Complete Practice Putting Guide

Kevin Craggs has some putting drills that will help you hole out more confidently and lower your scores

complete practice putting guide

If you're struggling with your putting, it might be that you aren't practising the right things in the right manner. In the video and article below, PGA pro Kevin Craggs shares his tips that will help you hole out more confidently and lower your scores.

If you take the time to set out a putting course like this one you should also make an effort to keep a record of your progress. Note down how many putts it takes for you to hole all from of the short range stations, how many of the four mid-range putts you hole and how many off the long range attempts you get in the box.

The improvements you should see will provide an injection of confidence into your putting when you get out on the course.

Practise Intelligently

Putting practice is never an easy thing to do. One of the keys to keeping your interest is to make it more interesting. I am going to show you three simple drills that cover three key aspects of putting. These are the putts you are supposed to hole from short range, the ones you could hole from mid range and the long pace putts where you are looking to two putt.

It is important that when you go through the three stations is that you stick to the process rather than aimlessly hitting putt after putt. Treat each putt as if it was for a championship or to shoot your lowest score. Your putting process is the thing that keeps your skill together.

Short Range

Set out putts with tee pegs around the hole from three feet, four feet, five feet and six feet. Take a putt from each position going through your process and looking to produce a smooth stroke. From this range you should be looking to hole the majority of them. Don’t leave a station until you hole the putt and then move onto the next one.

Keep working at it until you can confidently hole all four putts consecutively, and then move onto the mid range. If you continue to struggle read our short putting fault fixer.

Mid Range

Again put down four tee pegs at different distances, this time ranging from seven feet to 20 feet around the hole. From this range you won’t hole every putt but you should be pretty close. Again, it is vital to stick to your process, studying the break making a practice stroke to get a feel for distance before every putt and treating it as you would out on the course.

Putting from this range of distances will give you a greater understanding of distance control.

Long Range

Create an open box at one end of the putting green that is three feet wide. Pace out a putt that is 25 feet from the box and try to putt four balls into it. The key when it comes to lag putting is getting the pace correct so that it allows you to make a stress-free two-putt. I will reinforce once again that you should stick to your process and pay attention to how the length of stroke affects the distance the ball travels.

Don’t let your technique suffer just because you need to make a longer stroke, making sure that your arms don’t become disconnected from your body.

Andrew Wright
Staff Writer

A lifelong golf fan, Andy graduated in 2019 with a degree in Sports Journalism and got his first role in the industry as the Instruction Editor for National Club Golfer. From there, he went on to enjoy a spell freelancing for Stats Perform producing football reports, and then for RacingNews365 covering Formula 1. However, he couldn't turn down the opportunity to get back into the sport he grew up watching and playing and now covers a mixture of equipment, instruction and news for Golf Monthly's website and print title.


Andy took up the game at the age of seven and even harboured ambitions of a career in the professional ranks for a spell. That didn’t pan out, but he still enjoys his weekend golf at Royal Troon and holds a scratch handicap. As a side note, he's made five holes-in-one and could quite possibly be Retief Goosen’s biggest fan.


As well as the above, some of Andy's work has featured on websites such as goal.com, dailyrecord.co.uk, and theopen.com.


What's in Andy's bag?

Driver: Callaway Mavrik Sub-Zero (9°)

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus (15°)

Driving iron: Titleist U500 (17°)

Irons: Callaway Apex Pro '19 (4-PW)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM9 (50°, 54° and 58°)

Putter: TaylorMade Spider X

Ball: TaylorMade TP5x