Need an Effective Putting Practice Routine? Try the clock drill

If you’ve ever been to the putting green at a professional golf tournament, you’ve probably seen a variation on the popular “clock drill,” in which a player drops balls in a circle (hence the clock) and systematically putts them all in the hole, one by one.

But what makes the clock drill so popular and can it work for recreational players as well? Instructor Gia Liwski named the clock drill as one of her favorites for one simple reason.

“By using a watch drill on the putting green, you can work around the hole and really gauge what’s happening on the green,” she told Bit Speed ​​at the recent GOLF Top 100 Teachers Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona. If you keep the distances for all balls the same, you can get a really good feel for reading greens. It’s a nice, simple image.”

If you’ve never tried a clock drill before, it’s a good time to start using it as a pre-round warm-up. Liwski recommends keeping your putt length short — between three and five feet.

“It gives you something to focus on instead of betting aimlessly,” she said. “You’re basically hitting 12 putts, so don’t overdo it. Work 24/7 and give yourself a nice rhythm.”

Another way to use the clock drill to set up a round is to keep the same circle concept but change the spacing.

“Make it two feet for one putt, 10 feet for another,” Liwski said. “Then, as you work around, you can start assessing your speed, your aim, the function of the green, and the roll of the ball.”

You can find more tips from Gia Liwski here.

Golf.com photographer

As a four-year-old member of Columbia’s first class of female collegiate golfers, Jessica can outperform anyone on the pole top. She can also overtake them in the office, where she is primarily responsible for producing print and online features and overseeing large special projects such as the first Style issue of GOLF, which was released in February 2018. Her original interview series, A Round With, debuted in November 2015 and has appeared in both magazine and video form on GOLF.com.