Three Factors to improve

Short & Mid Putts

(1) Direction

(2) Ideal Speed

(3) Green Reading

Direction is more important for Short Putts.
Speed is more important for Mid Putts.

(1) Direction

For Short Putts, Direction is the absolute key factor.
What is more important, Path or Face Angle?

Let’s look at 2 examples.

From 5 feet club path is ~20° outside target line but club face is pointing to the hole at impact. Putt will still go in.

From 5 feet if club face is more than 2° outside target line, putt will not go in.

Direction is influenced ~90% by face angle. Try this on the putting green with a 5 ft putt.

At 5 feet your angle can deviate between 2 degrees. Professionals have an average deviation of 0.5°.

(2) Ideal Speed

What is the ideal speed, a putt should enter the hole?

Let’s look at 3 examples.

At Speed of 5 Feet passed the hole. The hole is effectively only 10% wide. Putts on the side will not fall down because they roll too fast. (red area)

At Speed of 3 Feet passed the hole. The hole is effectively only 40% wide. Only Putts in the middle part of the hole can fall down. All other putts lib out. (orange area)

At Speed of 1 Feet passed the hole. The hole is effectively 75% wide. Most putts go in, because the ball will fall down on the side of the hole. Only on the complete edge of the hole, the putts will lib out. (blue area)

At a Speed of 1ft passed the hole. The putts on the side roll slower, so that they can fall down. This gives you an effective hole size of 75%.

All Short&Mid Putts should be played with 1ft passed the hole.

(3) Green Reading

How do you find your target point in practice?

Find any breaking putt between. Putt straight at the hole.

With an ideal speed of 1 foot passed the hole. The ball will break and not go in. Mark the spot where the ball stops at 1 foot passed the hole. This gives you the break of the putt.

You can find your target point on the other side at the same distance. This is how you find a target point.

Check out what Padraig Harrington says on his YouTube channel about:

Reading the green

How to improve

90% Direction | 10% Speed

Green Reading: One specific point
Goal: To hole Putt

Your focus should be on direction of the putt.  Since the ideal speed of 1 foot behind the hole is relatively easy to have from 0 to 6 feet.

Skill development: Ability to change your face angle

With a Putter the ball will start 90% towards your clubface or face angle, the remaining 10% are influenced by your club path.

Having control over the Face Angle is very important to improve your direction. Practice on your skill to control your face angle.

40% Direction | 60% Speed

Green Reading: One specific point
Goal: To hole Putt, with ideal Speed

Now your focus should be moving towards speed, since the longer the putt gets the more speed is important.

Skill development: Ability to change your putt speed

Since it will get more and more difficult to actually hole a putt, speed becomes more and more important. Only at the ideal speed your green reading is correct.

Practice on your skill to control your speed.

Green Reading for Short and Mid Putts is to find a specific target point.

Skill development: Ability to find your target point

After you have mastered to start the putt on a correct line (direction) and at the perfect speed. Focus now on the correct target point.

Practice on your skill to find your target point.

START YOUR TRAINING!

Short & Mid Putts: 10 Training Sessions

These 10 Training Sessions can be spread out over 4-8 weeks, depending on how often you train.

  • Before starting the training revisit how to train

  • Apply the 20 | 20 | 20  minutes rule

  • Combine this training plan with one long game skill

Train ‘Short & Mid Putts’