3 Drills, 20 Minutes Practice And No More Three-Putts

If you really wanting to stop three-putting, you need to put some practice in on the putting green. Ideally, you need to work on a few drills, which will really help you to focus and create a bit of pressure.

Here, Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach Paul Foston demonstrates three of the best putting drills that will help you to stop three-putting.

Yes, we're going to three-putt occasionally - even the pros do - but these drills are designed to make them much more of a rarity.

DRILLS TO HELP YOU STOP THREE-PUTTING

Paul Foston

Paul has worked with a number of Tour professionals over the years, and is proud to have successfully coached over 40,000 students. In 2005, he set out to design his own academy with a ‘world class’ coaching infrastructure of technical advancement and a tailor made short game layout to practice every real life challenge experienced on course.

1 Breaking putt drill

One of the biggest mistakes amateurs make on the greens is missing sloping putts on the low side. If you fall into that camp, this drill will help.

Find a breaking putt on the practice green and place six balls along the line of how you expect it to break. Starting with the straight putt that’s nearest to the hole, work your way back.

Each putt you hit will break slightly more than the one before. When you reach the final ball, you’ll have a much better feel for the extent of the break facing you. This is a great way of training yourself to picture the line of sloping putts.

2 Committing to the curve

Another great drill to help you commit to hitting the apex of the curve is to practice hitting straight putts to the point at which you expect the ball to break.

Here (below), I have placed four tee pegs in the ground just inside where I think the ball will bend. I’m looking to narrowly miss the last tee – what happens after that will depend on how accurate my read was.

Think of this not as one long, breaking putt but a shorter, straight putt. Lock in your focus on that point and you’ll avoid the mistake of being drawn into your final target.

3 Round the clock drill

Place 12 balls around the hole in the formation shown here. The idea is to move round the clock, holing all the four-footers, moving onto the five-footers and finally the six-footers.

As you move round, each putt will have a slightly different break that you’ll need to read. Run through your usual pre-putt routine for each ball as this will help you feel comfortable when you are trying to make these for real.

FAQS

How many three-putts does the average golfer make over the course of a round?

For the average golfer (15-handicapper), the stats show that this player will three-putt every 9.7 holes. This number has been provided by Shot Scope, our official data partner.

How many three-putts does a scratch golfer make?

According to Shot Scope, a scratch golfer will three-putt, on average, once every 35.7 holes.