comfortable as say hitting the shorter/wedges since we tend to play them more. What I notice though in watching the tour players on television is that since they play from the tips, even though they hit it a long ways, a see more of the 6-5 iron shots being used on some holes due to the par 4’s being around 460 plus yards. Could this be a factor. I usually play the back tees and find I am around the 8 iron on in yardages. Yes I know I can practice my 6-5 and 4 iron more on the range but to actually use it in playing conditions more often is my question? What would you suggest.

Jan 27, 2015 at 9:35 am

Hit less than driver on more par 4s.

The Infidel

Jan 27, 2015 at 7:55 am

Great point, but also something easy to rectify. Whether it’s on a BYOB (bring your own balls) range, a quiet corner of the course or just a field where you can hit find a level or flat spot and hit 10 balls. Then set a mark with a GPS, I’ve got a $30 sky caddie 2.5, then walk to the middle of the cluster of 10 balls. Mark it, that’s your average distance.

With more than 10 balls you’ll inevitably form a closer dispersion pattern all things being equal. So what you’re looking for is that one number for that one time you pull the 7i from the bag.

I managed to chart my 4-PW over the course of 3 rounds on a quiet course. It’s not the TrackMan experience but “some” data is better than no data. Good luck.

Marty Griffin

Jan 26, 2015 at 11:44 pm

I had the opportunity to interview Tom and one of the things we talked about was consistency. So it was really cool to read all of these trackman data sets (I love stats). 14 hole good, that sounds about right Tom 🙂

Jan 26, 2015 at 10:21 pm

Sorry, I did not track that information, but I will tell you that the irons of McGirt are not set up stronger as are ours. I use the RSI’2 so you can find my specs on-line.

Jan 26, 2015 at 10:19 pm

Taylor- yardage finders help 100%

Chris– where there is a will there is a way…

Jan 26, 2015 at 10:18 pm

Awedge- Agree…thanks!

Kirby– both

Jan 26, 2015 at 10:17 pm

Steve– any tour player is pretty good up close, some just win more than others

Bill Belicheck

Jan 26, 2015 at 9:34 pm

Jan 26, 2015 at 9:17 pm

Imagine the difference if you had a good tour player

Jan 26, 2015 at 7:10 pm

This was a very interesting article. I went from a 7 handicap to a 2 within a few weeks after buying my first laser range finder.Tom, in your opinion was the amateurs inconsistencies due to strike or mechanics or both?

Jan 26, 2015 at 7:03 pm

Being a high handicapper, I charted every club in my bag. I know my average and that’s what I play. Helps with shot dispersion, confidence and common sense. My scores are dropping because I know (within reason) what I can hit. My game is getting better and I’m getting longer with every club. In the spring, I’ll re-chart.

Good article as always!

Jan 27, 2015 at 2:14 pm

About 6 months ago I purchased a “Swing Caddie” from Voice Caddie and have been using the averages stored in the device for each club and have dropped my HCP by minimum 3 strokes. Best $195 I ever spent.

Jan 26, 2015 at 6:25 pm

The ultimate question is not about what the results show, but how we as amateur players can get better at learning our distances? The obvious answer is “consult your PGA pro for lessons”. This is great to work on your swing and get more consistent. However, as your swing becomes more consistent how can we learn our real distances. We cannot afford a trackman or flightscope to measure each shot, driving range balls are generally limited distance which make determining distances impossible, and hanging out on a hole on your local golf course is generally frowned upon.

Jan 26, 2015 at 6:53 pm

After I got a laser for distance my club selection has become much more honed in. It’s not the slope version so there is still some guessing when it comes to big drops, but overall, I really know how far I hit my clubs through trial and error. More importantly, I figured out what distance I hit most from (150 yards), so I practice my 9 iron a lot more than other clubs. This really has lowered my score as I know when it comes to 150 I’m dancing.

Double Mocha Man

Jan 26, 2015 at 5:01 pm

Any chance of telling us what club (loft in degrees, not club number) each player hit on both the 100 and 150 yard shots???

Jan 26, 2015 at 4:38 pm

Good article thanks for the info. If you think this is useless information you’re probably not trying to improve. If you want to be better why not compare yourself to a pro? See how far you have to go to do something like shoot under par. That kind of accuracy from 150 is impressive and something to strive for. I know a lot of amateur golfers that can probably outdrive a tour pro…..i don’t know many that can stick it from 150 within 15 on avg.

number crunch

Jan 26, 2015 at 4:12 pm

I’m getting to the point where I’m going to stop watching golf broadcasts and stop digesting the nonsense written on mere mortals compared to a touring pro.

I do not cluster my 9i’s in a 2′ circle from 150y. I do not stop 100y shots within feet of the pin. I also do not book $1+ million in prize money on the tour on an annual basis.

How many times do we have to hear about how @#$%ing good these guys are at golf?

