Short-game guru Dave Pelz will tell you the most important distance in golf is the ‘golden eight’ – the eight feet that separates a two-foot putt from a ten-foot putt. It stands to reason that the further you move away from the hole, the fewer putts you make.
Not even the pros make them all, of course, but their consistency with the flat stick really sets them apart from amateur golfers. The average PGA Tour player makes around 87 percent of putts from inside 10 feet, and sinking more putts from this distance is the key to better scoring.
Below, Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach Ged Walters shares one great putting drill that can dramatically improve your stats within this range.
The 'golden eight' putting drill
Setting up this drill couldn't be simpler, as all you need is some balls, tee pegs and your putter. Mark spots (with a tee) at two, four, six, eight and ten feet from the hole. The idea is to hole three putts in succession from each point. Should you miss any putt, start the drill again from two feet. Once you’ve done that, you can make it harder by repeating the drill with an extra ball or two.
Don’t get too technical during this practise exercise. The aim of this drill is to build your confidence by holing putts. Think about all those times you chip on and find yourself with a par putt of somewhere between two and ten feet. These are the putts you need to make – and this drill is going to help you transform your putting.
The 'golden eight' putting drill checklist
1) Put a tee down two feet from the hole. Continue to place a tee in the ground at two foot intervals, in a straight line, up to 10 feet away from the hole.
3) Try to hole three putts from each distance, starting at the two foot marker.
4) If you miss, start again from the beginning.
5) You can make the drill harder or easier by increasing/decreasing the number of balls at each marker.
The Golf Monthly archive is a gold mine of brilliant reads, documenting a journey through the history of golf dating back to our first issue in 1911. Take advantage of over 100 years of invaluable tips from the best tour professionals and coaches in world golf, by subscribing to the online Golf Monthly Archive.
