Putting

Disc Golf Putting

Dial in circle 1 and circle 2 — form, routine, drills, and nerves. Below are all 10 lessons in this path, each with the video we teach it from.

The 10 lessons

Putting Fundamentals

A repeatable putting stroke for inside the circle.

A putt is the shortest throw in the game and the most expensive one to miss: a 20-foot putt that slides past costs exactly the same stroke as a drive into the woods, and you will face far more of them. Everything inside the circle is also the part of your game you can practise in a back garden, without a course, in ten minutes. That combination — high cost, cheap practice — is why it comes first.

Balanced, repeatable stance — the same setup every putt.
Push toward the chains with your legs and core, not just the arm.
Follow through toward the pole; keep your eyes on one link.

Drill · Twenty from fifteen — 20 putts from 15 ft, then 20 from 20 ft. Same aim point, same stance, same grip for all twenty. Count your makes and write the number down. At 15 feet you are looking for 18 out of 20 before you move back; if you are below that, stay there — a stroke that is not reliable at 15 feet is not going to become reliable at 30.

Watch: How To Putt In Disc Golf (With Gannon Buhr) — Gannon Buhr

Push Putt vs Spin Putt

The two putting styles and how to choose yours.

These are the two putting styles, and the sport genuinely has not settled which is better — there are world titles won with each. What costs strokes is not picking the wrong one, it is never picking: a half-committed stroke somewhere between the two gives you a different amount of spin on every putt, and therefore a different flight. The point of this lesson is to choose and stop choosing.

Push putt: low spin — lands softer, spits out of the chains less.
Spin putt: more spin holds your release angle, and carries further.
World titles have been won with both. Pick one, count makes, stop switching.

Drill · Head to head — 15 putts per style from 20 ft, on 3 separate days (90 putts total). Alternate in blocks of five so neither style gets only your fresh arm. Write the six numbers down before you judge anything — one session is noise, three is a signal. Then commit to the winner for a month before you reconsider.

Watch: Spin putting vs. Push putting: What's the difference? | Disc Golf Beginner's guide ft. Chris Clemons — DynamicDiscs

Build a Putting Routine

A pre-putt routine that holds up under pressure.

Your stroke does not leave you on hole 18. Your tempo does. Under pressure the gap between setting up and releasing stretches, the number of practice motions creeps up, and the putt comes out slower than the one you made all afternoon in practice. A routine is a fixed sequence that gives pressure nothing to change.

Same footwork and number of practice motions every time.
One deep breath, then commit — never decelerate.
Run the identical routine on hole 1 and hole 18.

Drill · Count your own — 10 putts filmed, then 10 putts to a fixed count. Film ten putts from the side and count the practice motions on each. Most players are surprised — the number is rarely the same twice. Then pick your number and putt ten more to it exactly. Carry it into your next three rounds, tap-ins included.

Watch: Practice like a Pro: Disc Golf Putting Routine — The SpinTV

More Pop on Your Putt

Add power so distance putts reach the chains.

Your stand-still range is the distance at which you can still putt at the chains rather than lagging. If that range is 25 feet, every putt past it is a two-putt by default. Adding ten honest feet of range does not just add makes at 30 feet — it turns a whole band of lag putts into looks at the basket.

Power comes from the legs pushing up, not a harder arm.
Stay low, then drive upward through the putt.
A little more pop turns lids into makes at distance.

Drill · Find the edge — 10 putts each from 25, 30 and 35 ft (30 total). Stand-still only, counting makes at each distance. The distance where your make rate drops below about half is the real edge of your range — not where you feel confident, where the numbers stop. Then do the bulk of your practice five feet inside it, which is where added range actually comes from.

Watch: How to Get More Pop on Your Putt | Disc Golf Tips for Beginners — Robbie C Discgolf

The Straddle Putt

Putt around trees and obstacles with a wide base.

Sooner or later your lie is behind a trunk, under a low branch, or on a slope where a staggered stance will not stand up. The straddle solves all three. It also gives you a much wider, more stable base, which is why it is worth having for long circle-1 putts where the balance rule is the thing most likely to cost you a stroke.

Use the straddle to get around trees, guardians, and low ceilings.
Widen your base and keep weight centered.
Push straight at the chains — resist swinging across your body.

Drill · Blocked lie — 20 straddle putts from 20 ft, then 10 alternating from 25 ft. Put your bag on the ground where a trunk would be, directly in front of your marker, so the straddle is forced rather than chosen. Twenty from 20 feet. Then alternate five staggered and five straddled from 25 feet, counting each separately — the gap between those two numbers is how much the straddle is currently costing you, and it should shrink with practice.

