It’s inevitable in a competitive foursome that one of the first two lag putts on a green will likely have to mark their ball as they were the furthest away and they're worried about other player’s lines.
However, if you are inside 2 feet and your group isn’t giving you the putt, then you should either need to get new friends or they’re telling you that you need to work on putting. Of course, you could be playing in a tournament or just prefer to putt everything out. If that's the case, please keep in mind that every time you mark your ball after a lag putt you add, on average, over 1 minute to the time it takes to get off the green.
When you start talking about 72-person tournaments where everyone is putting out, it’s easy to see why there are nationwide complaints of 5-plus hour tournament rounds and the agony of slow play. So, instead of marking that 2-footer, just knock it in. Everyone behind you will thank you. And you’ll be thanking everyone in front of you for doing the same!
The rule of thumb is: Unless the putt is worth a day of work or more to you, just knock in the short ones or rake 'em.
Brad Powers is a contributor at Golf News Net and an the founder of Hozl, a golf instruction company based in Austin, Texas, that offers a personal swing coach at an affordable price.
