Dear Jim,
The short answer is: "not really." The long answer is:
That's actually a complex issue. The notion that makes most skilled players reluctant to practice with the 3-inch hole is based on longstanding advice such as "accelerate through impact," "take the break out," "don't baby the short ones," "ram in the short putts," and similar old saws. Without getting argumentative, these old saws are addressing only one aspect (speed) of short putts, and the larger issue of targeting is probably more important in short putting. The 3-inch cup certainly trains targeting skills for short putts, and can also be used to extend a golfers "makeable" range out considerably.
The fear that such practice will "hurt" short-putting speed control is pretty bogus, as it is based on an antiquated robotics- or computer-programming notion of motor skills development that says if you practice something, that's what you will do when you play. Really, golf skills like putting are composed of a collection of elements, like timing, targeting, and physical coordination. Skills are developed by mastering and integrating these elements. One can freely practice elements in isolation, so long as one also knows how to integrate the elements for the full-fledged execution of the skill. It's not really hard, and there's no cause for fear.
While it's true you don't want to "baby" short putts, the advice to "accelerate through impact" is not actually taught in the PGA Tour Manual of Golf, by Michael Corcoran and PGA Tour Productions. Instead, the best advice is to allow the putter to accelerate naturally, without hit or voluntary muscle powering. Ben Crenshaw has said that it took him several decades to learn that the putterhead moves itself. The tempo of an excellent putter like Loren Roberts is very close to the natural free-fall tempo of the putter itself swinging freely as a pendulum, which is usually about 60-65 beats per minute, or one full stroke fall in one second, and certainly not the 75-85 beats per minute "whacking" stroke taught by some putting gurus.
Similarly, the advice of Dave Pelz to always hit putts so that if the ball misses the cup it will roll an average of 17 inches past the hole is not sound. Pelz's actual data is reported only in Golf Digest for July 1977, pages 50-52, in Larry Dennis' article "Die Your Putts at the Hole and You're Dead." Pelz there reports the results of his True-Roller experiments to ascertain the optimal go-by speed on ten different greens on the east coast, including bent and bermuda greens. The general conclusion Pelz drew then is that there is NOT any one optimal go-by speed, and that the speed that maximizes sinks depends upon the grass type and the current playing condition. This, of course, was not news to skilled players.
The actual results went something like this: optimal go-by on bent greens in tournament condition, 5-10 inches; bent in poor condition, 10-20 inches; bermuda in tournament condition, 15 to 24 inches; bermuda in poor condition, 20-40 inches. Six years later in a 1983 article and nine years later in 1986 in his book Putt Like the Pros, Pelz had reversed his conclusion without any further experimentation to claim that all putts on all greens should be hit aggressively so that if the ball missed the cup, it would roll 17 inches past the hole. In effect, he "made up" a "bentmuda" green and just picked a number somewhere in the middle of the results from ten different greens.
The real issue is ball speed at the lip, not go-by roll on a specific surface type and condition. The physics of drop-speed has been addressed in four solid studies that I'm aware of, and they all agree that 9 revolutions per second at the lip is the upper speed limit for even a center-cut putt, and that as the lip-speed declines, a larger percentage of the hole's capture profile becomes available, so the effective target widens from the center-cut line one-dimple wide out to about 3.5 inches wide at 3 revolutions per second, and wider still at 2 revolutions per second. The go-by that results with misses will depend upon your drop speed and the green. Faster greens will have longer comebacks for the same drop speed.
Another problem with Pelz's data is that it is stale and now largely irrelevant, especially to Tour players. His experiments were conducted in the mid-1970s, over a quarter century ago, and his "theory" for why there is a minimum go-by speed was mostly that the roll of the ball is knocked off line by footprints and spike marks and a lumpy-donough pattern of footprints at the hole unless there is sufficient momentum to keep the roll on line. Momentum is mass time velocity, and the only way to manage the momentum of a rolling ball is to manage the velocity. But this thinking was largely derivative of Cochran and Stobbs' 1968 plea for reduced foot-traffic at the cup (one-retrieval per foursome suggestion) and the "Volcano" at the hole described by Golf Digest in 1970. The problem is that the late 1970s and early 1980s saw the widespread adoption of tri-plex Toro mowers and improved green construction, agronomy, and maintenance technology. The result has been constant rotation of hole locations to disperse foot traffic, better grass that tolerates closer cutting and packing, daily tri-plex cutting and rolling (the mowers effectively pack the turf), and better irrigation practices for the USGA-style perched water-table greens. So, in general, greens are faster, more uniformly contoured, and consistent. In addition, the spikeless movement is strongly supported by greenskeepers and top venues. All of which means that the average Joe Sixpack golfer certainly needs to get the bloomin' ball to the hole, but the better golfer is not well served by the "go-by" approach or the 17-inch "rule" in partricular.
