G'day Sports Fan!

Paul Williamson here, PGA member, RGX Coach, here to give you rule number four in the 10 Rules to Shooting Lower Scores.

Rule number 4 is - Get rid of three-putts.

That sounds pretty obvious, I know. However, are you not having any three-putts in your round of golf? I bet you are having more than you would like. So let's dive into this a little bit more.

What is it that causes you to have three-putts? What's the main reason for it? Well, there are two things we're always trying to judge when we hit a putt to a hole.

1. We're trying to get the direction right.
2. We're going to get the distance right.

If you get both of them correct, the ball is going in the hole. But I want you to think about your last three-putt or one that you can remember, a significant one you've had in the past. I want you to ask yourself a few questions:

• What did you get wrong, distance or direction?
• Was it the read?
• Did you hit it wildly offline, left or right of the hole?
• Did you get the distance wrong by more than 2 feet?

I'll take a reasonably confident guess that it was that you got the distance wrong.

The main reason we all have a three-putt is that we've hit the first putt either way too hard or too short, and now we've got a putt that's not a tap-in anymore. So it's not inside that three-foot circle where our chance of making the next putt is exceptionally high.

If you're hitting your first putt to six feet, the percentages of an average golfer holing the putt drop down to around fifty per cent. Even the best putters in the world from six feet will miss about a third of their putts. So you've got to get good at getting your first putt closer to the hole in the first place.

To do this, better start focusing most of your attention on the distance you want to hit the ball and not the read. I would make another confident guess that you spend most of your time on the green thinking about where you need to aim it and not so much about the distance. It needs to be around the other way—more attention on distance than direction.

A bonus of getting better at judging distance is you will also get better at green reading because they're very closely related. You will start to guess how much break to allow on a slope much better.

If you're still no good at distance judgment or you're still having three-putts after trying this advice, I suggest you get out and have a lesson with your golf coach. Because so many people I've coached in my life have never had a putting lesson before, it's the low-hanging fruit in your scores.

Hopefully, this improves your putting game. Please let me know.
I look forward to seeing you next time for rule number five in my 10 Rules to Lower Scores.
Cheers!

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➔ Watch it all here!
Rule 1 - Hole all your short putts: 🎥 Watch | 📖 Read
Rule 2 - Avoid penalty shots at all costs: 🎥 Watch | 📖 Read
Rule 3 - Get out of trouble in one shot: 🎥 Watch | 📖 Read
Rule 4 - Get rid of your 3-putts: 🎥 Watch | 📖 Read
Rule 5 - Stop under clubbing: 🎥 Watch | 📖 Read
Rule 6 - Stop playing risky shots: 🎥 Watch | 📖 Read
Rule 7 - Stop short-siding yourself: 🎥 Watch | 📖 Read
Rule 8 - Read the lie: 🎥 Watch | 📖 Read
Rule 9 - Start your first round of golf in 1st gear: 🎥 Watch | 📖 Read
Rule 10 - Let go of BAD shots: 🎥 Watch | 📖 Read