The Old Course at St. Andrews has multiple double greens, including an enormous 37,846 square-foot green shared between the 5th and 13th holes. That’s nearly the size of an entire football field! Can you imagine Tom Brady trying to roll in a putt from 50 or 60 yards away?!
You might not find another green as big in Scotland, but you’re going to see your fair share of double greens and 100-foot-plus putts all over the U.K. and Ireland. So just how do you handle a putt of such length? I’ve had a little bit of experience with this length putt at my club, Bull’s Bridge Golf Club, where, depending on the location of the hole on the par-5 18th hole, you might have a putt of 100 feet or more.
From a strategy standpoint, you want to treat such long distances like a marathon, and break up the putt in equal segments—rather than try and navigate or digest all 100 feet as one. In the video below, I’ll show you just how to do that, and I’ll also share a few mechanical keys to help you make solid contact. This way, your putt won’t stop at midfield or 20 feet away. Two-putting from 100 feet or more is challenging for even the best golfers in the world, but it can be done if you follow these tips. Check it out!
SEE VIDEO: HOW TO TWO-PUTT FROM 100 FEET
“I’m here with my son Oliver and he’s going to show us, with a little help from myself, how to hit a 100-foot putt. Many times when you head over to the United Kingdom, you’re going to play some golf courses that have double greens, and you’re going to have to navigate a putt of 100 feet or more. Your caddie may hand you your putter from 50 feet off the green and tell you to go ahead and use it instead of your sand wedge.
“What we’ve got here is a 100-foot putt and some flags lined up. The first flag is a third of the way in, and the second flag two-thirds of the way in. Next, I’m going to ask Oliver, ‘What do you see the first third of the way? How much break?’ [Oliver replies, “It’s going to be 2 feet from right to left.] Then I’m going ask, ‘The second third of the way, how much do you see?’ [Oliver says, “It’s going to be 8 feet from right to left.”] And then I’m going to ask, ‘On the last third what do you see?’ [Oliver replies, “It’s going to come straight back down the hill, not move that much.”]
“By breaking this up into three equal parts, 100 feet becomes a lot more navigable. [You’re not going to become] overwhelmed when you see a 100-footer and lose focus.
“What I typically see with the mechanics on a putt like this is that people will end up taking the putter back and all of a sudden the subconscious will say, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve got 100 feet, I’ve got to smack it.’ And they try and race the putter through. So what I want you to do Oliver, is make a stroke where the tempo is consistent back and through, and aim 10 feet out to the right.
[Oliver winds up lagging it to about 8 feet.]
“From 100 feet Oliver has knocked it inside of 10 feet, which I believe to be a huge success. I teach a lot of my amateurs what I call my “10 Percent Rule,” where if you have a 10-footer and you get it inside 1 foot, that’s a successful putt. From 30 feet, [if you get it] inside 3 feet, you’ve done really well. From 60 feet, [anything] inside 6 feet, once again that’s a successful putt. From 100 feet, Oliver has knocked it inside of 10 [feet], and we’ll take that every time.”
