The Putting Lab: October Edition
 Welcome to October's edition of The Putting Lab.
Autumn is here, and with it comes one of the biggest changes golfers often overlook when it comes to putting: the environment is changing.
Cooler temperatures, more moisture and shorter days can all affect the way a green performs. The grass itself can be growing strongly during the autumn period, while dew and surface moisture can influence how the ball rolls. Research into putting green performance shows that moisture, speed, smoothness and trueness are all interconnected.
For the golfer, this means one thing: Don't assume the green is going to behave the same way it did in July.
This month we're looking at what happens when our putting environment changes, why professionals are so good at adapting to different surfaces, and a few ways you can test your own putting rather than relying on feel alone. |
 Lab Report How Much Does Speed Actually Matter?
We talk about pace all the time in putting. "Get it to the hole." "Die it into the hole." "Don't leave it short."
But what if the speed of the ball at the hole actually changes the size of the hole you're putting into?
It does.
And this is one of the most interesting pieces of putting physics.
A golf hole is 4.25 inches wide. But the effective size of the hole changes depending on how fast the ball is travelling when it reaches the cup.
As the ball enters the hole faster, it has less opportunity to fall into the cup. The result is that the effective capture area becomes smaller.
Research examining ball speed at hole entry has demonstrated this relationship very clearly: slower entry speeds give the ball a much greater effective capture area, while increasing speed progressively reduces it.
So what's the optimum?
This is where it gets interesting.
There isn't one magic speed that works for every putt.
On a relatively straight putt, you want enough speed to overcome imperfections in the green and make sure the ball reaches the hole, but not so much that you're unnecessarily reducing the effective size of the cup.
A commonly referenced target is around 1.7 mph at the hole on a flat putt, which would produce roughly 18 inches of roll-out beyond the hole if the cup wasn't there.
But that isn't a number I would want every golfer trying to reproduce on every putt.
Why?
Because the slope changes everything.
On a downhill putt, particularly one where the ball is approaching the hole from the low side, carrying too much speed can dramatically increase the chance of the ball racing past.
On a breaking putt, speed also influences how much the ball moves across the slope.
So pace isn't simply about distance.
Pace changes the geometry of the putt.
This is one of the reasons I like using data with players.
If we only look at whether a putt went in, we don't necessarily know whether the player made a good stroke.
A putt can miss by an inch and be an excellent putt.
Another can finish six feet past and tell us something very different.
That's why I like looking at ball speed, start direction and where the ball finishes as separate pieces of information.
Putting is essentially a problem of matching two variables: Start direction + speed.
Get those two variables right and the ball has a chance.
Get one wrong and it doesn't matter how good the other one was.
Research into putting describes the task in almost exactly these terms: determining the correct start line and speed produces the launch conditions required to deliver the ball into the hole.
Try this yourself:
Next time you're practising, find a straight 10–15 foot putt. Hit 10 putts deliberately trying to finish past the hole rather than simply trying to hole them. Then look at where the balls finish.
How many are:
Now repeat the exercise, but this time try to make the ball enter the hole with as little speed as possible.
You may be surprised by how different the results feel.
The objective isn't to discover your one perfect pace.
It's to start understanding that speed is part of the aim.
You can't really decide where you want a breaking putt to start without also deciding how fast you want it to arrive at the hole.
And that is why good putting isn't simply about aiming well. It's about matching direction and speed.
Two variables.
One hole.
And a surprisingly large amount of physics in between.
|
 Tour Watch What Can We Learn From the Pros?
One of the things I love about watching professional golf is seeing how often putting comes down to managing small margins.
The recent Open de España was a perfect example. Grant Forrest arrived at the 18th tied for the lead and produced exactly the sort of putt that separates winning from finishing second: a four-footer under pressure. He holed it to win the tournament by one shot, finishing at 14-under and securing his third DP World Tour title.
The interesting part isn't simply that he made a four-footer.
It's the process required to make it.
At that level, the players aren't trying to manufacture a perfect stroke every time. They're building a repeatable process:
Read → aim → commit → deliver.
That's something worth watching when you next watch professional golf.
Don't just watch whether the putt goes in.
Watch how the player prepares to hit it.
Where do they look?
How long do they spend reading it?
Where do they stand when making their final assessment?
How quickly do they commit once they've made the decision?
The more you watch putting this way, the more you realise that elite putting is as much about decision making and information as it is about stroke mechanics.
|
 Myth Buster "You Need to Keep the Putter Face Square Throughout the Stroke"
This is one I hear all the time.
And it's understandable.
If the putter needs to be square at impact, surely the goal should be to keep it square throughout the stroke?
Not necessarily.
The putter face can naturally rotate during the stroke.
In fact, trying to deliberately prevent all rotation can create unnecessary tension and manipulation.
The important measurement isn't whether the face stayed square for the entire stroke.
It's: 'Where was the face at impact?'
And perhaps even more importantly: Where was the face pointing relative to the intended starting line?
A putter can travel on a beautifully consistent path and still send the ball offline because the face is pointing in the wrong direction.
Equally, a stroke that doesn't look perfectly symmetrical can still produce an excellent result if the impact conditions are consistent.
This is one of the reasons I like looking at putting through data.
Instead of asking whether the stroke looks good, we can ask whether it delivers the putter effectively.
Don't try to make the stroke look perfect.
Try to make the impact predictable.
|
 Drill of The Month The 3-Zone Challenge
October is a good month to work on something slightly different: adapting your pace to changing green conditions.
Find a straight putt of around 20 feet.
Create three finishing zones around the hole:
Hit 10 putts.
Your objective isn't to hole them.
Your objective is to get the ball into the smallest possible zone.
Score: 3 points - within 1 foot2 points - within 2 feet1 point - within 3 feet0 points - outside 3 feet
Then repeat the exercise later in the day. The interesting part is that the green may not feel the same.
Temperature, moisture and dew can all influence how the ball rolls, so don't simply rely on your previous feel.
Recalibrate.
This is exactly what professionals are doing when they spend time on the practice green before a round.
They're not just warming up.
They're collecting information.
|
 Equipment Bench Do You Really Need a Putting Alignment Aid?
There are more alignment aids available for putters than ever before.
Lines on the crown. Dots. Flanges. Long alignment marks. High-contrast designs.
The important question isn't which one looks best.
It's: Which one helps you aim best?
This is another area where I think golfers can benefit from testing rather than guessing.
Take your current putter and establish where you think you're aiming.
Then test it.
Change the alignment aid, change the amount of line you can see, or even experiment with how you position the putter behind the ball.
You may discover that something which looks visually appealing actually makes aiming harder.
Or you may find that a particular alignment system gives you a much clearer picture of your intended starting line.
Again, there's no universal answer.
The best alignment system is the one that helps your eyes and brain aim the putter consistently.
|
Until Next Month...
Putting isn't about finding one perfect technique.
It's about building a system that works.
How you read the green. How you aim. How you see the target. How you control speed. How you deliver the putter. And how you adapt when the conditions change.
The more we understand those individual pieces, the easier it becomes to identify where the real gains are hiding.
See you next month in The Putting Lab. |
Comments