Welcome to Shaving Strokes, a GOLF.com series where the game’s brightest minds share their tips to help you, well, shave strokes! Today, GOLF Top 100 Teacher Joey Wuertemberger shares his “8-4-4” drill that helps dial in speed control on the greens.
Three-putting is one of the most frustrating mistakes a golfer can make. What should be the hard part (getting to the green) is taken care of, only to be foiled by a mental error on the putting surface. Every time I three-putt, I walk away wanting to break my putter over my knee.
Three-putting doesn’t have to be a regular occurrence, though. If you focus on the right things when practicing, you can minimize your three-putting frequency and, as a result, post lower scores.
The biggest key to reducing your three-putt percentage is dialing in your speed control. When you can lag your first putt within a reliable distance of the hole, cutting down on three-putts becomes much easier.
Below, GOLF Top 100 Teacher Joey Wuertemberger has outlined a putting drill that will help you dial in your feel on the greens and reduce three-putts.
‘8-4-4’ putting drill
Shooting lower scores starts on the greens. And if you want to maximize your success on the putting surfaces, you need to dial in your speed control.
Doing this is easy: All you need to do is concentrate on your tempo and stroke length. Quantifiable stroke length (along with tempo) is the key to lag putting it close and allowing the makable putts to take the break and fall in the hole.
To practice this, I like to use the 8-4-4 drill, which I learned from fellow Top 100 Teacher Kevin Sprecher and Aimpoint inventor Mark Sweeney. The 8-4-4 drill will teach you proper tempo when practicing while also giving you measurable stroke lengths for every putt.
Here’s how it works:
—Find a flat area on your putting green that allows putts up to 30 feet.
—Place a tee eight inches behind the ball.
—Hit 10 putts with good tempo and focus on taking your backstroke all the way back to the tee.
—Match your backstroke and forward stroke length.
—The putt should roll about 10 feet.
Once you go through this process a few times, you can start to assess any flaws.
If the balls have gone further than 10 feet, your backstroke may be too short, causing too much acceleration at impact. If the balls have gone less than 10 feet, you may have too long of a backstroke, which leads to deceleration at impact.
Once you get the hang of the proper backstroke length, you can start to work on your tempo. For that, I suggest downloading a metronome app on your phone.
Put in some headphones and select a bpm between 76 and 84. While you’re doing the 8-4-4 drill, focus on trying to match your stroke tempo with the clicks of the metronome. Start your stroke on the first beat, reach the end of your backstroke on the second beat and then hit the ball on the third beat. This will help you develop a consistent tempo with your stroke.
The “4s” in the drill’s name comes from adding four inches of stroke length (both back and through) for every 10 feet of additional putt distance. For example, you’d use a 12-inch stroke from 20 feet and a 16-inch stroke from 30 feet. You can add more tees for visual cues when practicing from each distance, or use a mark on an alignment rod.
As you start to get a feel for this technique, you’ll have an established baseline to take out onto the course. And as you start to master it, you’ll see your three-putt percentage drop drastically.