And the industry sits around and wonders why participation is on a negative slide. People who write these articles are shaming the average golfer…the guy who is on tour already knows he’s better than 99.99 percent of the world…this article just reminds the decent player that he will still never be as good as the guy on TV (or the guy teaching him for that matter).

on a positive note…the spelling looked good…keep up the good work!

Jan 26, 2015 at 3:45 pm

I’m not going to say these are useless numbers you crunched. But the results and findings seemed to be too simple and generally intuitive to most any half wit. As an 11, I can hit it 2 feet from the flag (occasionally) or I can hit it 20 yards from it (more likely). Would I have thought that kind of lame consistency from a tour player before reading this? Or even a scratch golfer? And now through your study we know that with empirical evidence to back up what we knew. Sadly it won’t do me any good tho holding a club in my hand at 150 yds out…

Jan 26, 2015 at 3:30 pm

Nice article, Tom. Can’t wait for the snow to melt here in Montana so I can get back after it!

Jan 26, 2015 at 3:22 pm

This article is a great example of the fact that Pros (a vast majority of the time and only unless the shot requires them to release the ball), hit the ball to or past the flag. Amatures so often, forget to factor in release or in some cases spin. A big part of this is knowing course conditions and how they affect (effect?) the ball. It’s all part of creating consistency.

Jan 26, 2015 at 3:08 pm

Great, Great, article!! Kevin-This is extremely useful data because of the conditions. This was done under ideal conditions, and these results are the absolute best they could hope for. On the course under “real world” conditions, with the pressure of a “not middle” pin (which is 2/3 of pin placements on an average course set up), the numbers are just going to get worse. That my friend is useful data, if they are willing to learn.

Jan 26, 2015 at 3:07 pm

Useful info. I am not as consistent as your two amateurs, let alone a pro. I love to play golf but hate to do poorly. Practice practice practice. Thanks.

Robert Cadnor

Jan 26, 2015 at 2:54 pm

Great article! Two questions. For William’s 150 yard shot, you mention “Also look at what club he hit versus the other players”.

1. Isn’t he using the same 8iron as you and Howard?

2. What were the carry/total for William and your 8irons?

Thanks for the great read. It’s interesting to see the dispersion differences.

Jan 26, 2015 at 2:15 pm

Talk about a pile of lame and useless info!

Jan 26, 2015 at 3:28 pm

How can you deem this “useless info”? It really digs into why tour pros are so good week after week after week, and leaves us with practice implications, ideas to ponder, etc.

i could say the same about your comment

Kevin Taglione

Jan 26, 2015 at 2:09 pm

This was cool test but I feel like the data is kind of un-useful. Because they were hitting on the range and same lie every time. not like a golf course. I would have more interesting to track a couple rounds of golf for these 4 players and see their GIR reg % from various yardage ranges (>100, 100-120, 120-140, ect.) Becasue most their misses from what I could see would still be on the green as long as they weren’t going at tucked pins.

Jan 26, 2015 at 1:46 pm

Mark– I did that article a few months ago, check my archives on Golfwrx and you’ll find it. Thx

Jan 26, 2015 at 1:45 pm

Golf- Yes, be mindful of how far you fly the ball, but do remember how the ball usually reacts when it hits the greens you tend to play

Jan 26, 2015 at 1:44 pm

Teaj– Glad you liked the article, take a golf vacation ASAP

Jan 26, 2015 at 1:42 pm

Jason– Agree, but at least this gives you some information to audit on your own

Jan 26, 2015 at 1:41 pm

Thanks Ryan

Jan 26, 2015 at 1:30 pm

glad to see someone breaking down small things like this. But for the guy who goes to the range to try and do this I don’t think it will reflect the correct data they are after. Your players use balls on the range that is the same ball they play with. From what I know range balls we common people use do not fly the same as the ball I play with.

Jan 26, 2015 at 1:17 pm

this makes me want to hit balls for hours to see what my carry and total distances are for each club, because you bring up a good point that all we think about is the total distance. I started doing this with wedges, finding the carry distance but why would we not do this for all of our clubs. if you have a bunker that you need to carry in front of the green on a long par 4 id like to know if I should club up and hope the ball stays on the green and not roll of the back. Oh how I am missing golf up hear in the great white north.

Jan 26, 2015 at 1:15 pm

what I take from it is to be more concious of total distance especially to pins. Often I take the right club for the distane but don’t take the roll into account – well we don’t spin it as well. Hitting it both 100 and 15o yards is key – now I see how I struggled on the 100 yards mark.

Mark Littlejohn

Jan 26, 2015 at 1:03 pm

Very interesting. It would also be interesting to see something like this done for single digit handicappers with hybrids vs 3/4 irons. Hybrids may be easier to hit and get airborne, but I suspect that the average single digit player would spray them as much or worse than they do the 3/4 irons…most hybrids have a built in draw bias. I hit my Mac 1025m 3 iron way better than my 21 degree hybrid, but I use a 17 degree Titleist 909H hybrid as a 2 iron just fine.

