The most important skill in putting is controlling the speed of your putt. Confidence in your ability to judge distance correctly is key to becoming a more consistent putter. Let’s look at indoor putting drills for speed control.
Indoor Putting Drills Series
Aim
Speed ← You are here
Face Angle at Impact
Path
Green Reading
Drills Overview
Speed focused indoor putting drills are pretty straight forward. Roll the ball the correct distance to make the putt.
There are training aids that measure speed and those that have a physical target to measure your ability to roll the ball the correct distance.
Another factor in rolling the ball the right distance is making sure you make “sweet spot” contact on the putter face.
Indoor Putting Drills: Speed
This mat is my “go to practice mat” for speed. Mostly because of the mat is 13 feet long. The max distance putt you can make is 10 feet.
You can putt to the black and green areas also
There are clearly marked and extremely well done 3 foot, 6 foot and 10 foot stations. There is also a station at 4.5 feet.
In addition to that, there are black and green areas on the mat to putt to for speed control at various other lengths.
There is a symbol or a “golf hole” at one end and in each of the black areas.
Indoor Putting Drills: Speed
The EXPUTT RG is something I just purchased. I haven’t done a review on it yet.
The TV version of this has more data on screen
There is limited real estate on an iPad or phone
So why am I adding it to article? I can tell after just a couple days that it’s going to be in my top 5 putting training aids if not number 1 or 2.
What is it? It’s a putting simulator. The mat is only around 5 feet long and it works with a high resolution video camera.
It works much like a full swing simulator. You can take putts from 5 to 50 feet in practice mode.
The drill is you roll the ball and can see “on screen” putting metrics and whether or not you make the putt.
In play mode you have to putt out to complete the hole.
In multi mode you connect via Wi-Fi to compete against others.
The image appears on your TV via HDMI cable. On your tablet or phone you connect via Bluetooth and an app.
It’s like putting on a real green.
You can set the slope and slant of a green in practice mode. In other modes you can play real golf course greens like Pebble Beach for example.
In the photo above, I set it for a flat green, 10 stimp and a straight 10 foot putt.
I’ve been using it for practice and testing it against my Blast Motion Golf app. My plan is to use both together as they both offer different things.
It is very accurate and fun. Look for a review here soon.
Indoor Putting Drills: Speed
Blast Motion Golf, used for putting, measures 11 different putting metrics. Not all are related to speed.
I like to think the metrics related to speed are backstroke length, tempo and impact stroke speed.
It doesn’t really tell you if it went in the hole. You need to try and repeat your backstroke length for speed control.
I posted the image above to talk about two things. 1. Not all putts with an absolute square club face at impact go in. If it’s short or your aim is off, the ball most likely with miss. 2. I took this putt while I was hooked up to EXPUTT RG. It went it.
In fact, of the six putts I took from 10 feet all were likely to go in based on a pretty square club face at impact.
Four went in the hole and 2 were short.
Good Combination
I mention this because I think Blast Motion Golf used with EXPUTT RG is going to change my game.
I took 3 additional putts after this on my Wellputt mat just to check distance. All of them went 10 feet or just past.
With the first 6 putts I took…what got my attention? Repetition on the EXPUTT RG and “seeing” where the ball finished on a real green. Learning thru trial and error where my backstroke needs to be on putts of 5 to 50 feet in length.
So, why am I combining Blast Motion Golf with EXPUTT RG?
Blast Motion Golf gives me 11 putting metrics. With the EXPUTT RG putting simulator, I can practice on or putt on real greens, take longer putts, and I can practice breaking putts.
EXPUTT RG has some metrics on the screen like how far the ball went, putter path, and face angle at impact.
Nice combination.
Indoor Putting Drills: Speed
The Sweet Spot
Since I mentioned hitting the “sweet spot” at the beginning, I thought I would bring it up again. There is no substitute for good contact.
We all know that you don’t need a training aid to know when you have mishit one.
Hitting the ball on the putters sweet spot gives you a much better chance for success.
Other Mats
I have two other putting mats. One is a PuttOUT mat and the other is a Putt-A-Bout mat.
Both are six feet long and are good for speed control on shorter putts. I usually use them for other types of putting practice.
Indoor Putting Drills Series
Aim
Speed ← You are here
Face Angle at Impact
Path
Green Reading