How good a putter are you?

By Paul Gueorgieff

How good a putter are you?

I have got a question for you.

The question is how good a putter are you?

Please select from the following the answer that best sums up how good a putter you are.

A: Outstanding.

B: Excellent.

C: Very good.

D: Fantastic.

Notice that none of the answers include the likes of average, okay, pathetic or horrible.

That’s because no one likes to admit they are a poor putter. 

They will tell you how far they hit their tee shot on one particular hole but will not mention the four three putts they had or the two three footers they missed.

The golf professional at my club reckons out of 200 lessons he would on average give only one for putting.

``Yet at the end of a round all most people talk about is the putts they missed,’’ said the golf pro.

No truer word.

Golfers will always boast how they far they hit one particular drive on one particular hole.

And when you ask them what they scored they will often reply a par or, even worse, a bogey because the birdie putt just slid past the hole or they missed a simple three footer for par.

Yes, we all want to hit our drives further and flush our approach shots. Yes we will go to the driving range and practice our drives and practice our irons.

But how ofter do we go to the practice putting green and practice out putts? And I don’t mean having a few putts before the start of a round.

I mean proper practice. 

That’s hitting 25 putts from 30 feet from different positions on the green to within three feet of the hole. Miss one and you start again.

And likewise, holing 25 three footers in a row. Miss one and you start again. 

Have you ever had your putting stroke analysed? You might have had your full blooded swing analysed 1000 times but never ever had anyone look at your putting stroke. Why is that?

We all know the adage of drive for show and putt for dough and we all think nothing of hitting 100 drives or irons on the driving range. 

But do we ever have 100 proper — and I mean proper —  practice putts on the practice green? Why is that?

I always ask people if they hit every fairway in regulation, hit every green in regulation and scored par, would they be happy?

Most people’s first answer is yes because they have never scored par for a round in their life. 

But let’s look at the question again. Imagine you did hit every fairway in regulation and hit every green in regulation and scored par. That means you did not have a single one putt. That’s not good enough.