Putting Tips

Managing Long Putts

To shoot par you are allowed 2 putts on every green. Here are a few basic putting tips to help you make sure your score on the putting green stays in check throughout the entire round.

Making a long putt is a sure way to brighten up any round. It is a huge confidence booster, and it can take the wind out of the sails of any opponent. But long putts are obviously difficult to make, with the added danger of a bad initial stroke leading to a three-putt or four-putt that can throw anyone's game into a funk.

Mental Training on the Putting Green

One of the best tips on putting for long putts is to maintain mental focus throughout your duration on the putting green. Your mental putting frame of mind has a lot to do with keeping your score low on the carpet.

The first thing to do when looking at a long putt is to judge the distance. Distance control is what keeps away the round-killing three-putts -- the worst thing to do on a 45-footer is to leave yourself with a 20-footer on the way back. Don’t just focus on how far away the hole is – read the green to see if it’s fast or slow, uphill or downhill. By the time you start your putting stroke, you should be confident that you know how hard you have to hit the ball to get it where it needs to go.

That should be your top priority when reading the green. It’s not like judging the left-right break in the green isn’t important, but a mistake there is less critical on long putts. If you miss left or right but get the distance right, you should have a relatively easy second putt. If you hit the ball right at the hole but get the speed wrong, that’s a huge mistake on an unforgiving green that can leave you with an equally challenging second putt.

It's very important to remember that to generate the extra distance, you need a longer putting stroke. Take your shoulders and arms back a little farther, and follow through accordingly. That allows for a longer putt without changing the overall swing form. A mistake that many golfers inadvertently make is to try and generate distance with the wrists, which can lead to disaster not just on that particular hole, but on future holes as well if it isn’t noticed and corrected.

One Final Putting Tip for Sinking Long Putts

One final putting tip to remember with long puts is ... try to make them! A lot of golfers look at a 25-footer as a two-putt, with the primary goal of the initial stroke being to leave a short tap-in. If that happens ... great! But you have a better shot at getting close to the hole if that's what you're aiming for, rather than some mythical three-foot circle that surrounds it. Don’t rely on your opponent for a gimmie and a three-foot tap-in – putt to impress and aim for the cup.