Two Factors to improve Long Putts
(1) Distance
(2) Green Reading
(1) Distance
Distance outweighs accuracy by a lot.
Let’s look at some statistics.
1-Putt probability significantly goes down.
The 3-Putt probability goes tremendously up. So it is very important to control your distance for a long putt.
(2) Green Reading
You don’t want to find a specific target point. Better find a target area. Compared to Short Putts where you want a target point.
If you think about a point, the section in the brain, which is responsible for accuracy, is activated. You don’t want this for long putts. It should be a feeling to putt towards an area. Only find a target area for long putts during Green Reading. Focus on Speed and Rhythm when you putt.
Feeling for slope with your body is the ideal way to go for a easy green read.
Find a Target area for long distances and putt to that area.
How to improve
Skill development: Ability to change your putt speed
Forget about systems that indicate the length of a motion to control distance.
This is an internal focus on the body, better focus on external factors like controlling the distance with feel.
It’s all about your feeling to putt to a certain distance.
This can be best trained with differential drills for different distances.
All following length will be in feet. If you need yards or meters, check this table. Don’t be to accurate for the long putt drills, it doesn’t matter if you are +/- 2 feet for a starting point.
When you train, I would recommend to use your laser to approximately measure a distance.
Practice on your skill to change putt speed.
Check out what Padraig Harrington says on his YouTube channel about:
Reading the green
START YOUR TRAINING!
Long Putts: 10 Training Sessions
These 10 Training Sessions can be spread out over 4-8 weeks, depending on how often you train.