I am pretty obsessed with tour golf, so I have watched my fair share over the years, but I must admit that I am still blown away by the consistency and skill demonstrated by top pros when standing over a putt that would make most amateurs knees knock.
Working on the best putting tips and drills is a great way to improve your success rate over these tricky putts, as is exploring how to grip a putter in the most effective way, but how many can you expect to make based on the average for amateur golfers?
How Many Putts Do PGA Tour Players Miss From Inside 5ft?
Even the best putters on the PGA Tour don't make 100% of five-foot putts, with the 2025 season average currently sitting at 96.68%.
That's still a pretty impressive rate of holing putts that can at time be pretty fiddly, so who did it best over the past season?
Englishman Harry Hall topped the pile with 98.58% of putts made from this crucial distance, further strengthening his claim as one of the greatest wielders of the flat-stick.
Isaiah Salinda was the man holding up the rest at the bottom of the pack, with a still pretty impressive make percentage of 94% - a record most amateur golfers would do anything to replicate (more on that later).
Harry Hall is one of the best putters in the world right now, as evidenced by his make percentage from inside 5ft
In 2025, the total number of attempted putts from inside 5ft on the PGA tour is 159,013, with 153, 913 holed by the prolific putters at the elite level of the men's professional game.
With a bit of simple maths, that leaves a total of 5,100 putts missed from inside 5ft this season - with a few famous examples including Cam Young at The Masters and Tony Finau at the Houston Open.
But, now we know how the best in the game fare... let's find out how we stack up.
How Many Putts Do Amateur Golfers Miss From Inside 5ft?
Using the latest Shot Scope data, we are able to analyse the performance of amateur golfers on the green when faced with short(ish) putts and use that information to compare ourselves against the pros.
Our ultimate putting improvement guide has plenty of great advice on how to supercharge your performance on the greens, but what should we be aiming for in terms of success rates?
A scratch golfer makes around 91% of putts inside 5ft, around 5% less than the PGA Tour average. That's pretty good going and perhaps highlights that the gulf between elite players and amateurs lies more from tee to green than on the putting surface.
A 5- (88%), 10- (83%) and 15-handicapper (80%) all make at least four out five from short range on average, with higher handicap golfers seeing between 76% and 73% of putts drop from inside 5ft.
A difference of almost 20% between a scratch golfer and a 25-handicapper further emphasises the importance of working on these types of putts in your practice time, but it's also important to be confident when standing over them.
Most golfers make at least 7 out of 10 after all.
Working on your putting from inside 5ft is a great way to reduce your handicap
Have Your Say...
What's your success rate over putts from inside 5ft? Do you struggle with the short ones or confidently rattle them into the back of the cup more often than not?
I'd love to hear about your putting successes (and pitfalls) - so drop me a comment below and tell me about the most important short putt you have ever hit and how the moment unfolded.
I'll go first... I once had a putt of around four-feet to break 100 for the first time, I read the line once, twice and three times for luck, rolled it confidently towards the hole and felt the crushing agony of a miss on the low side that burned the edge.
So 100 bang on - killer! Fortunately, I did break that milestone the following week, so it doesn't haunt me forever more.
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