Ryan @Front9Back9

Jan 26, 2015 at 12:15 pm

Nice analysis. These kinds of breakdowns are cool to see

Tom Stickney

Jan 26, 2015 at 12:12 pm

Jafar- not right now…sorry

Jan 26, 2015 at 12:11 pm

Matt– no chance. I’ll be last! ????

Jan 26, 2015 at 11:50 am

Oooooo! Do drivers! DO DRIVERS! Haha!

Jan 26, 2015 at 11:40 am

I like these kinds of articles. Shows what I might be doing myself. Is there gonna be one for 150+ yards or drives?

Jan 26, 2015 at 11:30 am

Nice article, with just one ticky-tack comment. McGirt’s “big miss” on the 100yd shot would be 3.6 yards…not 1.4, correct?

Zak Kozuchowski

Jan 26, 2015 at 11:57 am

That appears to be our “big miss.” Thanks for the edit, sir.

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The wedge guy: the easiest-to-learn golf basic.

My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.

As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.

The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.

Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply.  Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:

Mis-aligned hands

By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.

The position of the grip in the upper/left hand

I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean.  Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.

To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.

Too much lower (right) hand on the club

It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.

Gripping too tightly

Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.

So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.

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Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!

Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?

How a towel can fix your golf swing

This is a classic drill that has been used for decades. However, the world of marketed training aids has grown so much during that time that this simple practice has been virtually forgotten. Because why teach people how to play golf using everyday items when you can create and sell a product that reinforces the same thing? Nevertheless, I am here to give you helpful advice without running to the nearest Edwin Watts or adding something to your Amazon cart.

For the “scoring clubs,” having a solid connection between the arms and body during the swing, especially through impact, is paramount to creating long-lasting consistency. And keeping that connection throughout the swing helps rotate the shoulders more to generate more power to help you hit it farther. So, how does this drill work, and what will your game benefit from it? Well, let’s get into it.

You can use this for basic chip shots up to complete swings. I use this with every club in my bag, up to a 9 or 8-iron. It’s natural to create incrementally more separation between the arms and body as you progress up the set. So doing this with a high iron or a wood is not recommended.

While you set up to hit a ball, simply tuck the towel underneath both armpits. The length of the towel will determine how tight it will be across your chest but don’t make it so loose that it gets in the way of your vision. After both sides are tucked, make some focused swings, keeping both arms firmly connected to the body during the backswing and follow through. (Note: It’s normal to lose connection on your lead arm during your finishing pose.) When you’re ready, put a ball in the way of those swings and get to work.

Get a Better Shoulder Turn

Many of us struggle to have proper shoulder rotation in our golf swing, especially during long layoffs. Making a swing that is all arms and no shoulders is a surefire way to have less control with wedges and less distance with full swings. Notice how I can get in a similar-looking position in both 60° wedge photos. However, one is weak and uncontrollable, while the other is strong and connected. One allows me to use my larger muscles to create my swing, and one doesn’t. The follow-through is another critical point where having a good connection, as well as solid shoulder rotation, is a must. This drill is great for those who tend to have a “chicken wing” form in their lead arm, which happens when it becomes separated from the body through impact.

In full swings, getting your shoulders to rotate in your golf swing is a great way to reinforce proper weight distribution. If your swing is all arms, it’s much harder to get your weight to naturally shift to the inside part of your trail foot in the backswing. Sure, you could make the mistake of “sliding” to get weight on your back foot, but that doesn’t fix the issue. You must turn into your trial leg to generate power. Additionally, look at the difference in separation between my hands and my head in the 8-iron examples. The green picture has more separation and has my hands lower. This will help me lessen my angle of attack and make it easier to hit the inside part of the golf ball, rather than the over-the-top move that the other picture produces.

Stay Better Connected in the Backswing

When you don’t keep everything in your upper body working as one, getting to a good spot at the top of your swing is very hard to do. It would take impeccable timing along with great hand-eye coordination to hit quality shots with any sort of regularity if the arms are working separately from the body.

Notice in the red pictures of both my 60-degree wedge and 8-iron how high my hands are and the fact you can clearly see my shoulder through the gap in my arms. That has happened because the right arm, just above my elbow, has become totally disconnected from my body. That separation causes me to lift my hands as well as lose some of the extension in my left arm. This has been corrected in the green pictures by using this drill to reinforce that connection. It will also make you focus on keeping the lead arm close to your body as well. Because the moment either one loses that relationship, the towel falls.

I have been diligent this year in finding a few drills that target some of the issues that plague my golf game; either by simply forgetting fundamental things or by coming to terms with the faults that have bitten me my whole career. I have found that having a few drills to fall back on to reinforce certain feelings helps me find my game a little easier, and the “towel drill” is most definitely one of them.

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