Golf is full of ‘if onlys’. Here’s one: if only I could hole out like the pros. If only I could putt, for example, like Collin Morikawa. As it stands, heading into the 2024 FexEx St. Jude Championship, the former Open champion is one of eight PGA Tour players this season to have made every putt he has faced from three feet and in. Every. Single. One. That’s 643/643.
The man currently leading the way in this particular category is Brendon Todd. He’s made all 806 efforts from this range. It’s hard not to ponder just how much of a difference it would make to our own game if we were suddenly gifted with that unerring ability to hit the back of the cup from short range, time and time again. Needless to say we’d certainly find the game more enjoyable – and mutter fewer rude words when walking off the green.
Anyway, back to those crazy putting stats. Prior to the 2024 FexEx St. Jude Championship, the Tour average from 3ft and in is a mind-boggling 99.44%. Let’s take ‘Mr Average’, Norway star Viktor Hovland (his actual average at the time of writing is 99.43%). Of the 524 putts he’s faced that have measured three feet and in, he’s missed just three times. So, there’s your answer. How many 3-footers does a PGA Tour player miss per season? The stats would suggest a fraction under three times. Impressive stuff.
In case you’ve come to the conclusion that Rory McIlroy is a little suspect from short range after his US Open heartbreak, you’d be wide of the mark. Looking at the four-time Major winner stat’s following the conclusion of the 2024 BMW Championship, McIlroy has missed just two of his 649 attempts from 3ft and in (99.69%). Unfortunately, one of those came at the par-4 16th at Pinehurst, a putt that spun out from 2 feet, 11 inches.
If you really want to wind yourself up and dream of how lovely it must be to putt like a pro, then how about this: the PGA Tour average for putting from 3ft-5ft is, at the time of writing, 88.13%. Put another way, roughly a dozen or so misses out of 100 attempts. Of course, it’s hard to be exact as we’re talking about a 2ft range (3ft-5ft), but it gives you a very good idea as to how infrequently players miss from this distance.
In conclusion, these pros don’t miss from 3ft very often. Even those at the lower end of the table average over 98%. Ah, what we'd do to be able to putt like a pro. Anything, right?
