Putts per round?

How many putts do people take (do you count them?).

What is good, average, woeful?

I ask because on Sunday I did two things:

(1) Specifically counted my putts - I sensed that I'd been putting badly lately

(2) Tried and stuck to Aftford's 7 iron strategy for scoring under 90 - more on that in a different post

I average around 34 ish. hit 30 putts once which was my lowest.

I currently average 36 per round, which sucks.

Then again, I'm a 26.5 handicap, so I suck.

It all makes sense to me.

Well, the tricky part about ppr is that it doesn't show the whole picture.

The first thing that distorts it is what people call a putt. Some call it anytime they use the putter (I then argue that if they hit off the tee with a putter, it's a putt, right?). The PGA tracks a putt as any stroke made on the putting green, and every stroke thereafter until completing the hole. In other words, if you putt off the green with your first putt, chip back on, and hole out, you 3 jacked, according to the PGA.

The latter is how I track my putting.

That said, I'm a 27 hcp and take 36 ppr (well, ok, 36.53, but who's counting the odd 3 jack? )

The other 'knock' against ppr is that it doesn't take into account where you're putting from. I average 36 ppr, but hit only 4 GIR. In other words, I can't get up and down to save my life. If I 2 putt every GIR, and get up and down 50% of the time (a realistic expectation with short game practice), then I would only take 29 putts per round. Sounds Tour!

The stat I like more is ppGIR. In this category, I score 2.2. In other words, I occasionally 3 jack, but more often than not, if I'm on the green, I'm making par.

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Ok, I'm playing to 26-28 at mo and had 34 ppr on Sunday (not counting putts from the fringe in this) - which I thought poor, but maybe its not.

Lets assume that BigDaz as the only half decent golfer to have replied so far is hitting more GIR than us and ignore him - he's scoring OK anyhow - how about us hackers? What do we have to do to get to 30ppr?

For me - even though i missed some "sitters" yesterday - its not just the putting, I have to improve my chipping to get more 1st putts in range. What do you think?

So back to the 7I strategy!

Back 9 great, 17 putts but still a 45.

Front 9. Always a nervy starter anyhow and had a dreadful attack of first tee tension (partners arrived with 2 and 1 min to go) as we rushed to tee off late in front of others waiting. So a 7 6 3 8 (8 over) start before i calmed down meant i struggled to a 51.

But yes. A semi-decent short game (and a semi decent start) and playing sevon iron golf should see you in the respectable eighties.

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Most years an average of 27 Putts per round is right around the top of the PGA tour. Most of the pro's average will fall in between 27 and 30. Of course on their good days they will be under that 27. I read I golf book by Els and He said that 27 is usually his target (half the time 1 putt and no 3 putts).

This year most of my scores have been in the 80's and the diference between 81 and 88 is usually in the area of putting. When I kept track of it in the beginning of the year I was around 34.

Well I have been doing this recording of my putts for the last 7 months as well as recording my fairways hit, GIR, birdies and hole by hole scores.
I am a 24 Hcapp but this will be coming down to about 22 after my last couple of comps (just waiting for the club secretary to get his comp switched on lol). I am assuming it is because of my work on bad areas of my game which I have identified from my stats. Here is what they looked like from the start and where I am now.

My 1st round recording

Fairways hit from tee = 5 from 18
GIR = 1 from 18
Birdies = 0 from 18
Average Putts taken per hole = 3.5
Overall score = 96

Last round on 9/09/06

Fairways hit from tee = 8 from 18
GIR = 3 from 18
Birdies = 2 from 18
Average putts taken per hole = 2.1
Overall score = 91

So my current standing up to now based on all my results is the following

Fairways = up by 15 %
GIR = up by 5 %
Birdies = up by 10 %
Putts = down by 65 %
Overall score = down by 5 %

So from these stats you can see where I have been most practicing my short game. I think it is great recording your stats for the reason you can see where you can improve on (for me more GIR lol).

Hope it helps
Cheers
Mark

Averaging 27 putts per round is very good. This figure or better is something to aim for.

The number of putts per round is an indicator as to how one's short game has gone for the round.

Anything over 30 is no good. The short game needs to be worked on.

Mark,

I collate fairways hit, shots within 30 metres and putts.

I have recently stopped doing this though and started recording how many shots I have been committed to.

Nicole

I average between 30-32 putts per round and depending how well I use my 8 iron (chip & runs) it can drop as low as 28putts.

Which impacts on my total round quite a bit.
When hitting 34-36 putts my scores were between 88-91, since lowering these scores and using the chip & run method anywhere around the green my scores have dropped to 81-85.

I found using a putter around fringes usually made me over or under hit the putt which left me a 5 footer coming back, which 8 or 9 times out of ten I would miss.
Now I get on the green has early has possible hitting the 8 iron like a normal putt and usually anything within 4 foot goes in.
Barry