Better Lag Putting Is Easy!

So it goes without saying that putting can be the key to shooting much, much lower scores. Putting is what makes up half of your score in an average round! Sounds like a good place to shaves some strokes, right? Of course, you knew that. So where do you go about tightening up your putting game? You work on your fundamentals, and your mental approach. You learn to read the green effectively. All important stuff. What about lag putting? How often do you three-putt from 10 feet away? Probably not very often. How often do you three-putt from 20 or more feet away? Probably most of the time. This means your lag putting needs some work.


So what exactly is lag putting? Well it is a long putt, usually at least 15 feet or more. The idea of a good lag putt is to get the ball close to the hole, not in. Basically, at that distance, you are shooting for a two-putt. If you can put the ball within 4 feet of the hole from a distance of 30 feet, or even 50 feet, you are putting yourself in very good shape for a two-putt. Who wouldn’t be happy with a two-putt from that distance?

So you might be wondering how you go about getting the ball that close when lag putting. I know many of us (including me) struggle with distance on those long putts. The further away you get, the tougher it is to judge speed. How many times have you left a 30 foot putt 10 or 15 feet short? How about shot 10 or 15 feet long? Yeah, it happens to all of us. So how do you get past that?

The trouble for me is that I tend to over think the speed of a long putt. I keep thinking about how much power to put into the putt. It ends up hurting me in the end. When putting from a shorter distance, we are taught to keep our head down, and listen for the ball to drop into the cup. This just doesn’t work in lag putting. Here’s what you do. Watch the hole as you putt. That's right. Use your natural hand eye coordination to get the ball close. You would be surprised at how close you can get it. Don’t over think it. Imagine yourself throwing a baseball to somebody 30 feet away. How long would you think about how hard to throw it. Would you look at the person your throwing to, or would you watch the ball in your hand? I’m guessing you would just throw the ball while looking at the person your throwing to. You wouldn’t over think it, and you would probably throw it right to that person.

You can think of lag putting in this same way. Don’t over think it. Your brain, and body are capable of great things. You should simply trust your body, and watch the hole as you putt.