Do You Pace Out Your Putts?

[Diane]

I was complaining to my brother tonight about how many of the women in my league never touch the pin. They don't pull it and they don't put it back. Although this was totally beyond him, he commented that I was better off pulling it myself since it would give me a chance to pace out my putt. I had never considered that, but it makes sense. I know most of you are better golfers than I am. Do you routinely pace out your putts?

[PA PLAYA]

Never.

I'll just politely say that above everything else, it looks very recreationalist.

[droogy33]

I don't. I only eyeball them, and I play mostly by feel and instinct. And I play rather quickly, but it's not really by design. It's just the way I play.

I suppose if I were playing serious golf, or playing for money, I would be much more deliberate. But I play mainly for the pleasure.

[straightshooter]

I don't measure my putts like that, I look at them, but I certainly don't think that it will hurt, and I can believe that it might help. Even if you don't count your paces there might still be some benefit from having walked the putt.

[Fourputt]

Never. You can spend 5 minutes doing whatever and really irritate the people you play with, but in the end you still have to hit the putt, and success comes from feel and practice. The only way to get a feel for distance is to simply hit putt after putt in every kind of situation until "feeling" the distance in your mind is as natural as touching your nose with your eyes closed.

I will sometimes look at a putt from the side, but I usually just look from behind, get the line in my mind, setup to the ball, and then I look at the hole just once to get that final "feel" for the length of the putt, and then I stroke it.

I'm a pretty good long putter, meaning that I rarely 3-putt, and I've never paced off a putt in my life.

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by Diane

I was complaining to my brother tonight about how many of the women in my league never touch the pin. They don't pull it and they don't put it back.

Tell you what... let them putt and hit the flagstick a few times, incurring the appropriate penalty (2 strokes - Rule 17-3), and they might get a clue.

I learned how to tend the flagstick long before I ever played golf, when as a kid I caddied at a ritzy yacht club in my home town in Minnesota. The rules of etiquette I learned there are still a significant part of my attitude toward the game today.

[essurfer]

I do pace them at times. Mostly when I am not putting well. I usually walk about half way to the hole and look at the line from the side though, which my friends tell me is very odd.

[Wazmankg]

I pace the longer ones occasionally on my way back from the hole after pulling the pin. Not to help me with the pace, but more out of curiosity and to let me know how long it is in case I make it.

[alangbaker]

Originally Posted by Diane

I was complaining to my brother tonight about how many of the women in my league never touch the pin. They don't pull it and they don't put it back. Although this was totally beyond him, he commented that I was better off pulling it myself since it would give me a chance to pace out my putt. I had never considered that, but it makes sense. I know most of you are better golfers than I am. Do you routinely pace out your putts?

Never.

I'm not willing to say it isn't a good idea. On the surface, it does seem to make sense, but I've never felt like I need to pace a putt to have a good feel for the distance.

[Bigvivec]

I have tried pacing, not pacing, lasering the distance and it all pretty much comes down to what 4putt said as far as the only way to really control distance is by feel...mechanical putting is just that (IE for a 12 foot putt on a flat lie with the grain against me I need to take the putter back just beyond my instep...too much information!!!)

[Golfaddict]

Like the majority here I never pace my putts. I'm more of a feel player anyway.

[Dormie]

I'm with Waz. The only reason to pace off a putt, would be to know how far it was if you make it.

I mean, are there actually people who can say, "Ok, it's a 42 foot putt. That equates to a 37.6-degree angle back swing."

Putting with the correct pace is all about feel and repetition.

[C-Tech]

I don't pace my putts and very seldom walk around to look at the putt from the other side of the hole. I only do that when I am very uncertain of the read and I feel it is at the outer edges of my "makeable" range. I normally squat a few feet behind the ball and look at the line. I then mark the ball, align something on the ball along the intended path, move the mark, get up and putt.

The rule I was taught was that the player with the shortest putt should pull the flagstick and the first to putt out should pick it up and return it after the last person putts out. As far as tending it, when the first person is pulling it, they should ask if the first putter needs that service. If he says no, it comes out and gets laid down OFF the putting surface.

[CristieKerr]

I went through a phase a while back (maybe two years ago) where I did. But not every putt, just sporadically through the round to get a feel for the "exact" distance. I don't anymore, but I do "circle the ball" in a 180 fashion if it's a bender or looks tougher than normal (always while getting the pin or while others are getting ready to go before me, I don't want to take extra time). But that's only to get a feel for the lay of the land so to speak.

