FROM TEE TO GREEN
Eliminating Those Three Puts By Dean Sklar, PGA Professional
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ost golfers couple of feet, quite a few times a round and over time the pressure and stress can I play with – and build. Can’t it? thinking about it, A quick look at some of the putting most of the golfers statistics on the PGA Tour will show you that that I have given the best (not the worst) putters on tour are putting lessons making an average of just over 50% of their to – struggle with 3 putting on one or more putts under five feet in length. Just think greens during a round. about that statistic for a minute – just over half – are you surprised at that? These are Below are two great putting tips that I the best putters out there. They have spent most often use… years honing their putting skills and they are It’s so simple, easy to do and effective that it staggers me that golfers don’t all do it, playing tour events on near perfect greens every week. What are your chances? but I know for a fact that most golfers have But when it comes to the green, for some no idea about it. reason golfers who rely on measurements First though, let’s understand why most and devices to provide valuable data as to golfers have 3 or more putts on a green. how hard to hit their shots down the fairway 95% of the time, it’s because they don’t get and to the green, suddenly expect for some the distance/strength/speed – whatever you unknown reason that their brain will know want to call it – of their first putt right. Which how hard to hit their putt. But what has it got ends up leaving them with a putt of a few to go on? For most of you nothing. For me, I feet to go or coming back. know the length of every putt before I hit it “So what?” you might say. It’s only a – gained from pacing the length of the putt few feet. True. But for most golfers, it’s a
54 / Our City Weston / January 2021 / OurCityMedia.com
as I wander around the green looking at the slopes and borrows. This is a standard practice you should do before addressing the ball to putt. I generally go around behind the hole for every putt I hit and it’s walking back from there to the ball when I take the distance. Other times, I make sure I take my clubs around past the hole so that as I walk back to my ball to putt I count the paces. You’ll figure out what works best for you. Over a few months it will become second nature and you will build a library of distances and the associated strength to hit them so well, that you will seldom – if ever – 3 putt again. Always seek the advice of your local PGA Professional for the best results. ■ PGA Professional Dean Sklar is a member of the Quarter Century Club of the PGA of America, an elite group of members who have served the PGA with honor and pride for 25 years. If you would like to talk to Dean about your golf game, contact him at Dean. Sklar@FloridaMoves.com or the Rose and Dean Sklar Real Estate Group at Coldwell Banker, 1760 Bell Tower Lane in Weston, 954-389-6197, or online at www.WestonFloridaUSA.com.
