Drill library · Short game

The Three-Foot Clock

Short gameAll handicaps15 minblock workputting

Why this drill

Rounds leak from three feet. Twelve short putts arranged like a clock face around the hole force you to hole the same length across every break — uphill, downhill, left-to-right, right-to-left — until three feet stops being a question.

Setup

Twelve balls in a circle around one hole, each three feet out — pace it with your putter length — like numbers on a clock. Pick a hole on a slope so the circle contains every break.

The drill

Work around the clock holing putts one at a time, full routine on each: read, practice stroke, commit. A miss means the circle starts over from twelve o'clock. The first laps are easy; the pressure arrives around putt nine of a clean lap, and that pressure is the entire point. Finish when you hole all twelve in one lap. Log how many attempts the perfect lap took.

One thought to take with you

Same routine on the twelfth as the first — boredom, not the break, is what misses these.