| Re: “Optimum” putting speed
In answer to the implied question “Who cares about optimum putting speed?” The short answer is “The Pros do!!” What’s the evidence of this? Here are two examples, one given by Palmer and another by Pelz.
In his book Arnold Palmer’s Complete Book of Putting, he states (p. 59):
“The rap putters score because the putt is traveling at a fair lick as it reaches the hole and is therefore much less likely to fall away from its target line. That line has to be true, of course, because the target is effectively only two balls wide. The margin for error is considerably reduced because, whereas the stroked putt will topple into the side of the hole, the rapped putt on that line will invariably jump over the edge of the hole.Most rap putters aim to putt the ball to a precise spot about eighteen inches behind and dead on line with the center of the hole.”
In his book, Dave Pelz states (p 191):
“There’s another advantage to rolling putts at the 17-inches-past speed. Simply put, it’s that by learning to roll the ball a little long, you’re much less likely to leave putts short. It’s an old joke, but true: Putts that don’t make it the hole have very little chance of going in.
I have test results that back up this finding. Look at the two putt-scatter patterns, both for 20-foot putts, in Figure 8.6.2 (see Attached). The one on the left is typical first day pattern made by amateurs at our schools: Before they learn anything about putting, they leave roughly half of their 20-footers short. The pattern on the right is typical of the Tour professional I work with, putting the same 20-footers on the same green. Notice that the pros roll virtually all of their putts past the hole, giving them twice the chance of making these putts over the amateurs, simply because they've learned a better touch for the 17 inches-past speed.”
Last edited by Shorty; 03-22-2007 at 06:04 PM.
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