Tip Tuesday: Distance Control on Long Putts

In this exercise, Classic Swing Golf School’s Ted Frick draws inspiration from two of the game’s leading authorities on short-game play to show how he helps reinforce distance control on lengthy putts.

All right, so we have an awesome tip today on distance control and putting. Truly this goes back several generations, because in 1993 I was very fortunate to be at the right place at the right time where I met Loren Roberts, and he’s on the Champions Tour now. His nickname is “The Boss of the Moss.” He gave me this distance control formula up at Pine Needles Resort as I was visiting my coach. We have shared this now through a couple decades here at Classic Swing.

Let me start out, and let me just show you here. One thing we have is a duck pond, and the duck pond goes back to Dave Pelz’ “Golden Eight” and his book called The Short Game Bible. He talked about “aim big, miss small” outside of 20 feet. Here at our school, especially with the kids, we use these rubber duckies for many reasons. For today, it’s setting up our 8-foot circle.

Now, going ahead and respecting Mr. Loren Roberts’ “Boss of the Moss” formula. Well, in this 30 foot put, we’re going to use a 30-inch stroke: 15 inches back, and 15 inches through. Stefany, do a couple practice swings. What Loren was saying was outside of 20 feet, he was saying, think about the putting stroke being like a pendulum. In a pendulum, the backswing and the follow through are almost equal. You would not want short back, long through, or a variation like long back, short through. It’s almost impossible to control the distance there. By evening out both sides of the arc, you’ve got a great chance.

All right, Stef, let’s go ahead and hit one while at the same time working like a pendulum. He talked about the downswing moving at a 2:1 ratio to the backswing. Check this out. The speed of the downswing moves at twice the pace of the backstroke. If the speed of the backswing is one mile an hour, the downswing’s two miles an hour working like a pendulum. One more time, Stef, that’s awesome. We use this 20-, 30-, and 40-foot for our juniors as well as all the adult schools.

Again, I have to give props to Dave Pelz with his “Golden Eight” and Mr. Loren Roberts, and I hope this helps you.