Getting a Feel for Green Speed: The 10-Foot Method
Last week, I was working with a student who kept leaving putts woefully short. After watching him struggle for a few holes, I asked, “How fast do you think these greens are running today?”
He shrugged. “Medium fast? I guess?”
That’s when I realized the problem. He had no baseline, no reference point to judge the speed. And if you can’t gauge the speed of the greens, you might as well be putting blindfolded.
Let me share with you the simple method I teach all my students now. It’s transformed their putting, and I bet it’ll help yours, too.
The 10-Foot Method for Green Speed
When you arrive at a course, head straight to the practice green. Find a flat section and pace off exactly ten feet. This distance becomes your calibration tool for the day.
Take your normal putting stance, feet shoulder-width apart, eyes over the ball, arms hanging naturally. Now, make some practice strokes with a simple goal: get the ball to roll exactly ten feet. Pay close attention to how far back you’re taking the putter to achieve this distance.
What you’re doing here is creating a baseline stroke for the day. The beauty of this method is its simplicity. Once you know how far back to take the putter for a ten-foot roll on today’s greens, you’ve got a reference point for every putt you’ll face.
I’ve noticed something interesting in my 20+ years of teaching: most amateurs have no idea how to adjust their stroke for different green speeds. They use the same stroke everywhere they play, then wonder why they’re blowing putts four feet past the hole at one course and leaving them short at another.
Remember this crucial point about tempo: your putting stroke should always maintain a 2:1 ratio. The throughstroke should be twice as fast as the backstroke. This isn’t just some theory, it’s what the best putters in the world do instinctively. The backstroke is controlled and measured; the throughstroke is confident and accelerating.
With your ten-foot calibration and proper tempo, you now have a formula for any length putt. Need to hit it twenty feet? Take the putter back a bit further than your ten-foot stroke, maintaining that same 2:1 tempo. Just a gentle five-footer? Use a proportionally shorter version of your baseline stroke.
I had a student, let’s call him Will, who struggled with three-putting for years. After teaching him this method, he texted me after his very next round: “Only 28 putts today! First time under 30 in my life!”
One word of caution: make sure the practice green is running at the same speed as the course greens. Most courses maintain consistent speeds, but occasionally you’ll find differences. If you notice a discrepancy after a few holes, take a moment to recalibrate on the next green.
This method isn’t fancy. You won’t find it in some high-tech putting system selling for hundreds of dollars. But I’ve seen it drop handicaps by several strokes almost overnight. Give it a try next time you play. Those few minutes you spend calibrating your stroke might just save you five or six strokes per round. And in this game we love, that makes all the difference in the world.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is a multiple award-winning Golf Professional based in Central Florida. He is the 2017 PGA of America’s National Youth Player Development Award Winner and is the recipient of more than 25 other industry awards with a focus on Coaching & Education. He is considered by his peers as an industry expert on topics ranging from Jr. Golf Development to Operations to Industry Sustainability. He is the founder of the Little Linksters Golf Academies and the Little Linksters Association for Junior Golf Development, a 501c3 nonprofit also based out of Central Florida. Brendon is also a freelance golf writer for PGA.com, Golf Range Magazine and several other golf websites and blogs. He is a member of the Golf Writers Association of America. You can learn more about Brendon at BrendonElliott.com and Little Linksters at littlelinksters.com.
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