Get Lower Golf Scores Via Putting Distance Control

Most average golfers have difficulty improving their golf scores on a consistent basis. They might practice a bit between rounds, but that practice is usually rather haphazard and is not well planned. 90% of average golfers can shoot consistently better scores, however, and the way to do this is to improve putting.

Even if you did not hit one green in regulation but rather hit every green in regulation plus one stroke, in other words you hit par three greens in two strokes, par four greens in three strokes, and par five greens in four strokes, you could still shoot 90 if you had no three putts. And even if you had a couple of three putts, chances are you can get up and down once or twice or even manage to hit a green or two in regulation.

Having only one or two 3-putts in a round is not easy to accomplish, but the best way to approach this problem is to improve your distance control. There is a little practice putting game called Safety Drawback, invented by the famous short game expert, Dave Pelz, which can help you improve your distance control.

This article does not concentrate on alignment, but you should try to attain the best putter alignment you can. Suffice it to say that if Tiger Woods needs to put a line on his ball and use that to point at his target, then this practice will probably help you as well.

Dave Pelz proved that the optimum force to hit is putt is 17 inches beyond a hole. He showed that more putts will go into the hole if hit with this speed. So please take this as a given. The object of Safety Drawback is to hit your putt past the hole but have the ball come to rest in a semicircle that is within three feet beyond the hole. You will imagine a semicircle rather than a full circle because your goal is to hit the ball at least to the hole and not leave it short. A three foot semicircle beyond the hole is easy to visualize because the average putter shaft is 35 inches in length.

If you get into the 3 foot semicircle past the hole, you can now putt the ball in from there without moving it. On most occasions your score should be a two. If you are not in the 3 foot semicircle area past the hole, you must move your ball three feet farther from the hole in a radial fashion. So if you were five feet past the hole on our first putt, your second putt will be from 8 feet. If you are in the imaginary circle beyond the hole after your second putt, you can putt the ball in from there without moving it and your score will be three. If not you must move the ball another 3 feet from the hole radially and try again. After this point all putts must be moved back three feet farther from the hole as described. The maximum score on a hole is five, except the last hole where there is no limit. Play this game for at least nine holes.

Playing this game with a friend will add a little competition to the exercise and usually makes golfers concentrate more on their distance control and get more out of the game.