The recent study by Werner and Grieg in their book How Golf Clubs Really Work and How to Optimize Their Design looked at this issue, and their data made them specifically reject Pelz's 17-inch rule. Even though they adhered to the go-by approach, their data showed that the optimal go-by distance depends up grass type and condition (no surprise there), but also with skill level and length of putt. Generally, higher handicap golfers need to send the ball a little further past the hole than lower handicap golfers. The scatter pattern (leaves) for 98%+ of 10-foot putts for scratch golfers (roughly) looks like an ellipse 10 inches to either side at the hole extending from about 20 inches short to 20 inches long. [In Pelz's Putting Bible, he prints a photo of pro "leaves" that are grouped behind the hole at an average of about 8-10 inches past (and none as far as 17 inches past, which happens to be 4 hole widths, so it is easily measured from the photo itself with its built-in scale of the hole image), but he apparently doesn't recognize the conflict with his teaching.] In contrast, the Werner and Grieg data for a 30-handicap golfer shows a scatter pattern also about 10 inches to either side at the hole extending from 40 inches short to 40 inches long (p. 140). Looking at 40 footers, the scatter patterns enlarge in a scaled way by a factor of 4.8. Scratch pattern: 48 inches (4 feet) to either side of the hole and 96 inches short to 96 inches long (8 feet). 30-handicap pattern: 48 inches (4 feet) to either side of the hole and 192 inches short to 192 inches long (16 feet). Expressed as a percentage of the length of the putt, scratch golfers at 10 feet have a pattern of error 1/12th wide and 2/12th short or long; 30-handicap golfers have a scatter pattern 1/12th wide and 4/12th short or long. At 30 feet, the pattern worsens to scratch misses 1/10th wide and 2/10th short or long and 30-handicap misses 1/10th wide and 4/10th short or long (p. 141).
For optimal go-by speeds to maximize sinks, they conclude that a scratch golfer should aim 7 inches past for level 5-foot putts on Stimp 9 greens, 13 inches past on 20-footers, and 7 inches past for 40-footers; 30-handicap golfers should aim 12 inches past for level 5-footers on Stimp 9 greens, 14 inches on 10-footers, and 3 inches short on 40-footers. For Stimp 12 greens, a scratch golfer should aim 13 inches past on a 10-footer, 16 inches past on a 20-footer, 13 inches past on a 30-footer, and 10 inches past on a 40-footer; a 30-handicap golfer should aim 17 inches past on a 10-footer, 11 past on a 20-footer, 4 inches past on a 30-footer, and 2 inches short on a 40-footer (p. 144).
In my experience, the key is consistent delivery of ball speed at the lip, regardless of green surface speed. (It's called "touch," and pros work to adjust their touch to new greens every week.) Phil Rodgers long ago noted that top-level putters always deliver the ball to the hole at the same drop-speed regardless of the green or the length of the putt. Mine is 2 revolutions per second. This speed is more than adequate to overcome any "volcano" effect that might be there (despite modern practices), makes about 80% of the hole available for capture, and minimizes comeback distances pretty reasonably for any speed green.
Consistent tempo and thus consistent aiming and touch or distance control results in the most sinks in a round, and this means the tempo should stay the same even on short putts. What really results in "babying" short putts is a failure to use the established, well-honed tempo. The failure comes about from fear of the distance, and the thought that the normal tempo is too strong. Paradoxically, the advice to "ram it in" is a band-aid approach to overcoming this failure as a matter of habit. Equally paradoxically, the REAL fix is to address the fear, not paper it over. I've watched juniors putting from five feet and they ALWAYS miss long, and miss a lot. But if you make them attempt to stop the ball right on the lip so that it doesn't fall in, they magically cannot prevent the ball from sinking. I've converted juniors who miss 7 or 10 5-footers long to juniors who sink 8 or 10 5-footers (or better) INSTANTLY by getting them to target the precise distance of the roll by trying to stop the ball on the lip. An easy bet with a collegiate golf team member is to challenge him to stop merely 4 of 10 balls on 10-foot putts within 6 inches short of the lip. The result is many more balls sink than stop in the 6-inch region in front of the lip (around 3-5 sinks), and they can never get four balls to stop there (usually 1-2 tops). [Greg Norman also teaches this to his son.] I don't teach "confidence" as an end in itself, but as a by-product of competence in knowing what works, you sure don't have "fear" of your tempo. In this sense, I agree that "confidence" or "boldness" (meaning an absence of fear or self-doubt about your skill) tends to help short putting, but really only because you don't "quit" your tempo in the stroke.
