Putting

Build a Putting Routine

A pre-putt routine that holds up under pressure.

Why it matters

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.

How to do it

Stand behind your marker and decide everything there: the aim point, the line, how hard. Decisions happen here and nowhere else.
Step in with the same foot first, to the same place, every time.
Make a fixed number of practice motions — one, two or three, whichever suits you. Pick the number now and count it.
Take one breath out.
Putt immediately. There is no pause between the last practice motion and the real one; that pause is where the stroke changes.
Hold your finish and your eyes until the disc lands, then step off.

Common mistakes

A practice-motion count that grows when the putt matters.Count them out loud in practice until the number is automatic. Two is two on hole 1 and on hole 18.

Freezing over the putt while you reconsider the line.Step all the way off, go back behind your marker and start the routine again. Re-deciding from inside the stance is how both the line and the tempo go.

Running the routine only on putts that feel important.Use it on every putt including two-footers. A routine you only use under pressure is a routine you have never practised under pressure.

Key points

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.

The drill

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