The Only 2 Putts Worth Practicing

Walk past any practice green and you’ll see the same thing. Golfers rolling 15 footers, one after another, waiting for one to drop.

It looks like practice. It feels like practice. But it barely moves your score.

Here’s why. From 12 to 18 feet, a 15 handicap makes 16% of his putts. A scratch golfer makes 19%. That’s 3 points apart. So the putt I see golfers practice most is the one that separates them from better players the least.

So where does the gap live? In 2 putts. The short one you should make, and the long one you need to get close. Everything else can wait.

The short version: practice 3 to 10 footers for makes and 30 to 50 footers for tap ins, and skip the 15 footers in between. Below is the data behind it and a 15 minute session that covers both.

Putting is a smaller slice than it feels

Before we get to the 2 putts, let’s size the problem.

Arccos tracked about 329,000 rounds from golfers with verified handicaps. For an 11 to 15 handicap trying to reach the 6 to 10 range, putting is about 15% of the gap. Approach is about 39%.

So putting matters. It’s just not most of the story. If you only have 15 minutes a week for the green, those minutes need to go where the strokes actually are.

Where the gap actually lives

Shot Scope published make rates by distance for every handicap level. Here’s a 15 handicap next to a scratch golfer:

Read it top to bottom and the pattern jumps out. Inside 12 feet, scratch golfers make a lot more. From 12 to 30 feet, they make about the same.

And it’s not because scratch golfers are magic from 8 feet. Mark Broadie found that tour pros make about half their putts from 8 feet. Golfers who shoot 80 make about a third. Golfers who shoot 90 make about 27%. Nobody owns the middle distances. Some golfers just own the short ones.

The Putting Donut

Picture the green as a target.

Inside about 10 feet, you can score. Outside 30 feet, you can control. And between them sits a fat ring from about 12 to 25 feet, where nobody makes many and the best players barely make more.

That ring is the Putting Donut. Most golfers spend their practice in it. You’re going to practice on both sides of it instead.

Inside the donut, you’re buying makes. Outside it, you’re buying easy 2 putts. In the donut itself, you’re buying almost nothing.

Putt 1: The short one (3 to 10 feet)

This is where the biggest gap on the whole chart lives. From 3 to 6 feet, a scratch golfer makes 17 more putts out of every 100.

It’s also the putt that decides whether a 2 putt becomes a 3 putt. Your first putt from 35 feet stops 5 feet short. Now the hole depends on a 5 footer.

And that matters more than it sounds. In our app’s data, from 453 rounds by 127 golfers, almost half the holes with a three putt ended in double bogey or worse. A missed comeback rarely costs you just one shot.

How to practice it:

1. Comebacks. 3 balls each from 3, 4 and 5 feet. That’s 9 putts. Using Shot Scope’s make rates, a 15 handicap makes about 5 of 9.

2. Six footers around the hole. Put 8 balls in a circle at 6 feet so every putt breaks a different way. A 15 handicap makes about 3 to 4 of 8.

Write both scores down. Beat them next week. (The free putting drills pack has both drills with videos and pass marks for your handicap.)

Putt 2: The long one (30 feet and beyond)

From 30 feet and beyond, even scratch golfers make about 4%. A 15 handicap makes about 2%.

So nobody is making these. The only job is leaving yourself a tap in. And that’s why lag putting matters so much. Every long putt that stops inside 3 feet takes a three putt off the table.

How to practice it:

1. The lag ladder. Pick 3 spots at 30, 40 and 50 feet. 3 balls to each, so 9 putts.

2. A putt counts when it stops inside 3 feet. You’re chasing tap ins, not makes.

3. Start with 3 in a row from each spot. Once you beat your best score twice in a row, rotate the spots every ball.

There’s no published pass mark for this one, so your own number is the benchmark. Write it down and beat it.

Why skipping the middle still helps the middle

You’ll still face 15 footers on the course. You’ll still make some. Keep them. They’re free.

But here’s how I think about it. Lag practice trains distance control. And distance control is exactly what makes your 15 footers finish close when they miss. So you get better inside the donut without ever practicing in it.

The 15 minute donut session

Here’s how to fit both putts into one short session.

1. Block 1, 5 minutes: the short ring. Comebacks from 3, 4 and 5 feet, then the 6 foot circle. Count your makes.

2. Block 2, 7 minutes: the lag ladder. 30, 40 and 50 feet. Count the ones inside 3 feet.

3. Block 3, 3 minutes: the pressure finish. 5 in a row from 4 feet. Miss one and start over.

Two rules for every session. Change distances often, and never hit 20 of the same putt in a row.

That second rule has research behind it. Jared Porter and Richard Magill had beginners learn to putt from 3 distances. The group that started with the same putt, then rotated in order, then went fully random did better when they were tested later than the groups that stayed in one mode.

The one thing to remember

Practice the putts that separate golfers. That’s the short one and the long one. The 15 footer you love sits in the donut, deciding very little.

If you want the drills done for you, grab the free putting drills pack. It has 4 scored putting drills with videos, plus the Putting Blueprint with benchmarks for your handicap.

Get the free putting drills

And if you’d rather have every session planned and scored for you, the Play Ready Golf app builds your week around your biggest leak and the time you have. Every drill has a score and three levels to climb. Try it free for 30 days.

Sources

• Arccos, about 329,000 rounds from golfers with USGA verified handicaps (2026).

• Shot Scope putting make percentage by distance and handicap, via MyGolfSpy (August 2025).

• Mark Broadie, one putt rate from 8 feet, GOLF.com (October 2020).

• Play Ready Golf app data, 453 rounds from 127 golfers (November 2025 to October 2026).

• Porter and Magill, Journal of Sports Sciences (2010).