Lou Stagner's Newsletter #91

Make More of the Makeable Putts

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Make More of the Makeable Putts


A few weeks ago, I shared a thread about a putting game I use to improve face control. Better face control means you are hitting more start lines.

Since then, many readers have reached out, saying they bought “The Putting Thing” training aid I use and they wanted to know how to tell if their face control is good. I love this training aid for face control! If you're interested, you can get one here (They are currently 20% off).

You can check out the full thread here, but here’s a quick overview of the game:

Rules of the Putting Game for Face Control

  • Hit 10 putts per session.

  • The ball must pass cleanly through the gates.

  • Track how many successful putts you make each session.

What Score Is Considered Good?

I cobbled together data from various sources (Jon Karlsen, Cameron Merry, Julien S. Baker, Frédéric Dutheil, Ukadike C. Ugbolue, and SAM Putt Lab) to understand how face control changes by skill level.

Based on the info I found, the following chart gives you a rough estimate of how good your face control is. The gate setting for where the ball goes through is across the top. The percent of balls that you get through the gate is down the left.

The number of successful putts needed to have "good" face control depends on the gate setting (Setting 0 to 4). To figure out how good your face control is, hit 100 putts at a given gate setting and track your success rate.

Face Control Performance Levels

Success Rate

Gate Setting

Performance Level

Dark Green

Tour level

EXCELLENT face control

Light Green

Good amateur

Solid, but can still improve

Yellow

Average amateur

Needs more face control practice

Light Red

Below average

Needs serious improvement

Dark Red

Beginner

Significant work needed

Key Takeaways

  • Remember, this test is done in a controlled practice environment with alignment help. Your performance on the course will not be as consistent.

  • Aim to overachieve in practice so that even with on-course regression, you still perform well.

What Your Score Means

  • Dark Green: Excellent face control! If you’re struggling with short putts, the issue is very likely a bad read, bad speed, or both.

  • Light Green: Solid face control. You could improve, but your time is probably better spent focusing on speed control, reading greens, and matching the two.

  • Yellow: You should definitely work on face control in practice. Improving this will help you sink more makeable putts.

  • Any Red: Face control needs significant work.

I hope this helps. Speed control and green reading is still such an important part of the puzzle, but if your face control is not in the dark green, you would very likely make a bunch more makeable putts if your face control improved.

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    Have a great week!

Lou Stagner

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