Putting Test vs. The Pro’s

The PGA Tour Baseline test gives us an opportunity to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses from a variety of distances. If you are completing this test with a golf coach, the coach can observe you doing the test and take notes regarding your technique and the cause/effect.

What this test means
The stats recorded on the baseline test show the make verse attempts by PGA Tour players. These putts are during tournament rounds, while hitting a different putt each time. The pressure and situation is much different then how we use the test on the practice green, hitting the same putt each time. My goal with a single digit handicap is to have them equal the PGA Tour numbers. If you are a scratch, college player or professional, your numbers should be slightly better given the different situations.

It is important not to make any technique changes right before or during the test! We want a true baseline so we can track your progress!

Instructions for using the test

Step 1 – before going to the course
Download and print the baseline test here 

Step 2 – next putting practice at the golf course
1.Warm up your putting like you normal would when starting your putting practice
2. Start from the 4 foot distance (measure it out by stepping it off)
3. Place a tee to mark your spot
4. Make sure to go through your routine, read the putt, use the line on the ball if thats what you normally do. This will take a little longer rather than just raking over ball after ball, but your results will be more accurate verse rushing through the putts without your normal routine on the golf course.
5. You will hit all putts from the same spot at each location. For the first putt, hit 10 putts in a row before going to the 7 foot location.
6. Try to pick a slightly different breaking putt for each distance.
7. Complete the test in full (all distances)

Step 3 – evaluate, gather feedback from your test results
Every player that I have tested shows a strength and weakness in certain distances. If you scored a higher percentage compared to PGA Tour average on short putts than you did on long putts, I would say your long putts is your area of weakness, your short putts are your strength.

Step 4 – make a plan based on your results
I will use the baseline test shown below (click image to see larger image) for my example of how to make a plan for improvement based on your results.

Putting Baseline TestThe 60/40 improvement plan
I have to admit, I copied this formula during my time coaching at Ohio State University. On Sunday night we would have our players make a 60/40 plan for each day of the weak. They would break each practice down per day and 60(weakness)/ 40 (strength). This allows you to focus on improving the weakness while maintaining your strengths. Too many times, golfers are very 1 sided with their practice. You need to have balanced practices, in this case we are balancing our practice time on the putting green by working on both our strengths and weaknesses.

We will pretend you are doing this test on your own (test shown below has my notes while observing the student putt). I want you to pick out which distance seemed to be the weakness. In the example below, 4 foot putts scored lowest in relation to PGA Tour average. You will make this distance 60% of your putting practice until we retest and find a different result.

If you notice, I said 60% of your next putting practice not your full practice. For example, say you only have 20 minutes to practice your putting your next time at the course, 12 minutes of that time will be spent hitting short putts 3-5 feet. Yes 4 feet was your weakness, but I would have you work on “short range” putts so you are not hitting the same exact putt every time. When practicing putting, I recommend players use only 1 ball and go through your routine each putt. You will get a lot more out of it rather than just hitting multiple balls from the same spot – you don’t get re-do’s on the course!