The Putting Lab: August Edition
- Curtis Whitelegg
- Aug 11
- 7 min read
 Welcome back to The Putting Lab.
After the success of our first edition, I'm pleased to bring you the second instalment of my monthly putting newsletter, where we continue to look beyond the traditional advice and dig a little deeper into what actually makes a good putter.
This month, we've got a real mixture of topics. We'll look at what we can learn from the world's best players, challenge another common putting myth, introduce a new practice challenge, and take a closer look the most powerful piece of technology I use in my coaching: CAPTO.
As always, the aim is simple: to give you something interesting to think about, something practical to work on, and perhaps challenge something you thought you already knew about putting.
Let's get into it. |
 Lab Report
What Actually Makes a Great Putter?
When we talk about being a "good putter", we often look at the number of putts someone takes. But putts per round isn't actually a very good measure of putting ability.
Think about it. A player who hits every green in regulation and leaves themselves 30-foot putts is likely to have more putts than someone who misses greens and chips to two feet.
This is why statistics such as Strokes Gained are much more useful. They measure how a player performs relative to the field from the positions they're actually putting from.
So what separates the best putters? For me, there are three fundamental skills:
1. Face control The face determines the majority of the ball's starting direction. If you can't consistently control the face at impact, it doesn't matter how good your green reading is.
2. Speed control The ability to control the amount of energy you put into the ball is arguably the most underrated putting skill. Good speed gives you more margin for error with your read and dramatically reduces the likelihood of three-putting.
3. Start line Once you've read the putt and controlled your speed, you need to start the ball on the intended line. This is where face angle, path and your ability to return the putter consistently become crucial.
The interesting thing is that these skills are measurable. This is why I love using technology such as CAPTO in my coaching. Rather than simply telling a player that their putter "looks like it's opening too much", we can actually measure what is happening.
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 Tour Watch
What We Can Learn From Ryan Fox's Open Championship.
The 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale produced a fantastic finish, with Ryan Fox winning the Claret Jug with a birdie on the 72nd hole, beating Cameron Young by one shot.
But rather than looking at the result, there's something more interesting for us as putting enthusiasts.
Fox's final round was a great reminder that major championships aren't won by trying to make every putt.
They're won by managing the bad putts and capitalising on the good ones.
Royal Birkdale produced some seriously challenging conditions, particularly on the final day. After two days that produced back-to-back rounds of 62, the course eventually showed its teeth, with only three players in the final 12 groups breaking par.
That's where putting becomes particularly important. When conditions become difficult, your expectations need to change.
You aren't trying to hole every 20-footer. You're trying to leave yourself the easiest possible second putt.
That's something we can all take from The Open. Next time you're faced with a 40-footer on the golf course, don't ask: "Can I hole this?"
Ask: "Can I leave myself a 3-foot putt?"
That small change in mindset can have a huge impact on your scoring.
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 Myth Buster "A Perfect Putting Stroke Exists"
One of the biggest misconceptions I see in putting is that there is a single "correct" putting stroke that everyone should try to copy.
Straight back and straight through.
Or a perfect arc.
Or a particular amount of face rotation.
The reality is much more interesting.
There isn't one perfect putting stroke.
Look at the world's best players and you'll see enormous differences in how they move the putter.
Different:
And yet they can all deliver the putter extremely consistently.
The thing they have in common isn't what happens during the entire stroke.
It's what happens at impact.
The objective is to deliver the putter face, speed and direction consistently enough to control the ball's start line and pace.
This is why I'm always wary of trying to make a golfer's stroke look "better".
If a player's stroke looks unusual but consistently delivers the putter face where it needs to be, why change it?
Instead of asking: "Does my stroke look good?"
I'd rather ask: "Does my stroke produce good results?"
That's a much more useful question.
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 Drill of The Month The 10-20-30 Challenge
This month's drill is all about one of the most important skills in putting: Distance control.
When you're putting from outside 10 feet, the goal shouldn't always be to hole the putt. Your first objective should be to get the ball to the hole with the correct speed and leave yourself the easiest possible second putt.
