When a golfer wants to improve his/her putting skills, putting to a hole randomly without a plan won’t do much besides giving you a comfort feeling of the greens’ speed. When you practice, be sure you are trying to improve your putting stroke rather than just seeing the result of your golf ball rolling into the hole.
These drills below are good ways to make your putting stroke more consistent with the purpose of practicing. Hopefully you enjoy some of these drills and they keep you longer on the practice green to improve your stroke and your ability to read a green. Try these out and you’ll be putting like a golf pro in your next tournament. Happy Putting!
360 Putting Drill
Select a distance from the hole (5ft, 10ft) and create eight spots around the hole with the same distance. This way you can have different putts even though they are at the same distance unless the area you are using is completely flat. I recommend not using a flat area so you can have different putts at each spot. You can be very creative when putting around the hole with the tees.
Gate Putting Drills
You can be very creative with using tees in the green by using them as guides or visualization points when you practice. You will see many good players practice with the tees on both ends of the putter head at set up or using them as a gate for the ball to roll through.
Aiming Putting Drills
You can use tees or coins as alignment targets to aim at when a putt breaks but put another tee what side of the tee you want your golf ball to roll. This will help you visualize your putts and help you read greens better. You should move those marks if they are not in the correct spots until you read them perfectly. Many golfers can putt the ball well but you need to read your putt correctly also.
Coin Drop Putting Drill
Many golfers decelerate at impact even if they don’t know it. Put a coin on the back of the flange of your putter if it allows it. When you make your stroke, you want to have that coin fall off the putter when you transition into the forward-stroke. You will need to start feeling this as you approach the transition in order to make your stroke feel smooth.
Give it a Chance Putting Drill
This drill can help you make the perfect-distanced putt from all different distances. Place your tees all from different distances on the same line. Lay down any club or an alignment stick 2 feet behind the hole. Your goal is to putt from your spots and have your golf ball pass the hole (if you don’t make it) and not have it hit the club/stick that’s behind it. You don’t necessarily need a hole since its all about your distance so you can even use a ball mark at your target.
Railroad Tracks Putting Drill
You can use two alignment sticks but not necessary to line up your putts in-between the sticks to create tracks.