Score Better With Longer Short Putts

One day, it dawned on us that we were thinking about golf holes backwards. "Grip it and rip it", "Drive for show", "Send it", whatever. That's the macho way to start a hole, right?

But it's not the way to start every hole. Just look at par 3s. Unless you're playing course 3 at Medinah, you're not hitting driver on 4 of the 18 holes. So what should you think about on those holes?

It's simple. Think about what your last putt will look like. Unless you drain a long one or hole out, it's probably a short one... Ideally a tap in or gimmie, but likely something in that 3 foot range.

Our philosophy is that that's the most important shot in golf. If you can get to a point where you never miss a shot in that range, and to where you can extend that range from 3 feet to 4, to 5, to 6, ... the rest of the game gets easier.

Think about it. If your "never miss" range is 6 feet, you can miss read a long lag putt 6 feet to the right or long, and still make par. It makes chips and pitches easier too. For the bogy golfer, just get it on the green, lag to your never miss range, and you'll get down in 3 at worst. Better golfers have a huge area to hit to in order to get up and down.

When you're two putting at worst, it makes approach shots easier too. If you're able to just get it on the green, you make par. If you're out of position on your drive, it's easy to take your medicine, get it back in the fairway, then back onto the green and take bogey at worst.

Facing that really long and really narrow par 4? Take an iron off the green, get your approach near the green, and try to get up and down.

Next time you're practicing, just take twice as long practicing 3, 4, 5 footers. Try to make 10 in a row from 6 feet. Then the next time you play, you'll score better... ideally you'll keep track with Wasted Shots.