A few days back, I discussed the 100 Putt drill that Jackie Burke showed to Phil Mickelson. For those who didn’t see it, the drill consists of lining up a series of three-foot putts. The object is to make 100 in a row. If you miss one, you start again. I promised to try the drill and report back.

One word comes to mind: humbling.

I had an hour to spare and in keeping with my rule to do at least one thing each day to contribute to my goal, the drill seemed like a perfect fit. I went down to my friendly neighborhood practice green and set up. I chose to set up five balls instead of the typical ten, mainly because I wanted to putt with the same balls I play on the course and I only had 7 game balls. I measured out five spots, one putter-length out from the hole and got to work.

I missed the first three. I swear. There was a little break that I just wasn’t seeing. Once I got that one down, I still wasn’t doing well. Eventually, I determined that the hole location I was using was cursed, so I moved on to another one. I did a little better there.

My top score was 24. Most of the time, I was only getting around eight or ten. I lost count of how many times I started over, but it had to be a few dozen. You can get in a lot of repetitions in an hour, especially when you’re hardly breaking ten in a row.

However, all is not lost. This was a valuable learning experience. The first thing I learned is that my address position is extremely inconsistent. Having hardly played in a couple of years, and only having done a couple of putting sessions this spring, it’s really to be expected. Remember when I discussed perception versus reality? Even though I’ve missed several short putts on the course this spring, my perception was that my putting is a little off, but still decent. Well, I was dead wrong. I was clearly not being honest with myself.

The second thing I learned is that my stroke is wildly inconsistent. After hitting so many three-foot putts in a row, I really developed a feel for when I was missing the sweet spot on the putter face. Early on in the drill, I was missing it most of the time. As time went on, I was hitting it much more often.

It seems bad, but over a single hour, I made a huge improvement. By the end, I was hitting the putts much more solidly and with more confidence. I also felt like my stroke was becoming more consistent. When I did miss, I pretty much knew I was going to in the middle of the stroke. I found myself getting outside the plane during the takeaway and having to guide the putter head back on line. These were almost always misses. After repeating the same putt so many times, I was really getting a heightened awareness and feel for my stroke.

My intention is to try to do this drill at least once a week. I think it might be the most valuable drill I do all year. In just the one session, the improvement was apparent. Grooving a solid stroke and good contact at three feet will help me be more consistent on putts of all lengths. Once those things are in good shape, then getting the feel for different distances will be a lot easier. I also definitely noticed the confidence I was starting to get near the end. It’s not like I was making a lot of them, but going from making less than five in a row to averaging around ten and even 24 once improved my confidence some. As I continue to build on the small successes, that confidence will continue to grow.

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