Putting Practice Games That Lead to Big Gains: Part 2

Putting is probably the most important part of your golf game. How important is it? The following from putting and short game guru, Dave Pelz should sum up how important:

“Regardless of skill level, putting accounts for approximately 43 percent of your total strokes, taking into account your good putting days and the ones where you’re ready to snap your flatstick over your knee. Lower this percentage and your scores will go down. Allocate at least one-third of your practice time to becoming the best putter you can be.”

Recently, I shared two great putting games that my good friend and fellow PGA Professional, Casey Bourque (https://www.about-golf.org/) shared with me. Below is one more great game you can use to spice up your putting practice..

The Ladder Putting Challenge

This is a fun putting game to help you with your short and medium range putts and can also be played competitively with friends. To set up this drill, you’ll need 6 to 10 golf tees, and each player will need one golf ball.

Most normal length putters are approximately 3 feet in length, use this to measure a 3-foot putt and place a tee in the ground. From there, move back away from the hole in 2-foot increments, perhaps measured from the head of your putter to the bottom edge of the grip, placing a tee in each location. You can decide to go straight back away from the hole to keep the same line of putt, or you can stagger the tees so that each putt has a different break to it. The more stations you decide to set up, the more difficult it will be to accomplish this drill.

Each player starts at the three-foot tee hitting one putt per turn. Anytime you make a putt, you move one station back away from the hole on your next turn. Any time you miss a putt, you fall one station toward the hole on your next turn. The goal is to climb the ladder, so to speak, moving away from the hole as you make putts. The first player to make the putt from the longest station wins.