01The short answer
To stop three-putting, fix the speed of your first putt. Roughly 80% of three-putts are distance misses: the first putt finishes well short or well past, and the second is too long to make every time. Leave the first putt close and the second is a tap-in. That takes speeds you can repeat on demand, checked against the day’s greens, and one committed number over the ball.
02Why golfers three-puttPerfect read. Eight feet by.
Three-putts rarely start with a bad read. They start with a first putt that runs eight feet by or dies six feet short, and a second putt nobody makes every time.
Line gets the practice: gates, mirrors, chalk lines. Speed gets a few balls raked at the hole before the round. Yet roughly 80% of three-putts are distance misses, not line misses.
03Where three-putts come fromBlame the first putt.
The second putt gets the blame because it’s the one you miss. But its length was decided by the first. A first putt that finishes in tap-in range leaves nothing to miss. One that finishes six feet away leaves a putt that good putters miss often enough to hurt.
So the way to fewer three-putts isn’t a better second putt. It’s a first putt whose speed you chose and hit.
04Train speeds you can repeatBarely breathe on it. Or put a real lick on it.
You can’t leave a putt close with a speed you can’t repeat. The Speed Machine measures every putt as a Speed Number, on Jarit’s own scale from 3 to 15, to a tenth. A 3 barely breathes on it; a 15 puts a real lick on it.
The Jarit App trains them the way you’d learn scales:
- One number until it’s yours, starting at a 3.
- Then the next, up to 15. Each new number joins the ones you already own.
- Then all of them mixed, because random practice holds up better on the course.
- With gate tests that decide when you’ve earned the next zone. A target of 8 counts anything from 7.5 to 8.5.
It all happens at home in 4 × 3 feet of floor, with the ball sent back after every putt. The full method is in How to control distance in putting.
05Match your speeds to the greensFive minutes before the first tee.
An 8 is an 8 for life, but how far it rolls changes with the greens: about 12 feet on soft ones and about 18 on fast ones. Before the round:
- Baseline. Hit a few putts at a number you own (a 5 works well) and see how far they roll.
- Distance to number. Pick a distance, give it a number, putt it, adjust.
- Number to distance. Pick a number, set the ball where you think it’s perfect, and check.
06Commit on the courseOne number. No second-guessing.
Read the putt as you always have: break, slope, distance, green speed. Turn the read into one Speed Number, and stand over the ball with only that number in your head. A committed speed is what leaves the first putt close.
07Questions golfers askOverheard on the eighteenth.
Why do I three-putt so much?
Usually it’s the first putt’s speed. Roughly 80% of three-putts are distance misses: the first putt finishes too far short or too far past, and the second is too long to make every time.
How do I practise to stop three-putting?
Practise speed, not only line. Measure the speed of each putt, learn speeds one at a time until each is repeatable, then mix them. The Speed Machine does this at home with the Jarit App’s 30-track program, about 5 to 12 minutes a session.
Do I need a putting green to practise?
Not to train speed. The Speed Machine needs 4 × 3 feet of flat, level, hard floor, and the mat is included. You’ll use the practice green to calibrate before a round.
What does “Fewer 3 Putts Guaranteed” mean?
Train with the Speed Machine, and if you aren’t putting better, return it within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. The return label is on us. You’re the judge: there’s no test to pass.