How to Play Golf: Circle Drill

Learn how to improve your golf game with the help of this excellent circle drill aimed at perfecting your putt.

Drill #3: Circle Drill Tim: I think one of the hardest things for most golfers is to perceive how far the put is. Long puts really take their toll on golfers. We have got about a 30-foot put here and what do you think about, Kent, when you get a long put like this? Kent: Well actually, Tim, I think you read my mind because I try to put a circle, about a 3-foot circle or 3-foot radius circle around the hole. What that does is it kind of eliminates the tension. I do not feel I have to hit a tiny little thing. I could just roll it up in that area where I know that the next put would be very easy. Tim: I think the chances of anybody, even guys on the tour trying to make many 30-footers, is pretty slim. The average one, they did a study of just on the pro-tour, from 7 feet out, was that only half the puts were ever made. So, it is kind of unrealistic. May times, when people have a long put, what they should vision in their mind is there is a circle around the cup, about 3 feet in diameter, that they can just get the ball inside that circle. Now that is a great put! Kent, now that we have got the imaginary circle in our mind, let us just hit some puts and see if we can get it inside there. All right. Good plant. Good plant. Kent: Beside the circle, I will take it. Tim: We might have you play around that ball a little. That is right in our target area. Kent: Good roll. Tim: Yes. Anytime you can get the ball inside that circle or near that circle, you have really hit a good put. Kent: Keep going. Oh! Tim: Oh! But you see, all of those puts, those are 30-foot puts. If you can come that close day in and day out, can you imagine how you could lower your score? Kent: That makes these puts up here very, very simple. Tim: Just visualizing that circle all the time on long puts. It will take a lot of the pressure off of you and you will be able to hit better puts, get them closer to the hole, so you have nothing but little, short tap-ins. Great putting. Putting pointers for the Circle Drill Aim for a 3-foot circle area around the cup on long puts. Aiming for a larger target eliminates the pressure of hitting a small target.