The Bike Lane
- 3 hours ago
- 7 min read
Let me tell you a story about Casey. Casey is an avid bike rider in New York City. One day, he got a ticket for riding outside of the bike lanes.
The issuing officer said in a recorded conversation that he needed to stay in the bike lane even if it wasn’t the safest spot. Following that chat and $50 fine, Casey was angry.
Casey did something about it.
Casey made a video of what happens when you stay in the bike lane and hazards that you quite literally run into when doing so.
🚨 Spoiler alert 🚨
The video culminates with him running into, you guessed it, a cop car parked in the bike lane.
One epic crash and 30 million views later, his efforts made an impact.
With that in mind. I’m back this week to tell you a story…
Preston is a full time putting coach in Orlando. One day, his friend sent him an article that had putting advice. No context, just a post and a link.
The article said just “think about dying” your lag putts near the hole, make sure you leave yourself uphill putts after approaches, and that a 6 inch backswing and changing tempo is how to handle varying distances.
After reading that, Preston was angry.
Preston is doing something about it.
Pre-Round Practice
What the Article Says
“Before your round, spend extra time on long lag putts during practice. Pick spots 30, 40, or even 50 feet from the hole. Your goal isn’t to make them. Your goal is to leave every putt within a 3-foot circle around the cup. This builds the touch you need to avoid those momentum-killing three-putts. On the course, when you’re facing a long putt, think about dying the ball at the hole rather than charging it. A putt that comes up a foot short is infinitely better than one that races 6 feet past.”
What Preston Says
This right here is my problem with how “coaches” have told people to work on their speed. Just hit more and hope you get better. Hell, just think about dying it near the cup! Manifest the shit out of 2 putts! You can telepathically communicate with your ball! Your 3 putts evaporate faster than moisture on the hot griddle.
Hot take: If that worked, you wouldn’t be reading this because you 3-whacked 4 times on the front nine Saturday “because the greens were fast.” 🙄
Preston’s Thoughts
Learn and utilize a system that helps you become more aware of the key concepts that determine how far a putt goes. That’s the size and tempo of the stroke. The same way you know how far your hybrid, 8 iron, and wedge go, let’s answer the same question for your putting.
You can do that by clicking HERE to join The Patreon page and learning about The Base Stroke System.
Respect Position Over Proximity
Part 1 of What the Article Says:
“On fast greens, being below the hole matters more than being close to it. An uphill 20-footer is often easier than a downhill 8-footer... [A]im for the fat part of the green that leaves you below the hole, even if it means you’re farther away. This might feel counterintuitive, but it’s smart golf. You’re playing percentages."
Preston’s Thoughts
The PGA Tour Make Percentages from 8 feet and 20 feet last year were as follows:
8 Feet: 52.8%
20 Feet: ~15%
This article is telling people that they are “playing percentages,” by sacrificing nearly a 40% make percentage differential just for the sake of having an uphill putt.
Anyone that is suggesting a mere change in slope is going to overcome that drop in make percentage and not increase the likelihood of a 3 putt is ignorant.
Strong word, but, shockingly enough there’s data to support that. Take a look at the below table to see what the performance looks like at the collegiate level.
What You’re Probably Thinking
“What about fast greens? Should I use this strategy then?”
The answer is still no. The make percentages from the Tour are collected on fast greens. So even if your home course runs faster than most, you’ll be hard pressed to use that logic to refute the idea of the uphill putt being easier.
If you voted in the Instagram poll and your gut tells you you’d rather take the 20 footer, perhaps that’s saying something about your ability to adapt to changing conditions and that you need to improve a given skill set.
Part 2 of What the Article Says
“Identify where the hole is cut and where the high and low points are. Then aim for the fat part of the green that leaves you below the hole, even if it means you’re farther away. This might feel counterintuitive, but it’s smart golf. You’re playing percentages. During practice rounds or casual play, experiment with hitting to different levels of the green. You’ll quickly learn that distance from the hole isn’t everything when speed is a factor.”
Preston’s Thoughts
On the PGA Tour from 150 yards, that number is just over 20 feet from the target, or a 40 foot circle.
