[pBiRXp8u]

In my opinion the average golfer over estimates the length of putt about as much as they over estimate how far they drive the ball. Plenty of people can't tell the differnce between 20' & 30'. I have yet to ever see anyone pace off a putts distance. Just how are these putting distances derived?:confused2:

35 years of playing. And for shorter putts (10 feet and in), it's really pretty easy. I know what a foot looks like, so I just look at a putt and break it down into individual feet. I've had enough experience actually measuring them that it's fairly easy to estimate. We use a tape measure thingy for measuring closest to the pin on par 3 holes for our Men's club tournaments, so knowing the exact distances there has helped a lot in learning to estimate when the tape isn't available.

However, I don't waste time by pacing. Most of the time I don't really care how long the putt actually is. My eye measures it for the stroke necessary and I hit it by feel. If you told me to make a stroke for a typical 30 foot putt, I wouldn't be able to do it. I need to be on the green, with the ball in front of me, before I could do it. I don't even make my practice stroke the same as the real one. The last thing I do after I've addressed the ball is look at the hole and trace the line back to the ball to set the distance. The actual measurement isn't important, only that I feel the distance.