How to Make Putts from 4 Feet?
Did you know that the players on the PGA Tour make roughly 92% of their putts from four feet?
Odds are, you don’t make nearly as high of a percentage as that from four feet but there are things you can do to increase your make percentage which we will be discussing in the lesson below.
Before we dive into the lesson however, review our Ultimate Putting Tutorial to Build Strong Fundamentals
Once you’ve built a strong fundamental set up and developed a solid putting stroke, you’re more likely to drain putts from 4 feet. Review our tutorial and practice the lessons from it until you’ve built muscle memory and developed positive putting habits.
Then subscribe to our Free 7 Day Online Putting Bootcamp where I’ll shoot you an email each day with new lessons and tips to help your putting skills improve and sink more putts from 4 feet.
Resource: Golf Practice System (Practice Plans + Videos + Worksheets)
Now let’s get into some putting drills to boost your putting make percentage from short distance.
Golf Putting Practice Drills to Improve from 4 Feet
Putting Drill #1: One Handed Strokes
Find a flat putt from 4 feet on the practice green. Set a ball marker 4 feet from the hole to mark your spot. Get 5 balls out of your golf bag and lay them on the ground near the ball marker.
Take two irons from your golf bag and lay them down parallel to each other a putter head’s width apart, forming a path to the hole. Each iron should be just outside of one side of the cup on each side.
Now that you’ve created bumper rails like in bowling, you can set up to the 4 foot putt and make one handed strokes trying to keep the putt straight and avoid the rails. Practice dry reps before hitting a live golf ball to make sure you maintain control and proper grip over the putter with just one hand. You don’t want to grip the club differently.
Try to make 5 putts in a row with one handed strokes before switching to the other hand for its turn at completing this drill.
Putting Drill #2: Remove the Bumper Guards
Now that you’ve successfully made 5 putts in a row from 4 feet with one handed strokes and gained more control using just one hand on the putter, it’s time to remove the irons you laid down in the drill above and begin putting with two hands again.
Try to make 10 putts in a row now from 4 feet. Focus on keeping a consistent tempo and making square contact with the golf ball. Pushes and pulls often happen when you turn the face before impact and fail to make square contact with the golf ball.
Resource: Golf Practice System (Practice Plans + Videos + Worksheets)
Putting Drill #3: Five Star Circle Drill
Next, you’ll want to place 5 ball markers around the hole at different locations, but maintaining the 4 foot distance to the cup. I would pick 5 new locations around the cup or change holes so that you are starting fresh since you just spent several minutes learning the break for the one hole.
Once you are set up, place a golf ball at each ball marker. Go through your normal putting routine before stroking each putt to simulate a live round. Treat it as if you have 5 par saving putts out of 18 holes and you want to convert all 5 of them to not lose any strokes.
See if you can make all 5 in a row. If you want to challenge yourself, start over each time you miss to put pressure on yourself until you can successfully go around the circle making all 5 putts from different locations at 4 feet.
This drill helps you learn breaks and speeds to play different putts from around the hole rather than sitting in one location banging putt after putt.
You’ll be simulating a real putt by moving around the circle to fresh putts and going through your pre-putting routine prior to hitting each putt.
Final Words on these Short Game Putting Drills
The goal during these putting drills is to be consciously aware of the feeling of the ball coming off the face as well as the line you are starting it on. Compare each putt’s intended line you wanted against the line it actually starts on.
Develop your ability to see the putt start on the proper line as a result of hitting the ball squarely with the putter face at impact. You’ll soon develop feel and be able to feel when you pulled or pushed putts.
If your putting stroke struggles to make square impact with the ball, set up the gates again or get two books to form a path that forces you to stay straight in order to avoid colliding with the books or gate.
Lastly, putting drills are beneficial when you practice the proper fundamentals. We started off this lesson having you review the fundamentals of putting in our Putting Tutorial for Fundamentals in order to help you understand the putting stroke and work on the proper set up, alignment, and stroke prior to practicing drills. Quality reps are how you’ll improve.