The leading cause of three putts is distance control on the first putt, and that is the first thing worth fixing.
Most three putts start with poor speed control on the first putt, not a bad short putt, so the fastest fix is drilling lag distance from 20 to 40 feet before touching your stroke mechanics.
Why Weekend Golfers Three Putt So Often
Three putting is rarely about a shaky short putt. It is almost always the result of leaving the first putt too far from the hole, which turns a routine two-putt into a stressful second attempt from 6, 8 or even 10 feet.
Walk down any fairway on a Saturday and you will see the pattern repeat: a lag putt from 35 feet rolls 8 feet past, or comes up 6 feet short, and suddenly a makeable par turns into a scrambling bogey. The hole itself did not get smaller. The margin for error on the comeback putt did.
Learning how to stop three putting starts with accepting that speed, not line, is the real villain on long and mid-range putts. Read is still important, but distance control decides whether your second putt is a tap-in or a knee-knocker.
Fix Your Lag Putting Distance First
If you want to know how to stop three putting, start on the practice green with nothing but a tape measure and three balls. Pick a hole and putt from 20, 30 and 40 feet, focusing only on leaving the ball within a 3-foot circle around the cup.
Ignore the line entirely during this drill. The goal is purely to calibrate how hard you need to stroke the putter for each distance, which trains the touch that most weekend rounds are missing.
- Putt to a long tee or alignment stick laid on the green instead of a hole, so you get instant feedback on distance without the bias of trying to make it
- Use the ladder drill: putt to 10, 20, 30 and 40 feet in sequence, resetting if a ball finishes closer to the previous target than its own
- Practice with your eyes closed on the backswing and through-stroke, relying on feel rather than visual compensation
Fifteen minutes of lag putting before a round does more for your scorecard than an hour of short putts ever will.
Line gets you close. Speed gets you down in two.
Read the Green Before You Read the Putt
Once distance control is solid, green reading becomes the next lever. Most three putts on breaking putts happen because a golfer reads the line correctly but applies tour-level pace to a weekend green, sending the ball well past the break and the hole.
A simple habit fixes this: read the putt for line from behind the ball, then read it again for speed by walking the putt’s path and feeling the slope under your feet. Grain, moisture and green speed all change how much a putt breaks, and those variables shift hole to hole, not just course to course.
On faster greens, favour more break and less pace. On slower or wetter greens, you can play a firmer stroke with a touch less break, since the ball will hold its line more.
Build a Repeatable Stroke and Pre-Putt Routine
A consistent stroke matters less than a consistent routine. Golfers who three putt under pressure often rush the process on the second putt, barely reading it before tapping away out of embarrassment.
Treat every putt, long or short, with the same three-step routine: read the line, take one practice stroke that matches the pace you want, then commit. This removes the hesitation that causes decelerating strokes, which push putts offline and short.
- Keep your head still through impact, since early peeking is one of the most common causes of pulled or pushed putts
- Grip pressure should stay light and even throughout the stroke, not just at address
- Pick a specific target, such as a blade of grass or discoloured spot, rather than aiming vaguely at the hole
A stable, repeatable routine is what separates golfers who consistently two-putt from mid-range from those who occasionally string together three or four three-putt holes in a round.
When to Rework Your Putter Fit and Setup
Equipment will not fix a speed-control problem, but a poor putter fit can make one worse. A putter that is too long or too upright for your posture encourages an inconsistent stroke path, which compounds distance control issues rather than solving them.
At Tee Time Dreaming Golf we hear from plenty of weekend players chasing a new putter before they have worked on lag putting drills, and the order matters. Get your distance control and routine solid first, then check that your putter’s length, lie angle and head weight suit your stroke.
A mallet head tends to suit golfers with a straighter, pendulum-style stroke, while a blade style often suits those with some natural arc. Neither will stop three putting on its own, but the right fit removes one more variable from an already demanding skill. Tester edit.
FAQ
- Can you cure the putting yips?
- Many golfers significantly improve yips symptoms, though full cure claims vary by individual and cause. Common fixes include switching grip style (such as to a claw or cross-handed grip), using a longer or heavier putter to reduce small-muscle involvement, and simplifying the pre-putt routine to reduce overthinking. Working on lag putting drills that build rhythm, rather than focusing on make-or-miss outcomes, also helps many golfers regain confidence over short putts.
- Why am I pulling all my putts?
- Pulled putts, which miss left of the target for a right-handed golfer, are usually caused by an open-to-closed stroke path or the putter face closing too much through impact. Common culprits include ball position too far forward in the stance, grip pressure that tightens through the stroke, or the shoulders aiming left of the target line at address. Checking alignment with a mirror or alignment stick on the practice green is the quickest way to diagnose which of these is happening.
- What percentage of 3 foot putts do pros make?
- Tour professionals make the significant majority of 3-foot putts, generally cited well above 95 percent in tracked statistics. That success rate drops notably as distance increases past 6 to 8 feet, which is exactly why avoiding long second putts through better lag putting matters so much for amateurs trying to limit three putts.
- What does 3 putting mean?
- Three putting means taking three strokes to hole out once your ball is already on the putting green, one more than the two putts allotted in standard par calculations. It typically results in a bogey or worse on that hole, since the two putts are already factored into par, and it is one of the most common ways weekend golfers lose strokes relative to their ball-striking.
- How do I stop three putting from long range
- The main fix for long-range three putts is dedicated lag putting practice from 20 to 40 feet, aiming to leave the ball within a 3-foot circle rather than trying to make it. Practising without a hole, using a tee or alignment stick as a target, removes the temptation to focus on line instead of pace, which is the real issue at long range.
- Does a heavier putter head help with distance control
- A heavier putter head can help some golfers by encouraging a smoother, less handsy stroke, which often improves consistency on longer putts. It is not a universal fix, since stroke mechanics and feel preferences vary, but it is a reasonable adjustment to test once your practice routine and green reading are already solid.
- Should I practice putting with my eyes closed
- Yes, putting with closed eyes during practice is a widely used drill for building distance control, since it forces reliance on feel rather than visual correction mid-stroke. It works best on lag putts to a target rather than a specific hole, and is meant as a practice-only technique rather than something to try during a round.
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