Lower Your Putts Per Round Today

The number of putts per round you take has a direct impact on how well you score. Without accurate putting, there's no reasonable way to expect lower scores.

After all, the number of putts you take will, on average, make up between 40 - 50% of your total score.

This means that if you shoot a 90, on average you will likely have between 36 and 40 putts.

The number of putts you make through the course of a round are determined by two basic things:

How close you hit the ball to the hole in your approach or greenside shot -And-
How well you putt

Improve on either one of these things (preferably both) and you're guaranteed to lower your putts per round. Easier said than done! Or is it?

3-Putts...The Bane of a Golfer's Existence

The first order of business in reducing your putts per round is to eliminate your 3 (or **gasp** 4) putts. These nasty creatures sneak up on you and can really add up.

Why do we 3-putt? Simple! We don't get the first putt close enough.

Popular advice for chronic 3-putters is to just try and get the first putt close. "Putt to within a barrel hoop," conventional golfing wisdom says. This advice is all wrong!

Putting is a game of precision. If you can't putt the ball close to the hole, what makes you think you can putt the ball close to a 5 foot radius around the hole?

This mentality is all wrong.

To start eliminating the nasty 3-putts and to lower your putts per round, approach every putt as though you are trying to make it. I mean, really make it.

At first you'll probably find yourself putting the ball past the hole consistently - that's okay. It means you're being aggressive and trying to make the putt. You'll quickly hone in on the distance factor.

Based on my experience, simply concentrating on trying to make every putt - I mean every putt - will lower your score by 3-4 strokes.

After trying this approach, what happens if you still find yourself 3 putting often? My guess is you may have something fundamentally wrong with your putting stroke.

Not to worry, schedule some time with your local professional for a putting lesson. This will be money very well spent.

2-Putts...Like Kissing Your Sister

If you have 2 putts per green, your putts per round will be 36. This may sound fine for some but with just a little work, you can easily get this down a couple putts.

If you hit the green in regulation and have two putts, that's a par. That's a good thing so we won't focus on these 2-putts.

Where we want to turn the 2-putts into 1-putts is around the green - chipping and sand shots.

While we could write an entire book (or website) on the short game, we'll just cover a couple of very useful tips to help you get the ball closer with your short game shots...

Chipping - Let the Ball Do the Work

There's a quick and easy way to consistently get the ball closer to the hole in your chips (and increase the chances of a 1-putt). You need to stop chipping at the hole and start chipping at a spot on the green.

Sure, you're still trying to get the ball in or close to the hole. But if we chip to a spot on the green, we can then let the ball roll to the hole - it does all of our work for us.

If you use a wedge for your chip shot, pick a spot about halfway between the ball and the hole. If you use anything lower than a wedge, pick a spot about a third of the way between your ball and the hole.

Concentrate on hitting your chip to the spot you've picked out. Then let the ball roll its way to the hole.

To illustrate the point, I've made this sound easy. Once you get the hang of it, it actually is. But you'll still need to be able to chip to the spot you pick out. And that takes practice.

Don't be afraid to take a bucket of balls to the practice green and just practice on picking a spot for your chips. Gauge the distance, read the break, pick the spot and chip! Lower your putts per round with improved chipping.

Once you master this chipping approach you should easily be able to trim off 1-3 putts per round.

Sand Shots - Let the Club Do the Work

I've never met any golfer who's lukewarm to sand shots. They're either consistently good or consistently terrible. The latter group gets so psyched out by the sand that they're lucky to even get out of the bunker in their first shot. Not to mention that they likely end up a mile from the hole.

The problem most golfers have with sand shots is that they try to force their way out of the bunker. Brute force.

If you're ever stuck in quicksand, know the worst thing you can possibly do? Try and muscle your way out. You'll drown. Similar concept with a greenside bunker. Try to force your way out and you'll never get to the green.

The sand wedge is a specially designed club for...tah dah...the sand!

The bottom of the sand wedge (called the sole), is wider than your other clubs. It also has a bit of radius to help it "bounce" through the sand. The sand wedge is designed to do your dirty, sandy work for you.

Here's how...

Similar to chipping, the first thing you want to do in the sand is to pick and aim at a spot on the green. For most greenside bunker shots, pick a spot about halfway to the hole.

Next, open your stance so your feet are aiming a bit to the left of your target.

Open the club face on your sand wedge so that it's aiming a bit to the right of your target.

Using a three-quarters upright swing with plenty of wrist, hit a spot in the sand about 1-2 inches behind the ball. In a good sand shot, your golf club never even touches the ball! The sand is compressed between the club face and ball and this compression "pops" the ball out of the bunker.

Although this is a finesse shot, make sure you accelerate through the ball. If you slow down your swing, the club will get stuck in the sand.

Practice builds confidence in the sand. Take some time and practice your sand shots. And by all means, use a sand wedge. If you don't have one, buy one.

Depending on how frequently you hit into the bunkers, improving your sand play can reduce your putts per round by 2-3 shots.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Using the tips above for eliminating 3 putts and making more 1 putts, you should lower your score by 6 - 10 putts per round. Yes, you heard me right.

See, that's what most golfers don't realize. They spend all of their time practicing their driver and irons. Sure, that's practice time well spent. But you'll gain the most strokes, most quickly, by improving your short game.

Make short game practice an integral part of your routine.

For chipping, practice chipping to a spot. Try to make every one of your chips. This practice mentality will really help you get the ball closer to the hole - and make more 1 putts.

For sand shots, practice your form. Never leave a sand shot in the bunker. Practice until you're just as confident in the bunker as you are on a chip shot.

Finally, practice your putting. Don't just practice to get feel for the pace of the green. Practice on improving your consistency. Practice making those 5-7 foot putts.

Practice makes perfect. Let your short game improvement help you break that scoring barrier - 100, 90, 80, whatever score you've been trying to break.

Lower your putts per round with more golf putting tips.