Drill It & Kill It: Find Your Core Putt

Some days the putting greens feel like quicksand. Other days, they feel like greased lightning. So if you’re serious about starting your round off right, then you should set aside some pre-round work on the practice putting green. But before you start gunning straight for the holes, you might instead take the following advice from top putting instructor Geoff Mangum, in which he recommends calibrating your “core” putt for optimal distance control:

“At the beginning of the round, instead of trying to get the ‘hit’ just right to fit the green speed, first calibrate your usual putting tempo and stroke to the day‘s green speed by using the same size backstroke and tempo to roll several balls all the same distance. Whatever the green speed at the time, the distance these balls roll will register as your basic or ‘core’ putt. This allows you to use an instinctive, no-hit stroke for superb distance control for the rest of the day, effortlessly varying longer or shorter putts through the knowledge of your core distance.”

Thanks to Geoff for personally sharing this drill with PutterZone.com! Click here to view Geoff’s comprehensive web site and here to read PutterZone.com’s recent interview with him.