PERFECT YOUR PRACTICE

Improve your confidence on the green with these three putting drills

1. DIAL IN YOUR STROKE

Drills are the best ways to practise pressure putting – and this one (see right) is a great starting point because it challenges you to hole out from inside 10ft, which is where you make your score on the course. Start by placing four balls around the hole and try to hole each putt from four feet. Keeping score, you then change the line of each putt and increase the length to 5ft, then 6ft, 7ft and 8ft. The goal is to hole 15 of the 20 putts, so if you miss five putts before the final set, that means you’ve got to hole four eight-footers or you’ll need to start again. Sometimes it can take 10 minutes, other times it can take an hour!

2. TAKE ON THE 75FT TEST

This next drill is a favourite of my putting coach, Mike Kanski, because it tests your start line, distance control and green reading ability. To set it up, take four balls and position them around the hole at 5ft, 10ft, 15ft and 20ft. Once you’ve hit those four putts, find a new hole and repeat the process five times, keeping count of the distances of putts holed. In total, you’ll hit 20 putts from a combined total of 250 feet. Par is 75ft and anything above that means you are gaining versus the tour average.

3. GET ON A ROLL

I’ll let you in on a secret: I only try and hit putts over the first six inches. The start line is the most important thing when putting. If you can’t start it online, your reads are going to be all over the place. Every day, I use the same training aid – a Visio Mi Putting Template – to provide instant feedback on the quality of my stroke and set-up (see below). I definitely recommend you use it.