Now let’s assume you’re a PGA Tour caliber ball striker. Given that is the average approach, can you mathematically pick a target that keeps all the balls on the green and below the cup?
In a lot of cases, you can’t. Here’s why:
There is a thing called a dispersion when you hit an approach shot. It’s about where we can expect your ball to end up given a series of attempts.
There is no way humanly possible to position a 40 foot circle to a normal pin position where all shots end up on the green and with an uphill putt. There will be some inherent risk of balls ending up off the surface where the likelihood of holing out in two shots decreases dramatically.
Long story short: You’re not good enough to aim your dispersion for a desired result. You’re not on Tour. Your dispersion is bigger. You can thank me later for potentially having a downhill 8 footer for birdie instead of a bunker shot.
What You’re Probably Thinking
“Preston, players try to reduce risk all the time. Isn’t that part of this advice?”
What the article’s advice does for players is actually introduce increased risk. The risk occurs when...
Simplify Your Stroke Mechanics
What the Article Says
“When greens are this fast, there’s no room for a long, flowing stroke... On lightning-fast greens, less is more. You need a shorter, more controlled stroke that minimizes variables. The longer your backstroke, the harder it becomes to control speed. And on greens running near 14 on the stimp meter, speed control is everything.
Practice putting with a shorter backstroke than you normally use. Focus on accelerating smoothly through the ball rather than taking a big backswing and decelerating. A good drill is to place a tee in the ground about 6 inches behind your ball. Make strokes where your putter doesn’t go past that tee. This forces you to control distance with tempo and strike quality rather than stroke length. You’ll be amazed at how far the ball rolls with minimal effort when the greens are quick.”
Preston’s Thoughts
This why we keep a bottle of Macallan near The Garage. Thank you to Josh for making Monday a little easier to tolerate…
Has anyone actually ever tried to make a 6” backswing and hit a putt?
Better yet, who tries to hit every approach shot from inside 150 yards with a full swing 7 iron and adjust the tempo? Anyone?
No one. Why? Because that’s stupid. Use a different club. It’s easier to keep the same tempo and switch clubs.
You can’t switch clubs on the putting green, but you can change the swing size and keep the same tempo. This example runs parallel to the full swing example explained above.
What You’re Thinking
“Preston, it seems logical that smaller swings would lead to less risk. Why are you suggesting otherwise?”
The advice in the article about using the same size backswing is not nuanced or accurate. In fact, it conflicts with years of industry consensus across various camps and technology companies.
There is plenty of data that demonstrates short backswings, long follow throughs, and accelerating putter head speeds are a primary cause of poor speed management.
When trying to create large amounts of speed in small spaces...
The Wrap Up
The beauty of this game that we play is that, regardless of your skill level, we are all striving to play the game better. Regardless of your handicap, don’t you deserve complete and accurate information?
To anyone that just chalks the original piece up to players just needing simple advice, publishing a piece like this is condescending and assumes that the reader can’t handle accurate information.
Instead, we’re going to subscribe to a world just giving them something that sounds reasonable and promoting content that is actually harmful to their development.
That’s not called coaching. It’s called pacifying.
Oversimplified bad advice does not and should not be acceptable because the audience is a less skilled. In fact, that audience demands the best possible information because they don’t have the experience to sort through the bullshit, try this on the course, and then assume they’re just no good at the game.
They assume they’re the problem, get frustrated and quit.
I made a promise to myself years ago to combat short-sighted, ignorant, incomplete, misconstrued, and plain old bad information with good information.
I made a promise to respectfully (and sometimes humorously, dramatically, or bombastically) refute lousy advice with practical and meaningful ways to help people learn and practice.
I made a promise to build systems that hold up under the scrutiny of science while acknowledging that we are not robots playing this game.
I made a promise to merely do the work to give you an opportunity to putt better. I’ve crashed into the back of the cop car for you.
It’s allowed me to bring simple, but relevant and actionable cues to be a part of the solution. Concepts of size and tempo to better manage speed, managed expectations on slope at 8 and 20 feet, and that proper strategy extends to all ability levels, not just Tour players.
You’re welcome.
Thank you to the contributors to this post. LF, JB, good work!
Comments