TOUR Championship Week Drill: Eliminate 3-Putts with this Game

East Lake is notorious for excellent green complexes, so keeping three-putts to a minimum will be key this week on TOUR.

Try this game to eliminate three putts from your game!

East Lake is known for pristine green complexes— and while extremely fast and tricky, Bobby Jones’ former club is often one of the courses that produces the best putting numbers throughout the PGA TOUR season. Yes, we’ll concede that the 30 hottest players on TOUR ought to putt better than a full field in the middle of the summer, but the venue in which golfers compete matters more than any other athlete’s arena. Smooth, fast greens will most likely give way to some fireworks on the final weekend of TOUR play— but what you should watch for in particular is 3-putt avoidance.

You’ll be sure to see a bunch of putts holed this week in Atlanta, as East Lake consistently ranks in the top five tournament courses in terms of average total putt distance made. With all of those long putts being holed, the dreaded 3-putt could very well cost players their chance at the FedEx Cup this weekend. Look for players like Patrick Reed (1.91%), Jordan Spieth (2.03% 3-putt percentage), Patrick Cantlay (2.15%), and Marc Leishman (2.39%) to fare well on the greens at East Lake. The best players in the world consistently save strokes on the green, and while you’ll see 45-foot bombs on SportsCenter, pay attention to how well these guys lag-putt.

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The 3-Putt Game

Patrick Nuber of GOLFTEC, one of Golf Digest’s Best Young Teachers, is here to show you a fun game to play when you’re practicing or warming up for a round. Those of you with junior golfers in-tow, pay attention because this is a great way to teach the importance of lag-putting in a fun, competitive manner.

Simply take a ball and your putter to any practice green and select putts of 25-feet or more in length. The goal is simple: DON’T 3-PUTT. For each hole that is completed in two strokes or less, the player receives one point. The game ends when the player 3-putts, leaving the number of holes completed without a 3-putt as the final score. Play again and try to beat your previous score and you’ll be two-putting every green on the course in no time! Check out the video atop for more.

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