Thread by @ryanmouquegolf

Are you struggling with distance control when putting?

Do you come up short often, hit it too far past, & suffer from too many 3 putts?

This thread will teach you everything you need to know about how to control your distance on the greens much better

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Let’s first discuss the 2 most common putting errors I see from golfers who suffer with their speed control

1.  A short backswing with a long follow through.

This causes an over acceleration of the putter head & makes it difficult for most golfers to hit the ball their desired distance. This movement is especially hard to control on fast greens & downhill putts.

An analogy I like to use is you are essentially taking the club back far enough to hit the ball 10ft, but your target is 30ft, so you end up over accelerating the putter head to make it go that distance.

2. A long backswing with a short follow through.

This one is not the most common movement I see, but it does happen. A backswing that is too long for the desired distance you are trying to hit will force you to decelerate the putter head, resulting in inconsistent speed control.

An analogy I like to use is you are essentially taking the club back far enough to hit the ball 30ft, but your target is 10ft, so you end up over decelerating the putter head to make it go that distance.

So, what should you be aiming to do? For most golfers, you should be aiming for your backswing & follow through lengths to match.

This helps create a smooth, even tempo with no excessive acceleration through the ball. This will help you judge distance much easier.

Look at the video here, perfectly matching backswing & through swing length. How do you train this?

Let me show you

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Drill:

Grab 3 tees & place them in the green or lie them on the ground as you can see in the video below.

One where the ball would be when you putt, one a grip length behind the ball & one a grip length ahead of the ball.

This will create a nice visual guide for you to swing the club back & through the same length.

Practice without a ball at first to get a feel for the swing length & tempo needed

If you want to hit the ball further, add another set of tees one grip length back & one grip length forward again

Make sure you are getting your putter head to reach the tee at the back & swing it through to the tee in the front

You don’t need to hit the ball harder, you need to increase the length of your backswing which will then naturally create more speed to the club.

Think of it like swinging on a swing... the smaller you swing, the slower you go, the longer you swing, the faster you go, but there isn’t any excessive acceleration.

When working on these drills, try to avoid these 4 errors:

1.  Short backswing + long follow through
2.  Long backswing + short follow through
3.  Swinging the club head too fast (you’ll hit it too far)
4.  Swinging the club head to slow (you’ll come up short)

Ideally, you want the same tempo for a 10ft putt as you do with a 30ft putt. Let the backswing length dictate how far the ball goes.

Once you’ve practiced your stroke length, speed & tempo without a ball, place a ball down where your middle tee is & start hitting some putts.

Take 5 golf balls & find your baseline distance from the first 2 tees. On a normal speed green, I find the right amount of rollout is around 12ft. That could be different for you given the green speed you are putting on & whether you have a fast tempo or slower tempo.

Do the same for the longer putt as well, again, I find 30ft is a rough rollout for most when done correctly.

Factors that can affect the distance the ball rolls will be:

- Green Speed
- Uphill or downhill
- Morning/Afternoon practice (length of grass, dew)

How do you adjust your stroke for distances shorter or longer than your baseline?

Let’s say the baseline you have is 12ft... to hit the ball 20ft, all you need to do is make a slightly longer backswing which will then allow the club to swing faster naturally, making the ball go further

To hit the ball shorter than 12ft, make a slightly smaller backswing which will then force the club to not move as fast, thus the ball won’t go as far.

I would recommend NOT trying to make the ball go further or shorter by swinging the club faster through excessive acceleration or swinging it slower by decelerating.

Where does “feel” come into all of this?

I believe that if you can learn HOW speed control is created, then you can use that information to develop touch & feel through spending time on the putting green practicing.

I want to be able to ask you “why did that ball roll 6ft further than you thought” & for you to be able to tell me exactly why...

Was it:

- Too long of a backswing for the given length putt you had?
- Tempo too fast?
- Backswing too short so you accelerated to much through impact?

You also need to practice adapting your stroke to uphill & downhill putts. If you are faced with an uphill putt from 10ft, maybe you need to feel a 15ft stroke length.

If downhill 10ft, you may need to feel a 6ft stroke length.

Same goes for fast green speeds & slow green speeds. Learn to adapt by learning how to control speed. Once you know this information, putting & distance control becomes so much easier

If you enjoyed this thread, you are going to LOVE what I have for you next!

If you want the full video of me explaining in more detail how to better control your speed on the greens, you can get the video for FREE, right here

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ryanmouquegolf.com.au/landing/distan…

Thanks for taking the time to read this thread, I hope it helps you.

Please like, retweet & bookmark the first post to help this reach more golfers around the world 👊