Putting 15 Minutes

Rafa says: “Once I’ve finished stretching, I begin on the putting green. I start by laying down my putting mirror to make sure I am setting up correctly and the line of my stroke is right. Then I move on to hitting a few longer putts to get the feel for the greens that day. It’s important to hit uphill, downhill, left-to-right and right-to-left putts. After that I’ll create a circle, anywhere from three to seven feet from the hole. I’ll hit between 20 and 40 of those putts, because missing one out on the course is a shot gone. Knowing that you have just made ten or 15 putts in a row boosts your confidence.”

Pro tip: Always add an element of pressure to your putting routine, as Rafa does with his circle drill. From longer range, you can try hitting a series of putts from over 20ft into a box marked out by tee-pegs around the hole. Create a scoring system to quantify your practice and take note of your scores. These can be the yardstick against which you can judge your improvement through the year.