Marcel Siem last week at the British Masters.
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Marcel Siem, one of fist-pumping and seemingly unflinching enthusiasm, is frustrated. He has failed. His ball hit a liner.
Return to 20 feet.
“OK,” he says, “so now I have to literally start over.”
The 44-year-old three-time DP World Tour winner was speaking in a video recently posted on the tour’s social media channels, and the topic was avoiding three shots and a workout the German swears by. Twice, in fact, in the 1 minute, 46 second video, he labeled the exercise the “best” exercise.
So what does it look like? The video is below. Give it a click. We will wait.
The beauty is its simplicity to set up and its focus on achieving the right range. To begin, Siem placed an extension rod about a foot and a half behind the hole and suggested placing a marker of some sort—he used a tee—the same distance in front of the hole. Consider that range a putt – any ball that reaches that area is considered almost good.
From there, Siem will shoot from 6 meters (about 20 feet), 7 meters (about 23 feet) and (about 26 feet) three times. Each ball must end up either in front of the marker in front of the hole, before it goes behind the hole or in the cup.
One marker falls, you start over. Hit the stretching stick, start over. In the video, Siem did.
Training develops touch.
Siem’s full description of it, via video, is below:
“Hey, guys, I’m trying to help you not take three shots right now,” Siem began. “So the training I do every day is from 6 meters, 7 meters, 8 meters. Three balls each. You are not allowed to leave it short. And I put the extension stick behind the hole, so this is the range where, you know, all of us are able to open this from this range all the time. You know, if you go further than that, then you’re in the three-shot zone. I mean, for professionals, I’m not allowed to leave it short. So for you guys, I would tee off here, a foot and a half before the hole. Something like this.
“And then they do 6, 7, 8 yards and three shots each. And when you leave one short or hit it too far, you have to start over. So that’s the pressure you have because it can go on for hours. But that’s really the best, best practice you can do to get contact with the greens and get it around where you’re in two-putt range.”
In the video, Siem then made two forehand shots from what appeared to be 6 yards.
“Easy, eh,” he said. “But no, when you do it every day, you start hitting these shots more often as well because you gain confidence. It’s one of the best workouts ever.”
Siem’s next shot then hit the fairway behind the hole.
“OK, so now I literally have to start all over again,” he said. “But yes, enjoy yourself.”
Editor’s Note: To help further the conversation, below is a story written in January by GOLF’s Zephyr Melton titled “Data Shows How Likely You Are to Make 3-Putters Based on Your Handicap.” You can also read it by clicking here.
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The name of the game for the green is avoiding three-shots. Of course, you want to get your first shot open when you can, but your biggest priority should be avoiding three shots.
This mission may be easier said than done. Even for the pros, hitting long putts isn’t as likely as three-putting to get into the hole. According to 2021 data, a putt from 33 feet had a production rate of 5.8 percent on the PGA Tour. The odds of a three-shot? A 6.4 percent. That’s right, at just 33 feet, the odds of bogey were greater than the odds of birdie – and that’s among the best players in the world! With this in mind, your first priority should always be to keep three shots off the card.
The rate at which recreational players three-putt varies slightly across all skill levels. Scratch players will three-putt under five handicaps, and five-putts three-putts under 15 seconds. However, what do the exact numbers look like across skill levels? owing to data guru Lou Stagner, we have those answers.
As you might expect, 20-handicappers have a much better chance of nailing three goals than players of higher skill levels. At just 10 feet from the cup, they three-putt nearly 7 percent more than scratchers—and that gap only grows as they move away from the cup. Once the 20-handicaps get into the 36-40 foot range, the three-foot putt becomes almost a coin flip. Scratch players aren’t invincible either. In the same 36-40-foot range, they three-putt just over 25 percent of the time, with the five-, 10- and 15-handicap three-putting 33.8, 38.6 and 43.5 percent of the time.
You’ll also notice that the closer you get to the hole, the less likely you are to three-putt (duh). But what might surprise you is how close to the hole these three-shot percentages tend to jump significantly. A 20-handicap might be jumping for joy after hitting a green in regulation, but if they’re outside the 35-foot mark, a bogey is still very much in play.
However, don’t let these numbers be too discouraging. There are things you can do to minimize your chances of rolling three. Chief among them? Distance control. Yes, direction matters, but your spread will be much more front-to-back than left-to-right. Improving your distance control will reduce that back-and-forth spread and help you cut down on those three shots.
