Manilla Folder Putting Drill
If you want to lower your golf score, I can almost guarantee you are losing a couple of strokes per round from poor putting. And not just poor putting in general, but you likely are struggling to hit putts with great speed control.
Anytime the ball gets on to the putting green, your goal should be to 1-putt. But the further away you are from the hole, the less percentage chance you have to make a 1-putt and your strategy should become centered around a two putt. We want to avoid 3 putts as these are wasted strokes that add up on the scorecard, keeping you from breaking 80.
This putting drill is called the Manilla Folder Putting Drill and it gives you a larger target to aim at when putting, with the goal to stop the golf ball on top of the folder.
Since the folder is roughly 1 foot in width, you also are working on your accuracy trying to keep putts on line. This is a great drill to fix putts that stray away from you and end up 3-5 feet to the side of the hole, despite hitting it the proper distance in some cases.
The folder is also only about a 1.5 feet or less in length, giving you a small margin of error to stop the ball. This puts pressure on you to really focus and hit each putt with the proper speed control so it rolls the ideal distance.
After working on the putting drill consistently for a few weeks to a few months, you should notice a huge improvement in distance control on the greens as well as keeping putts close to the hole from far away so you finish with easy tap in putts.
How to Do the Manilla Folder Putting Drill:
- Set down a manilla folder on the ground 10 feet away
- The slick surface of the folder makes it tough for the ball to hold
- Master speed control to get the ball to stop on the folder
- Practice this drill from 10 feet, 15 feet, 20 feet, 25 feet, and 30 feet
- Get 3 successful putts to stop on the folder in a row from each of those 5 distances
A few things to note…
When putting from 10 feet and 15 feet, you should set the goal in your head that you are 1 putting. This is a close enough distance to try and make the putt.
I’d recommend drawing a circle on the center of the folder to try and stop the golf ball on but if you miss, you want to keep your misses tight which is what the rest of the folder serves to do showing you that your putt stayed on.
Other Recommended Putting Drills:
Here are additional golf drills to help your short game skills improve and lower your golf scores consistently:
- Tiger Wood’s Double Gate Putting Drill
- Jordan Spieth’s Stare at the Cup Practice Drill
- Golf Putting Drills Routine for Speed Control
- 5 Best Putting Drills to Practice Like the Pro’s
Golf Practice Plans:
Try our step by step golf training plans that give you daily practice routines to complete. Each practice routine has putting drills, chipping drills, and golf swing drills for the driving range. Learn more about each.
