Why You Need This: In this video, you get a putting master lesson called the 4 Corners Drill.

Short putts should be automatic.

But let's face it...

4 footers aren't a gimmie for a good reason.

It's because short putts aren't guaranteed to go in!

So, let's make sure you never miss easy putts ever again.

Before you start the drill...

...realize that it's easy to stand over your putt and zone out.

Maybe you're thinking about the putt you missed 2 holes ago...

Or maybe you're worried about missing the easy putt...

And becoming known as the guy that chokes on the green.

Whenever you start to zone out...

Walk back about 20 feet behind the putt and regroup.

Assess the slope of the green and concentrate on the correct line.

Next, visualize the ball going over a small spot on the hole.

Hitting precise putts is where the 4 Corners Drill comes in...

On the practice green, putt your first ball so that it barely roles in the hole.

Hit the next putt firmly and hit the back edge of the hole.

Next, hit a soft putt that curls in on the left edge.

Finally, hit a soft putt that curls in on the right edge.

So the 4 corners are...

1. Front edge,
2. Back of the cup,
3. Left side, and
4. Right side.

This drill may seem easy but making 4 foot putts on all 4 corners can be very difficult.

But it's worth the effort.

You'll develop better control of your short putts...

And when you're on the green to win the hole...

Your short putt will be automatic!

Golf Pros Featured:

Instructors Featured: Clay Ballard    

Video Duration: 3:56

Video Transcription:

All right guys, got a four-footer for birdie here to win a skin. Oh, terrible speed, terrible line, completely missed the ball. So frustrating, it’s really aggravating when we do that.

What I find is a lot of times when we’re missing those short putts we know we should be making them, we’re putting a lot of pressure on ourselves. The tendency is to just kind of zone out.

We get over top of the ball, and instead of thinking very specifically how we want to roll the ball, hitting a specific target on the hole, what we end up doing is we’re over top of the ball and we’re sitting here thinking, Oh man, I missed the putt two holes ago, and I really don’t want to miss another one.

I bet people are going to think I’m a terrible putter, and I’m going to be known as the guy that chokes, and all this other stuff starts going through our head.

What we really need to do is calm down, really get focused and zone in on one specific part of the cup to be able to roll the ball into with the right speed and the right line. I’ve got a great drill, very simple drill, but a very difficult drill to do.

What we’re going do first here, when we find ourselves zoning out, maybe having a tough time really getting a feel for the break, I want to step back about 20 or 30 feet behind this cup, and I want to look at the ball from back here.

From back here I can see the overall slope of the green very easily. It’s going to be easy for me to spot my line.

On these short putts, the tendency is we’re going to go ahead and mark our ball, put it there, and then we’re going to step back to about right here and we’re trying to read the break.

We’re just too close, we can’t see the overall slope because it’s not in our peripheral vision here. We’ve got to first back it up, see the slope from far away, at least 20 to 30 feet behind it.

Now the next thing we’re going to do here, as I’m standing over top of this ball, is I want to really slow down. I don’t want to rush and take not very much time. The last thing that we want to do in our mind, is to come up here, take a ton of time on the four-footer, and then miss it.

Then we look like we’re really not a very good putter. But we’re not going to miss very many if we take our time, we get our nice flow, and I always want to visualize exactly how I want the ball to roll.

As I’m over these short putts especially, I’m visualizing in my mind -- just like it’s playing a movie -- that ball going into one spot on the cup. Imagine you’re shooting archery, you’re shooting a bow and arrow and you’re trying to hit the target that’s 50 yards in the distance.

I don’t just aim to the overall board, I’m aiming in one very tiny spot on the board. We aim small to miss small, as they say. That’s a good thing to do too. Slow yourself down, read it from 20 feet away, slow yourself down, and now here’s a great drill that’s going to force you to do this.

What I’m going to do here, is I’m going to putt to the four corners of the cup. This is going to get me really locked in not only on my speed, but on my line too.

On the first putt, I’m going to have one that barely rolls in the front-center of the cup. So it should roll over and then die in the cup. If it rams into the back of the cup, then I know it’s too hard.

That’s going to be the first one, short’s going to be the first corner.

I’m then going to putt one firm into the back center, that’s going to be my back corner. Then I’m going to putt one really soft that goes in the left edge, so it’s basically going to come in here, fall in the left edge, that’s my left corner. Then the same thing, fall in the right edge, that’s my right corner.

So this should take – I’m going to grab four balls here – but it’s probably going to take a good 15 tries to get these exact with the right speed and the right line.

What you’ll find is you’re just so much more focused as you’re doing this, really paying attention to your line on these short putts. It makes it so much easier to make these when you get out there to the course.

So remember aim small to miss small. I’m going to go ahead and try some of these out. Let’s see how many times it takes me to make all four.

That was a good one, so that was short center.

That was back center.

That’s got to be on the right.

There we go.

All right guys, the four corners drill. Tough drill, take your time, really try to get them to die in to each of the four corners. You’re going to be doing great.