You don’t have to Hole Everything to be a great putter!
You don’t have to Hole Everything to be a great putter!
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As a former South African Tour player (who was not a great putter), I understand how important it is to putt well.
And I was certainly hard on myself when I did not hole a putt. In those days, we didn’t possess the information that is available for today’s tour players. When Matthew Guyatt started to look at the top putters putting stats on tour, he realized that they also did not hole every putt. That took the mental pressure off his game, and his hopes for the future are a lot brighter! Thanks to Matt for this article via the Australian PGA!
A week or so ago I came home from another trip to Japan and was a little disappointed.
I had played really well and shot four sub par rounds for the week finishing at 10-under par.
Why would I be disappointed with that I hear you ask?
Well I didn’t putt well and once again felt as though that part of my game let the rest of my game down again!
That Monday I sat down at my computer and decided to do some research. I looked up the PGA Tour putting stats for this year to date.
What I found will change me forever, I hope. The numbers were amazing.
I looked at putts from three feet to 10 feet and then in some larger brackets beyond that out to 25 feet.
I looked at the best, the number one ranked player and his percentage of putts holed from all of those distances and then also looked at the 10th player and also the last placed player from every distance.
What I found in a nutshell without really boring you completely to tears was that from inside five feet the number one putter is exceptional and is nearly at 100% although 10th place only makes around 88% from five feet whilst last place makes only 61% from five feet.
The numbers continue to considerably slide the further you get from the hole which is understandable but what shocked me were the numbers.
From 10 feet, the best is at a very respectable 73%, but 10th place drops to 57% whilst the last place is only making 17% from that range.
I guess what I am getting at here is that for a very, very long time I have been expecting to make more putts than the best putters in the world.
Unrealistic expectations and that have over a number of years built the pressure on the greens and caused me to spiral downwards mentally to the point of suffering the yips and incredible mental instability in the greens.
The best in the world is making 13% from 20 feet. Why and how did I get away with believing I should be making them all. And criticizing myself each time I missed.
To read the complete story from Matthew Guyatt, go here.
Source: Matthew Guyatt Tour Pro, QLD Australia PGA
Thanks for reading – You don’t have to Hole Everything to be a great putter!
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