I will say, after the phase I went through I was a much better judge of how long a putt was when I saw it, but it didn't make me hit any distance better. I feel the distance from seeing it than pacing it and there are so many other factors that can speed up or slow down your putt.

[coralpro]

Originally Posted by Diane

I was complaining to my brother tonight about how many of the women in my league never touch the pin. They don't pull it and they don't put it back. Although this was totally beyond him, he commented that I was better off pulling it myself since it would give me a chance to pace out my putt. I had never considered that, but it makes sense. I know most of you are better golfers than I am. Do you routinely pace out your putts?

Nope. I just use hand eye coordination to tell me how hard to strike the putt. I would rather not know or integrate numbers into the system. Your mind sees the visual and adjusts the body parts to hit that which is needed. In putting, distance measurements are really never a factor as much as grainage and elevation. Step off a 15 foot uphill putt and your brain hears 15 foot. Your putt could end up 5 foot short or more depending on the slope. Downhillers could be a nighmare.

[xnavyct]

I never pace them out, I just eyeball them. Try to see where the break is, guage what speed I need to hit it at, and putt it.

[straightshooter]

Originally Posted by coralpro

........In putting, distance measurements are really never a factor as much as grainage and elevation. Step off a 15 foot uphill putt and your brain hears 15 foot. Your putt could end up 5 foot short or more depending on the slope. Downhillers could be a nighmare.

Wouldn't walking up or down the green feed your brain with some possibly useful info on the elevation change? Either subconsciously, or if you want to be precise, if you count your paces and the number of times your ears pop?

[coralpro]

Originally Posted by straightshooter

Wouldn't walking up or down the green feed your brain with some possibly useful info on the elevation change? Either subconsciously, or if you want to be precise, if you count your paces and the number of times your ears pop?

Yes it would. If it feels like you're walking uphill and your ears pop then you know to use the driver to make the putt.

[Darth Fader]

No never have and i never will,i just pick a line and hit and hope.

[Bulls9999]

Only the longish ones. When I first read the thread title, I thought you were talking about 'pace' in regard to speed of the putts. I just saw an article last week that was talking about people who putt with a hard stroke, running the ball fairly fast vs. those that lag it where it dies into the hole. That the effective size of the hole is reduced by the fast putts because it can role over the edge and not go in, or role closer to the edge and lip out, whereby the slow lag putt will fall into the hole by gravity. Thus the "effective size" of the hole may be a 4.5-inch hole if you die into the hole, able to drop it in from the very edge, whereby a fast put may reduce the 'effective size' of the hole to 2.5-3 inches so you have to hit it in the heart of the cup. Which is an easier target? Interesting article....now I can't find it again....like many things you come across on the net and don't bookmark.

Originally Posted by Diane

I was complaining to my brother tonight about how many of the women in my league never touch the pin. They don't pull it and they don't put it back. Although this was totally beyond him, he commented that I was better off pulling it myself since it would give me a chance to pace out my putt. I had never considered that, but it makes sense. I know most of you are better golfers than I am. Do you routinely pace out your putts?

[JungleJ]

As with everyone else I don't count them off, but I do quite often take a 360 look at the putt - mainly if I really want this putt and it is not slowing things down too much.

I do use the chance to pull the flagstick as an opportunity to learn a bit more about the putt.

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by Bulls9999

I just saw an article last week that was talking about people who putt with a hard stroke, running the ball fairly fast vs. those that lag it where it dies into the hole. That the effective size of the hole is reduced by the fast putts because it can role over the edge and not go in, or role closer to the edge and lip out, whereby the slow lag putt will fall into the hole by gravity. Thus the "effective size" of the hole may be a 4.5-inch hole if you die into the hole, able to drop it in from the very edge, whereby a fast put may reduce the 'effective size' of the hole to 2.5-3 inches so you have to hit it in the heart of the cup. Which is an easier target? Interesting article....now I can't find it again....like many things you come across on the net and don't bookmark.

The downside with putting to die at the hole is the you are more likely to leave putts short than the guy who plans to roll 2 feet past. So it would seem that both methods may reduce the possibility of holing a putt, although in different ways. One of those situations where a writer can make the statistics say what he wants them to.

And I don't say this just because I'm usually a firm putter... it just struck me that dying the ball at the hole takes much better speed control, and would inevitably result in more putts left short.