Watch: Discraft Disc Golf Clinic: Straddle Putts — Discraft Disc Golf

Lag Putting (Circle 2)

Two-putt from range instead of blowing past.

From circle 2 — 33 to 66 feet — nobody makes a high percentage, professionals included. So the stroke you are saving is almost never the one you are standing over. It is the next one. A good circle-2 putt leaves a tap-in and costs you two; a bad one runs 20 feet past or stops 20 feet short and costs you three. Play for the two.

From circle 2, aim to leave an easy tap-in, not to jam it.
A soft, floaty line drops gently and avoids long comebacks.
Trust a full stroke — do not decelerate on long putts.

Drill · Score the second putt — 10 putts from 45 ft. Do not count makes. Count how many finish inside ten feet of the basket, which is the thing that decides whether you two-putt. Eight out of ten is a good number to chase. This scores the skill the shot actually needs, and it will change how you throw the putt within about five reps.

Watch: How to Nail Long-Range Putts | Calvin Heimburg’s Secrets to Circle 2 Putting — Innova Discs

Putting in the Wind

Adjust height, power and spin for the wind.

Wind is the condition that separates scores, because almost nobody practises in it — the still evening in the back garden is not the round you lose strokes in. The adjustments are small, specific and different in each direction, and knowing them turns a windy round from a lottery into an ordinary one.

Headwind: putt lower and firmer with more spin.
Tailwind: take power off and aim at the front of the tray — the wind carries it.
Crosswind: aim into the wind side so it pushes the disc back to center.

Drill · Three directions — 20 putts from 20 ft in each of headwind, tailwind and crosswind (60 total). This one has to be done on a windy day, which is the whole point — it is the session everybody skips. Move around the basket so the wind comes from each direction in turn, and note how far the misses drift rather than just counting makes. The drift distance is the number you will actually use on the course.

Watch: Pro Tips: Putting in the Wind with Nate Sexton — Innova Discs

Jump Putts

Add distance beyond the circle with a legal jump.

A jump putt is how you attack from outside your stand-still range instead of lagging. It is also the putt most often thrown illegally, so the rule is worth getting exactly right before the technique.

Legal past circle 1 (10 m) — use it to reach beyond your stand-still range.
Load, then jump straight toward the basket as you release.
Keep the same upper-body stroke; the legs add the power.

Drill · Is it earning its place — 10 stand-still then 10 jump putts from 40 ft. Same spot, same basket, back to back. Compare two numbers: makes, and how far the misses finish from the basket. If the jump putt is not reaching further without scattering more, it is not ready for a round yet — keep it in practice and lag instead. Most players find it gains distance long before it gains accuracy.

Watch: Learn How to Jump Putt | A Beginner's Guide to Disc Golf — Robbie C Discgolf

Putting Practice Drills

Structured drills that actually transfer to the course.

Throwing a hundred putts from the same spot is not practice, it is repetition with no feedback — and it builds a stroke you never actually use, because on the course you get one putt, from an awkward angle, with a routine in front of it. A drill has a distance, a rep count and a number to beat, which is what makes it possible to tell whether you are improving.

Ladder drill: make putts moving back from 15 to 30+ feet.
Track makes and misses — practice the distances you miss.
Short, focused sets beat long, unfocused sessions.

Drill · The ladder, written down — 25 putts — 5 each from 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 ft, once a week. Five numbers, recorded every week. That is the whole drill, and it is the most useful fifteen minutes in your practice week: it tells you your real circle-1 range, it shows you which distance to work on next, and after a month it tells you whether anything you changed actually helped.

Watch: Improve Your C1X Percentage with 3 Putting Drills | Disc Golf Tips — Gladiator Disc Golf

The Mental Side of Putting

Quiet the mind and make more clutch putts.

By the time a putt matters, the stroke is already built — it does not leave you on the last hole of a tournament. What leaves is commitment: the decision gets made twice, the tempo stretches, and a putt you have made a thousand times comes out differently. This is about keeping the decision and the execution in separate places.

See the disc hit the chains before you throw.
One thought only: the exact link you are aiming at.
Reset after a miss — the next putt is independent.

Drill · Five in a row, tired — 5 consecutive makes from 20 ft, at the END of a session. Miss and the count goes back to zero. Doing it last, when you are tired and want to go home, is the entire point — that is the state a closing hole puts you in. Then take one thing onto the course: say your aim point quietly out loud before every putt inside 30 feet, for one whole round.

Watch: 6 Steps for MENTALLY Strong Putting Game — DG Spin Doctor