The Setup
Find a relatively flat section of the putting green and place three tee pegs at: 10 feet | 20 feet | 30 feet
You can use one hole, or choose three different holes if you'd like to introduce different slopes.
Your challenge is simple: Hit three putts from 10 feet, three from 20 feet and three from 30 feet.
That's 9 putts in total.
The Scoring
We're not interested in how many you hole.
Instead, score each putt based on where it finishes: 1 point – within 3 feet of the hole2 points – within 2 feet3 points – within 1 foot0 points – outside 3 feet
Your maximum score is therefore 27 points.
The aim is to see how consistently you can control the speed of the putter and the resulting roll of the ball as the distance increases.
Make It More Difficult
Once you've completed the basic challenge, introduce some slopes.
Try:
Now you're not simply testing your ability to judge distance, you're having to combine green reading and speed control.
What Should You Look For?
Don't just record your score. Look at your misses.
Are you consistently:
You may start to notice a pattern.
And remember one of the key principles from this month's Myth Buster:
Don't try to accelerate the putter through impact. Instead, focus on making a smooth stroke and allowing the putter to deliver the ball with consistent energy.
The objective isn't to hit the ball harder from 30 feet. It's to make a bigger, smoother stroke that produces more speed naturally.
Your Target
Try to beat your score each time you do the drill. Better still, keep a record of your results over the next few months.
Because the best way to improve distance control isn't simply to practise more.
It's to practise with a purpose and measure whether you're actually getting better.
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 Equipment Bench
CAPTO: Turning Your Putting Into Data
If you've worked with me on your putting, there's a good chance you've already experienced CAPTO.
For those who haven't, CAPTO is one of the most useful tools I have available when analysing a putting stroke because it allows us to measure what the putter is actually doing rather than relying solely on what we can see or what the player feels.
CAPTO measures a range of parameters including face angle, path, tempo and acceleration.
And there's one particular piece of information I love showing golfers: The acceleration graph.
One of the most common things I tell players in lessons is: "Don't accelerate the putter through impact."
We're looking for the putter to move through impact with a consistent speed rather than a sudden acceleration spike.
The problem is that this is almost impossible to judge accurately by eye.
With CAPTO, we can actually see it.
You might feel like you're making a smooth stroke, but the acceleration graph can reveal a significant change in speed around impact.
Equally, a golfer might feel that they're "decelerating" through the ball when the data shows a very consistent delivery.
This is why I love technology in coaching.
It's not there to tell you how to putt.
It's there to tell us what you're actually doing.
From there, we can decide whether anything needs to change.
And that's ultimately what good putter fitting and coaching should be about:
Measure → Understand → Improve. Not: Look → Guess → Change.
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 Questions from The Lab 'Should I try to keep the putter
face square throughout the stroke?"
This is a question I get asked regularly, particularly from golfers who have been told that a good putting stroke should be "straight back and straight through."
The short answer is: no.
The putter face doesn't need to remain square to your target throughout the entire stroke.
As the putter moves around your body, some amount of face rotation is completely natural. Trying to keep the face perfectly square throughout the stroke can actually create unnecessary manipulation and tension.
What I'm more interested in is what happens at impact.
Does the face consistently arrive at the correct angle? Does the putter have the correct speed? And does the ball start on your intended line?
If the answer to those questions is yes, I'm not particularly concerned about whether your putter face was perfectly square halfway through the backswing.
This is another reason why I like using CAPTO.
Rather than trying to make a player's stroke look a certain way, we can measure the actual movement of the putter and see whether that movement is producing a consistent result.
Your putting stroke doesn't need to look perfect. It needs to work.
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That's all for this month...
I hope you've enjoyed this month's edition of The Putting Lab. If there's one thing I'd like you to take away from this edition, it's that better putting starts with better information.
Don't simply assume your stroke is wrong because it looks different. Don't automatically change your putter because someone tells you that you need more or less toe hang. And don't practise simply by trying to hole more putts.
Understand why you're missing them.
Then you can start making meaningful changes.
See you next month in The Putting Lab. |
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