Putting green warm up?
 

How do you guys practice putting before your round? I always start by practicing from 20 or so feet to get the speeds of the green, I'm not trying to make them but mainly working on lag putting from that distance. Then then I try and make putts from 5 ft. in. This genaraly only takes 5 or 10 mins. How do you guys do it, and how long do you practice? Or do you even practice at all before the round? Edit. Even if I don't have time to hit the range I always like to roll a few putts before my round.

Line up balls at 3, 5 and 10 feet. Do not stop until I make all of them. Then 2 putts at 20 feet.

I do a drill called the 5 tee drill. Take two steps from the hole, place a tee. Take 3 steps from the hole, place a tee. Take 3 steps and place a tee in the ground for the remaining 3 tees. Take out the flag and put it 2.5 feet or less behind the hole. Your goal is to putt three balls in, or behind, the hole without hitting the flag stick. Here's where the tees come in. You have to do all three, and if you don't get it at or past the hole, start over and move forward a hole if possible. Once you get to the 3rd tee, take out the first one, at the fourth the 2nd, and if you complete the 5th, the third. Then see how many times you can complete the 5th tee. Stop if you can't complete the entire thing in an hour.

Whoa... That's a little humm. Intense for me.

If you have the time, that drill defiantly helps with the speed of the green.

I'll give it a try sometime. Thanks

I start with 3 or 4 footers with 4 balls at different angles from the hole, then move out a couple more feet, then hit a few 20 footers or so from different angles... Hit a total of maybe 30 putts.... I'm good to go.

This sounds much better as a practice drill, not for practicing putting right before a round.

My putting before a round: about 10-15 putts from 5 feet and in to get some feel for the putter, and I also want to hear and see the ball go in. I'm not going to try a bunch of 15-20 footers because I'm not going to make most of them. After that, I'll hit a few 30-40 foot putts to get a feel for lag putting. Ideally, I'll hit them on the same line, but alternate the direction so that one set of putts is straight downhill and one set is straight uphill. After that, maybe hit a couple of more 5 footers to build confidence before heading to the first tee.

I pretty much do about what you do...concentrate on speed then alignment. Also, always try a couple of downhill putts to get a feel for the apeed of the day. Alway leave after making at least a three footer...positive thoughts.

Seems like I'm may be doing it backwards. Starting with the 20 footers.

I always pick a putt and putt it till i am happy with my speed and or that I read it correctly. I sometimes play the putting contest with someone i am playing with, that seems to make me take practice putting a little more seriously when its against someone.

I will try to do similar. Just to get a feel for the green and a feel for lining them up. Not a long time but usually a few minutes. Actually puting, I am usually pretty good at and I am more confident when I pre put vs when I dont. But often early in the am, the putting green can be too wet with condensation and not good indicator for the day. I say I put pretty good and I can usually count on it. Except of course right up until the time all of the other parts of my game are working well that day and then of course thats when the putting magically almost on purpose falls apart. It's like I'll say to myself "what the heck" "I am playing good today" "and now my putting which is usually pretty reliable, falls apart" oooohh so frustrating!! Like as if just to spite me!

I don't always putt on the green before a round but when I do I usually miss all of them.

Great drill. Think I am going to try it on the kids... http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...s/thankyou.gif

I love these topics, I always see something new that I can try, might be bad I guess :-). Anyway, i use four balls, I pace off in a line a 6'er, a 12'er, an 18'er and a 24'er. I Hit the putts from all four Sides of the cup, trying to create uphill, downhill, hooking and slicing putts. I then take those same four balls, drop them 3' from the cup around the same cup and hit those same uphill/downhill/hooking/slicing putts. Now I know the speeds and the level of breaking.

You do this before a round of golf? Hopefully it doesn't take you anywhere near an hour to get through it... But I really like your drill as a practice aid.

Currently I am trying to use one ball pre round practice where I chip and putt to different target holes from different spots -- called "Par 18" (3 with by 60 deg, 3 with my 56, and 3 as lag putts from over 50 feet). (Ideal goal is to get the ball up and down for the 9 holes with a "perfect" score of 18 (obviously 9 is the true perfect score in this scenario)... currently I score around 23-25 (about 33% up and down frequency))
So by doing this, I will have accomplished a short game practice play routine of 9 holes prior to the round starting getting me in mode for play. It only takes about 10-15 minutes tops and if I have more time (and wide open practice/chipping green) I will lengthen it to 9 holes with each club including lag putting.
Also if I feel I am not getting the speed right I do a quick drill of putting a ball to 10 feet then putting no more than 3 feet past that one (but not shorter) and ramping out to 25-30 feet. These 6-8 putts give me a sense of speed in the range where it matters most to score (this take 3-5 minutes to do).
Also for every putt I hit (especially in the Par 18 drill) ... before I actually observe it's outcome, I decide (either out loud or silently but consciously) is it "short" (more than 2 feet shorter than the target) "on" (inside of 2 feet from target) or "long" (>2 feet past target)? I find this helps my speed as I can better sync the feel of force of the putt I made with the true outcome in terms of distance. Doing it in the Par 18 drill allows me to experience different slopes, breaks and areas of the greens as well so I end up working on my overall green reading in the same way it will be tested during the actual round to come.

I just screw around until the tee opens up. I'm too amped to go play to do much for a warm up.

I find a 5 foot straight putt and putt it until it is comfortable, then putt different lengths up slope and down to get a feeling for the speed. I take as long as it takes to get comfortable with the stroke and speed. Really, all that matters is getting the ball online with the right speed. It may take as little as 5 minutes or as much as 30 minutes.

I just hit a handful of 5 footers, then move back to 15 footers until my tee time. I don't go to practice before a round, I go to warm up.

That's because your "HAWK THE HAMMER"!!