I wish I had researched this topic prior to my round at Windermere Golf and Country Club (Windermere) in Muskoka, Ontario. The awesome course had postage stamp greens, but many they were a challenge for my game. The greens were twice as fast as I normally play and I would be a liar to say I was able to adjust my game prior to teeing it up. More to follow on my round at Windermere later in the week. Back to putting on fast greens; there is a way to adjust and for some reason I was not really thinking about this as I let the excitement of playing a fantastic course. Regardless, I figure I would offer some tips for putting on fast greens because I sure could have used them last Sunday.
Putting is a very personal aspect of my golf game; as I am sure it is for your game. I consider myself a strong putter, but I realized that I have limitations as I experienced last Sunday at Windermere. I could make many excuses as to why I did not adjust well to the fast greens, but that would be considered whining. Basically, I forgot to focus on adjusting and that is my mistake. But to learn from my error, I thought I would share this video I should have researched before I played.
I have to make it very clear that Windermere was not at fault for my failure on the greens. I made a mental mistake by not focusing on putting their fast greens. I knew that I was playing on faster greens because my first practice putt rolled 8 feet past the pin on a 10 foot putt. What I did wrong was try to shorten my putting stroke without accounting for things like grip pressure and hitting the ball off the toe of my club.
On a side note, I three putted 9 times during our 27 holes. Yup, I was on fire…..haha. Truthfully, I was not annoyed at all because I was grateful to be playing with my friend Mike. It was a glorious day and Mikes company made it that much more enjoyable.
Putting on faster greens than your norm takes effort to accustom your short game to the changes. It is easily achievable if I focus on preparing on fast greens. I consider this as a lesson learned and I will do better next time.
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 
Jim, you are right, the adjustment is hard. The best solution is to play more frequently on varying green speeds. Absent of that, I’ve found it helpful during warm ups to spend significant time on the practice green lag putting. Start at 10′ and move back to longer putts. Use uphill, downhill, and side hill. Go out to 50 footers if you can. The goal is to know you’ve “got” the speed dialed in before you tee off and will have confidence that you don’t have to think about it on the course and can just feel the weight you have to apply with the putter.
Easier said than done – LOL!
Good luck.
Brian
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Brian,
I was trying longer putts prior to teeing off. Unfortunately, I was not focused on game. Enjoying my surroundings too much. Definitely a lesson learned their.
Cheers Jim
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Over the past couple weeks I’ve practiced your approach to putting. The famous 6 back 12 through. So this is timely and what I have decided for myself may be of interest.
I’ve decided that it’s best to continue with both approaches. Because there are times when one is better suited than the other for a particular putt I might face.
It boils down to modulating speed and calculating what you need for someone like me who hasn’t done it forever. It’s simply harder to judge speed when you have to think 3 back 6 forward rather than 3 back 3 forward. There’s a bigger different speed wise between 3 back 6 forward and 4 bag back 8 forward than there is between 3 b 3 f and 4 b 4 f. And that makes for less fine control.
So, for me at least, I’m using both approaches. On shots inside 10-12 feet that are level or uphill, I think your approach is working better than mine. But on putts where I have to be careful, and on the longer putts that I want to lag close, my approach is what is working best.
I won the skins game tonight doing just that. 4,2,1,0. My biggest take yet. A whopping 2.25. lol But the best part was the three skins I didn’t take were 3 of just 5 that I didn’t at least tie the hole. Your approach worked very well for me here at home tonight in the 10 foot circle I do most of my practice in. I used it for all but one of them. A down hill side hill lie dropping a foot and a half. For that one I couldn’t figure a formula with your approach and defaulted to mine which I think allows for finer control as I mentioned above. I got my 3rd skin when that one dropped center cup.
That putt took the wind out of their sails. lol I was out and went first and they all missed their much easier but still outside 5 foot putts or the one with a 10 foot uphill putt from dead under the hole. His lipped and we found a place in our community that brings echos. lol
It’s just one especially good night of putting. And chipping. And irons. lol. But it reinforces my belief that’s there is a place for both approaches in my game. Options become weapons.
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Kevin
How right you are! There so many ways to play every golf shot and finding the one for our specific game is critical to low scores. I.am glad that things are working well for you and that you are taking home some cash. 😉
Cheers Jim
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