Breaking Putts Drill ~ Putting Drills

One thing I’ve noticed when watching amateurs putt is that they constantly miss on the low-side of the hole. On breaking putts, they do not aim close to high enough to even give the ball a chance of finding the bottom of the hole. Never up, never in! This saying rings true for most amateurs.

The problem I notice is they don’t quite have an understanding of how and where to aim on breaking putts. The line shown in yellow is the about where the normal amateur would try to play the putt shown here. The line in blue is where you must actually play this shot in order to give it a chance to find the hole at a reasonable speed.

Butch Harmon, “The Short Game Guru”, did many tests on breaking putts, he discovered that amateurs on average play fifty percent less break than they should. Their thought pattern usually consists of playing less break and hitting the ball too firmly. On breaking putts the idea is to get the ball as close to the hole as possible, this means you have to actually play the break and hit the ball softer. Otherwise you’re looking at another 10 -footer coming back.

This drill will help you envision how to properly play side-hill putts.
First, find a side-hill putt and place a tee beyond the hole as your normal aiming point. Then hit a couple of putts using this tee as a guide.
Now hit a couple of putts so that the ball just dies into the hole. Grab a flagstick and place it along this line as shown. How far away is this from your original tee?

You’ll quickly discover that when playing breaking putts, you’re better off playing lots of break. At least from here, it has a chance of falling in the cup.

Give it a try!

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