Putting is my favorite part of golf.
Especially when it comes down to those putts of less than 10 feet.
I expect to make most of those, especially the ones five feet and in.
The best putters on the PGA Tour make about 97% of their putts within five feet.
Bear in mind that the stat includes tap ins and two footers as well as the ones from five feet.
You should also keep in mind that they are putting on the best of greens.
If you played 18 holes and missed one putt from five feet and the rest were tap ins, you have achieved about a 95% level for the range.
From five to ten feet the average drops down to about 60%.
That means the best putters in the world on the best greens will miss four times in ten.
Those are what I consider to be short putts that should be made.
My putting goal for every round is what I call perfect putting.
That means making every putt within ten feet.
I often meet this goal.
The best way to achieve perfect putting is to leave yourself a tap in every time you have a putt outside of ten feet.
It is much better to leave the ball six inches short than it is to knock the ball three feet past the hole when putting from twenty feet.
That, of course, is not possible.
But it is a goal that will help your scoring by putting to reasonable expectations.
Outside of ten feet, the best players in the world make a little more than 15% of their putts.
In other words, they all miss the vast majority of the time from 15 feet.
Why should you expect yourself to be any better? Why try to make those putts and risk three putting when a simple lag effort to 10 inches is a much more achievable goal? The other side of perfect putting is being able to make those five footers you will inevitably face in every round.
There are only two factors to be concerned with.
Speed and line.