A staggering number of your golf shots happen on the putting green, and understanding this simple fact is the first step to truly lowering your scores. This article breaks down exactly what percentage of strokes are putts across different skill levels, helps you figure out if your putting is actually the problem, and gives you a clear plan to start shaving strokes where it matters most.
There's a well-known statistic in golf, often credited to short-game guru Dave Pelz, that states approximately 43% of all strokes on the PGA Tour are putts. Let that sink in for a moment. Nearly half the shots taken by the best players in the world are made with the flatstick. This isn't driving, iron play, or chipping - it's the simple act of rolling the ball into the hole from the green.
This single statistic is often an eye-opener for amateur golfers. We get so obsessed with bombing the driver and hitting towering iron shots that we forget where the game is truly won and lost. The professionals spend a proportional amount of their practice time on and around the greens because they know that's where they earn their paychecks. For the average golfer, recognizing this is the first victory. It recalibrates your focus from just the big muscles to the small, delicate touch required to putt well.
While the 43% number is a great benchmark, it only tells the story of the elite professional. The percentage of putts actually changes as your handicap goes up, but not in the way you might think. Many golfers assume that a higher handicapper must have a higher percentage of putts, but the opposite is often true.
Let’s break it down with some typical numbers:
Wait, what? The percentage goes down for higher handicaps?
Absolutely. And the reason is simple: higher handicap players take a lot more total shots. Their rounds are filled with duffed chips, chunked irons, topped fairway woods, out-of-bounds penalties, and recovery shots. While they do take more total putts (40 vs. the pro's 30), those extra putts get washed out by the even greater number of other mistakes made from tee to green.
This is a powerful piece of information. It tells you that looking at the percentage alone can be misleading. A good score isn't just about putting brilliance, it's about avoiding the "other" shots that inflate your total score and make your putting-percentage look artificially low.
Now that we understand the percentages, we can move a step further to a more practical question: How do I know if I'm a good putter? Instead of focusing on percentages, top coaches and players focus on two simple metrics: Putts Per Round and Putts Per Green in Regulation (GIR).
This is the easiest stat to track and the most direct measure of your performance on the greens. All you need to do is jot down the number of putts you take on each hole and add them up at the end. Here are some solid benchmarks to aim for:
If you're a 20-handicapper averaging 40 putts a round, you've found a glaring opportunity to save four shots without changing anything else in your long game. Your number one goal becomes eliminating the three-putt.
This is a slightly more advanced - but far more insightful - stat. A "Green in Regulation" (GIR) is when your ball is on the putting surface in two fewer strokes than par (e.g., on the green in one shot on a par 3, two shots on a par 4, or three shots on a par 5).
Why is this stat so useful? Because it isolates your putting skill from your approach-shot skill. If you miss a green and have to chip, you're obviously very likely to one-putt. That makes your "Putts Per Round" look good, but it hides the fact your ball-striking was off. In contrast, when you hit a Green in Regulation, you are almost always left with a longer, more challenging two-putt situation.
Your goal for Putts per GIR is simple: get it under 2.0. PGA Tour players average about 1.77 putts every time they hit a green in regulation. If you can consistently average below 2.0 (meaning you make a few birdie putts to offset any three-putts), your putting is in a very healthy place. If you are tracking this and find your average is 2.2, then you know three-putting is the handicap-killer you need to attack.
Understanding these numbers is interesting, but worthless if you don't act. Here's a simple, three-step process to use this knowledge to actually get better.
You can't fix what you don't measure. For your next five rounds, forget your score relative to par and just become a data collector. On your scorecard for each hole, record:
After your round, tally up your total putts and calculate your average Putts Per Round. Then, count how many GIRs you had and how many putts you had on just those holes, and divide to get your Putts Per GIR.
This is where the magic happens. After a few rounds of data, you'll see a clear picture emerge.
Armed with real information, you can now practice with a purpose instead of just haphazardly rolling putts.
If your weakness is putting (Scenario A):
If your weakness is chipping (Scenario B):
While the percentage of shots that are putts is a fascinating starting point, the real path to improvement lies in digging one layer deeper. It's about using stats like Putts Per Round and Putts Per GIR to diagnose exactly where your game needs help, allowing you to practice smarter, not just harder.
Turning that diagnosis into better on-course execution is the final piece of the puzzle. Answering your own rules questions, getting advice for a tricky lie, or working through your strategy for the next shot used to require experience you might not have, but with products like ours, you can get tour-level guidance right in your pocket. Having Caddie AI with you on the course gives you that instant second opinion, helping you commit to smarter plays that keep you out of trouble and away from those high-stress, three-putt situations in the first place.
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