The bottom line on short putt speed is stick to your tempo, because that's where your "touch" lives every putt. Speed control is a false issue for short putts.
The targeting precision required for short putts is greater than most people suppose. When a golfer wants to "ram it in," he is trying to cure a targeting problem with brute force, effectively ignoring the break that he either can't quite imagine clearly and accurately or can't get the speed right for. This, to me, is a flawed targeting process. I believe that clearly seeing the actual path across actual blades of grass in a short putt, plus seeing the exact point on the lip the ball needs to cross over, is fundamentally more important that speed control on short putts. This targeting precision is based upon a well-learned sense of "touch" and imagining the energy of the ball's roll changing as it nears the lip. With this dynamic "movie" of the speed in mind (derived from your normal tempo and touch), one and only one break and path and entry point are required or allowed. One tempo, one speed, one path. When that combination is imagined, the setup of the putterface to the ball takes care of the start-line and the stroke movement for a square stroke through the ball down the line. The touch takes care of the break. So, just use normal tempo and make a straight stroke based on the putterface alignment and setup to the putterface orientation.
This approach is a lot simpler and also promotes sound skill development over time. If you baby the putt be coming off tempo, you miss -- so you learn not to come out of tempo. If you don't imagine the energy and path accurately, but still "commit to the line" and make a square straight stroke, you miss -- so you learn not to get casual in targeting short putts. You get progressively better at short putts because you are in a procedure for learning that has only one direction -- better.
Short putts have other issues as well, especially downhill putts and putts breaking away from the golfers feet. But that's separate. I like Jack Nicklaus' approach to uphill/downhill short putts: gentle going down, rough and ready going up. In fact, gravity assists downhill putts find the final straight line into the cup, whereas uphill putts can be like putting along the top of an inverted bowl, and can send the ball off the start-line. So speed helps going uphill against gravity. Downhill, gravity can help, too fast can certainly hurt, but babying the putt can also let the brakes in the grass get too much purchase too early and this either stops the ball short or sends it curling too low. Either way -- up or down -- babying is a sin.
Summing up, the 3-inch cup trains targeting precision. If you don't have accurate touch, you won't be too successful with it from ANY distance, but if you have consistent drop-speed (from consistent tempo and targeting), then the 3-inch cup is no different than putting to a tee or a coke can or Fuzzy Zoeller's putting peg training aid. The only reason for doing a drill with SHORT putts to the 3-inch cup is the reality that not many golfer will sink many putts outside 4 or 5 feet because they have poor touch to begin with and thus can't target well enough for the smaller target size. Golfers with mediocre skill would get too frustrated missing all their practice putts. A highly-skilled golfer, however, doesn't care about misses, and in practice is more concerned with this or that aspect of technique, and just looks to the results of the putt for relevant feedback about speed and roll and line and stopping point. In this sense, a good putter will putt to the 3-inch cup from 10 or 15 feet away and get good training in targeting and touch and even extend his "makeable" range. All length putts look alike and all present the same problem -- managing the roll speed and path of the ball over the final inches into the cup.
To integrate elements of precision and touch into your putting, it always comes down to carefully foreseeing the roll (path plus energy) of the ball over that last piece of the path into the cup, regardless of the length of the putt. The 3-inch cup helps precision targeting, and precision targeting with a consistent tempo gives touch precision. It's not really about the length of the putt. Walter Travis's practice regime started at 2 feet out from a 3-inch hole and ended at 10 feet out. I have found that once you get precision touch, you get the ability to micromanage the stopping point of the ball even on very long putts. One drill I teach is to set a tee peg upside down and roll the ball to it so the ball touches the peg but does not knock it over. On the practice green, you can set the peg on the lip and do the same, from a wide range of distances. So, having this "touch" competence certainly allows you to feel in control if you "fear" something about the distance or speed of the putt surface might cause problems -- you know how to adjust to the challenge, keeping your tempo.
Best shut up now.
Thanks for the question.
--
Cheers!
Geoff Mangum
Putting Theorist and Instructor
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